I didn't know what to put for jasmine rice, since I've never had it, don't know the ingredients, or how it's packaged.
For mayo, the contents are pasteurized, plus vacuum sealed, so as long as the jar has been unopened and stored properly, I wouldn't have a problem using it. And, if I were really poor but in desperate need of mayo, I'd even ues the 6 month old stuff. Same goes for mustard - what's in there to go bad?
Pine nuts, otoh, if they're packaged, I'm guessing they're not vacuum sealed. Also, I don't believe nuts go through any pasteurizing type process, so, the oils could go bad. Still, 6 months out - I'd bet safe. 2 years, though? I don't think it's worth the risk.
You'll have to try the mustard, it's preserved in vinegar and I think they only put expiry dates on it because they have to, not because there's any real expectation of it going off, just getting more vinagar-y and losing the mustard flavour.
Depending on what sort of mayonnaise it is, it may have no egg product in it at all, not any kind of natural oil. You'll have to taste-test that too. I am still cheerfully using a whole-egg mayonnaise that came with a use-by date of "60 days after opening" that I opened 18 months ago. It's not off, there's no reason to throw it away.
Rice that's really past the useable date will taste funny and take _forever_ to boil - but the point of white rice is to have a storable commodity. If it's been kept sealed and out of the light, there's a fair chance it's still fine. Boil some and see.
Throw away your 2-year old pine nuts - the oil will have gone rancid. Taste test the others.
By taste test, I mean - open, look, consider, sniff, consider, taste a _tiny_ bit, consider, maybe feed some to the dog, consider.
I know you are most probably joking about deliberately feeding potentially spoiled food to a dog...that said, please do not be tempted do this. Every list of foods toxic to dogs lists 'mouldy or spoiled foods' for a sound reason.
re: rice, my thoughts are if it doesn't have weevils, it's good. Of course, you can cook it and it'll taste stale, so that'll be that packet in the bin. In grossness terms, Mum obviously doesn't go through as much rice as we do (1kg/2 weeks apparently) since her packet of basmati had weevils, and she just picked them out.
Also, use by dates are guides, a bit like the "Take 1-2 tablets" on the back of panadol. Use at own discretion. ;)
I feel like you can generally tell if things have gone off. If they haven't, I'm going to keep using them regardless of what the use-by says.
Here, literally everything that's consumable has to have a use-by. New Jersey, for some reason, mandated that any edible product--up to and including *bottled water*, for god's sake--have a use-by date on it, despite the fact that it's expected that most of these foods could be shelf-stable for years and suffer no ill effects. Since obviously no one's going to go to the trouble of making special labels for Jersey, everything is marked as "use by [two or three years from now]". Drives me crazy.
Regarding the pine nuts, it'd depend for me on how they were kept. I keep most of my nuts in the freezer, and have no problem using them a year, two years, four years later. If they're in a cabinet that has wide swings in temperature or anything like that, I'd expect that they'll go off faster, but you'd be able to taste one and tell they were rancid.
I don't find myself worried by any of these. I reckon that if they taste OK they are OK and if they don't taste OK (maybe the pine nuts will be stale) then a taste won't kill you (and if it does I'll visit you in hospital (as long as its not too quick) and apologise).
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(no subject)
Date: 2009-09-19 08:02 pm (UTC)For mayo, the contents are pasteurized, plus vacuum sealed, so as long as the jar has been unopened and stored properly, I wouldn't have a problem using it. And, if I were really poor but in desperate need of mayo, I'd even ues the 6 month old stuff. Same goes for mustard - what's in there to go bad?
Pine nuts, otoh, if they're packaged, I'm guessing they're not vacuum sealed. Also, I don't believe nuts go through any pasteurizing type process, so, the oils could go bad. Still, 6 months out - I'd bet safe. 2 years, though? I don't think it's worth the risk.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-09-19 11:53 pm (UTC)Depending on what sort of mayonnaise it is, it may have no egg product in it at all, not any kind of natural oil. You'll have to taste-test that too. I am still cheerfully using a whole-egg mayonnaise that came with a use-by date of "60 days after opening" that I opened 18 months ago. It's not off, there's no reason to throw it away.
Rice that's really past the useable date will taste funny and take _forever_ to boil - but the point of white rice is to have a storable commodity. If it's been kept sealed and out of the light, there's a fair chance it's still fine. Boil some and see.
Throw away your 2-year old pine nuts - the oil will have gone rancid. Taste test the others.
By taste test, I mean - open, look, consider, sniff, consider, taste a _tiny_ bit, consider, maybe feed some to the dog, consider.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-09-20 12:00 am (UTC)...the real reason humans keep pet. Not the most reliable food taster, as the dog regards our compost heap as the dessert buffet.
OT -You got my email, right?
I type this with love.
Date: 2009-09-20 01:44 am (UTC)Re: I type this with love.
Date: 2009-09-20 02:17 am (UTC)Thank you! I didn't realise and used to throw stale bread and such on to the heap though not recently.
New house we will only have room to have the turny-compost thing and the dalek compost bucket anyway- will make sure it's covered.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-09-20 07:46 am (UTC)Also, use by dates are guides, a bit like the "Take 1-2 tablets" on the back of panadol. Use at own discretion. ;)
(no subject)
Date: 2009-09-20 07:56 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-09-21 02:33 am (UTC)Here, literally everything that's consumable has to have a use-by. New Jersey, for some reason, mandated that any edible product--up to and including *bottled water*, for god's sake--have a use-by date on it, despite the fact that it's expected that most of these foods could be shelf-stable for years and suffer no ill effects. Since obviously no one's going to go to the trouble of making special labels for Jersey, everything is marked as "use by [two or three years from now]". Drives me crazy.
Regarding the pine nuts, it'd depend for me on how they were kept. I keep most of my nuts in the freezer, and have no problem using them a year, two years, four years later. If they're in a cabinet that has wide swings in temperature or anything like that, I'd expect that they'll go off faster, but you'd be able to taste one and tell they were rancid.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-09-21 04:06 am (UTC)The useby date on bottled water is for the plastic, not the water. Scary!
(no subject)
Date: 2009-09-22 04:19 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-09-28 09:39 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-09-24 02:17 pm (UTC)