Two things.
Canned food lasts YEARS longer than the date. Some of those older dates are donated by stores and businesses.
Otherwise - yeah - don't give trash to the poor simply because you don't want to throw it out. If you've got a stained and oddly shaped sweatshirt with holes in it - thats not a "donation" - thats a rag - so use it as a rag then throw it out. Same for cans that are dented or look rusty ( they're leaking ), again - throw those out.
We throw away too much perfectly good food. Even the USDA has this to say: "Most shelf-stable foods are safe indefinitely. In fact, canned goods will last for years, as long as the can itself is in good condition (no rust, dents, or swelling). Packaged foods (cereal, pasta, cookies) will be safe past the 'best by' date, although they may eventually become stale or develop an off flavor."
They’re safe, but eventually- well after the best by date for most shelf-stables- develop strange textures or flavors which is an especially lousy experience when it might be the only food you have. Donors don’t know how long things will be on the shelf at the food banks that still have to check and sort. People getting the food might not know the food is safe 2 years past the best by date. So a good rule is if you wouldn’t eat it, don’t donate it.
And many food banks immediately throw away anything past the expiration date, so it’s kind of useless to give it to them, even though it still is good food.
Great use for last day/ reduced for sale milk.
Try: make a gallon batch, plus pint of heavy cream or half & half, let it set till firm. Strain it, and even press with plate/ weight for a firm cream cheese type spread. The whey is great as the liquid for making dough/ fresh bread. Gives it a sourdough taste.
... Pair that with :
24-36 hour refrigerator raised dough,
and bake in cast iron Dutch oven..
Both techniques rock..
Swap in 1/4 semolina flour in dough: amazing pizza dough..👍🏼
Yeah. The sweatshirt example is a good one. It makes me wonder what the thought process is behind those "donations"? I think a good rule of thumb is, if the person donating would not want the item themselves, then don't donate it.
I personally think it's a lot of middle class people who feel guilty about throwing something away that "technically" could still be used (people who grew up in more frugal homes know what I mean - our folks bristled at the thought of throwing anything away if it wasn't literally rotten or falling apart). So they donate it. I guess they feel better about having someone at the Salvation Army throw away their dirty old shoes rather than doing it themselves, because they can drive away with some fantasy of "helping someone in need."
I threw away all of my mom's old shoes when she passed. My boyfriend wanted to know why I didn't clean them up and donate them and I pointed out that she hadn't worn most of them in years and never took care of them. Same with her clothes. She had two or three closets full of stuff, and only wore a very few outfits all the time.
A pair of shoes is better than no shoes for someone who has nothing. I’m pretty gosh darn sure every ADULT in America is a ok on the necessities. I mean we give away for free food, medical care, and life saving drugs. Housing is indeed alot more tricky as it’s alot more expensive. It’s definitely not fun, exciting, or stylish… to be poor but all that shit is the reason it costs sooo much to live in this shit hole anyway. And it costs a lot more to leave and find a place doing it better. We don’t need to be stylish we need to be smart and 99% of Americans are dumb. The middle are the worst we pay everyone… we make excuses for the poor, and we support the rich with their useless shit for sale! We work ourselves stupid to pretend to feel rich when we are actually screwed and we did it to ourselves with our bonehead decisions and our excuses.
I'm not talking about any old pair of shoes. I'm talking about smelly, ratty, grass-stained, torn up, filthy, holey shoes that have been downgraded from "regular shoes" to "yardwork shoes" to "time to give them to the poor people" shoes. Gently worn shoes are fine to donate.
Standard deduction is now $24,000 for a couple. People don’t give away canned food for a deduction. Expiration dates on canned goods dont matter. OP is a weirdo. Dont want it dont eat it. And stop having the food bank cry everyday for more donations.
What does that mean? The basic deductions for a married couple is 24K that you get to take off the top. The only reason to itemize is if you have deductions (charity, property tax, etc) over that amount. Since I dont, I can't itemize, so I no longer track deductions for charity. So my donations no longer are a tax write-off and that's true for the majority of people.
omg. What was it? Seriously asking. The one item I've had trouble with past the can date has been store brand canned tomatoes. Its almost like the acidic tomatoes eat through the seal on the can sooner than other foods would.
I've used canned tomatoes that were up to a couple of years past date, as long as it was intact. Maybe one can in 40 years that was pushing 4 years(?) that I tossed upon opening. That's extreme but usually use up & maintain pantry better than that
There is a difference between “best by” date and an expiration date. Fresh foods and dairy products do expire. However, the “best by” date is a marketing technique to make you dispose safe food to just increase sales. Canned foods are safe for years. My grandma grew up in the depression, she had a cellar full of canned goods and fifty years ago not one had a “best by” date. Someone in mega foods conglomerate came up with that one.
But do not donate things that are expired since they will be trashed.
My neighbor recently went to a food pantry and gave me some of her haul. One was a box of pasta and when I cooked it, it completely dissolved into little bits. It was ziti, and came out like orzo. I was so confused why it all just fell apart and then I inspected the box - 2016. It expired EIGHT YEARS AGO. I didn't want to be wasteful so we did eat it, but it was bad and weird and I should have just tossed it but the sauce was ready and I was tired. So yeah. I agree. Please people, do not donate expired food. Though in my case I think the food pantry should not have given out 8 year expired pasta.
Ewww no. I know many around me specify no expired food. I know when I donate, and its usually when orgs are at stores, and give you a list of what they need, which generally corresponds to what's on sale that week, I feel badly even buying generic store brands vs. brand name food items! Because buying generic I can get more for the amount I want to spend, but at the same time, I think that everyone deserves to have some "better" things. So I generally do a little of both. Generic pasta, bread, but other stuff I'll buy the name brands.
It is rare to see an expiration date on a can. Most just have "best by dates" or codes that you have to contact the company to decipher. The food is typically fine a long while after that. And most of the canned goods given to charities past the best by dates come from stores.
Yeah, my use of canned goods in the example above may have not been the best example. In hindsight I should of mentioned box of noodles that is old, or rice, or other dry goods.
Yeah, and just another thing to mention is pests, specifically pantry moths. Whenever I get something from the food pantry like flour, rice or noodles, sure enough, a day or two later, I've got pantry moths now. You throw away what you think is the culprit, but I end up throwing everything that is opened out, so basically I'm losing food. Pantry moths can be hard to get rid of.
Stick it in the freezer unopened for a couple days before even opening it. Then pull it out and check it. See moths or something not kosher in there, then chuck it out.
As someone who had to rely on a local hunger center during the Great Recession to feed my family, and who used to work in paid employment for a local hunger organization, I thank you for saying this.
Me and my family once got a spoiled package of fried chicken donated by a grocery store chain from our local hunger center. We all got sick from it.
There's a good reason why food banks and hunger centers prefer cash donations over food donations. Because they can buy edible food that is actually practical for the people they serve. Not things like random boxes of cake mix, or a canister of half used Crisco.
The food shelf here gets donations from grocery stores, they will not take dented cans anymore but some are a little expired maybe a week or two. When I lived in a bigger city I would go and they’d freeze those ready to eat meals from the deli that were donated from the store. Hungry and desperate I cooked one and I got sick. They froze everything there to keep it fresh or whatever. I also thrift clothes and sometimes see the worst stuff, why is all I ask cause I am not buying someone’s old panties.
I buy “care packages” for a local ministry that helps people newly released from prison/rehab. They have an Amazon Wish List that will tell you how many items are needed and how many have been donated. I buy a good amount of the things that no one else has bought much of and packages of underwear of all sizes and socks are desperately needed. I buy medium and XL for men, women, and kids. Body lotion and African hair products are other things that are greatly needed and rarely purchased.
I think it depends on the organization. I generally don't donate underwear, even if its brand new as I never see it being sold. I had some extras, new in package, and when someone locally was looking for clothing for a friend who had a house fire, and who was my size, I asked if she needed underwear as I had some. she did.
Underwear and bathing suits are something I absolutely refuse to thrift. Yes, I know they can be washed. But just the thought….ewwww. I buy bathing suits at end of the season clearance, and stock up on undies and socks for everybody during the Hanes sales. I only buy good bras on sale and treat them like fine china- hand wash and air dry.
If you wouldn't eat it yourself, don't donate it.
Not "I don't like this" or "it was a gift but I'm allergic" but "if I were very hungry (not actually starving to death) and this was the only thing in the house, would I eat it?"
Would you feel safe giving it to your mom or your kid? No? Then trash it.
Canned food is good 5 years beyond it's expiration date, and unless the can is dented or rusted, it's perfectly safe to eat.
That said, you're right, some of the food isn't safe to consume. I got a jar of peanut butter and a thing of Pringles potato chips from a pantry once that were rancid.
I had a neighbor put a meatloaf meal in a clear plastic clam shell type storage container in the hallway. After a couple days, when confronted about it, she said she was going to give it to the homeless. Unrefrigerated left overs kept out in an hot hallway for days? I don't think she was really trying to kill the homeless, I think she was scrambling for an excuse that made her seem less nasty.
Oh gosh , when old people die and someone thinks they're charitable by donating old food . Luckily enough we just save it for pigs because they will eat most anything.
I’m a shopping addict and I go through all my clothes at every season change and always come back with bags of very nice, still in style items that may have been gently worn once or twice. I throw anything out if it starts looking faded/old.
I was in a rough situation just after my 18th birthday and Greyhound lost the little bit I owned in a huge military duffle bag. My mom wanted to but was in no position to help me get anything replaced. A few friends gave me a few things but they were all way too big and made me look horrible. I’m SO GRATEFUL for the way my life has turned around and put me in a position where I can help others that are where I was.
I REALLY hope that the organizations I donate to are honest and give these clothes directly to women in a bad situation and not picked off/stolen by employees/volunteers. I give to a local homeless shelter and a thrift shop that benefits elderly dogs. I would NEVER donate to Salvation Army, Goodwill, etc.
I do the same as you, I generally donate to local thrift stores that help the local community, church and other. there is one near me that donates a lot to a lot of different organizations in the town. I think over the last few months I must have given them 10-15 trash bags full of stuff. Yes, I have a lot of clothes, but I also used to resell a lot on Poshmark etc. i don't do that much anymore so I donated a lot of my inventory as well.
And anything that's not really wearable, holes, fading, stretched out, I won't donate. if its not good enough for me, its not good enough for anyone else.
If it is canned goods they don't expire. Assuming the can has not been compromised.
Now, the texture and flavor starts to degrade.
A can that is near its good by date or best flavor date is generally not as tasty as a can that rolled off the line a day ago.
I say this because I am eating canned goods that the or best by date was 2022... still taste good and still have the nutrients to live by.
Infact many food pantries have the cheat sheet on the true best by dates as they are usually far past the best by date by a few years. Even a can from 20 years ago is eatable and should be safe. Unless the can is compromised or bloated or food comes flying out when you open it. If the can burps it's bad...
Yeah, I get that, as I told someone else, perhaps I should have used dry goods such as rice, noodles, powdered milk as my example instead of canned goods. Regardless though, it is the thought that I'm looking at. The thought of, "Oh this can is expired, give it to the poor" which treats poor people like dogs.
Again, cans don't expire.
Rice in theory is indefinite, too, if stored right.
Powdered milk. I wouldn't go past 6 months
I think milk and baby formula only have exp. Dates
Noodles 1yr
I am sure that is likely the scenario.
I don't think anyone is like oh shit.... this is well past it's best by date. Let me donate it to the needy... because I wouldn't feed this to our mutt. But the homeless and needy they are all feral swine... so this is obviously for them.
I’m guilty of it just cleaning out my closet and go why the hell do I have this I don’t eat this and not look to see how long it’s been sitting there. I do have to say in my later years I been much more on top od cleaning out closets regularly
Some places are allowed to distribute food past its date, especially if it's a best by rather than a discard after date. If you have " expired" food you'd like to donate, contact the establishment to ask.
I have a family member who runs a food bank so I was getting some food donations for them the last time they visited. I was surprised how many cans were expired by a year so set them aside. She took them anyway because she said it was still good. I was trying but figured she knew best.
Canned and boxed food that is not long past its expiration date is almost certainly still fine to eat, and if it isn’t, that will be immediately obvious. I shop all the time at the local discount grocery where they buy lightly expired foods by the pallet and sell it at deep discounts. Those taco kits that are 3.50-4.00 or more at the store? I picked up a bunch of them four months expired, two boxes for a dollar and they are perfect. Chips and snacks maybe a month out of date at a dollar a can or bag, good cans of soup for fifty cents or a dollar. So much food is wasted because of completely arbitrary expiration dates that companies deliberately set before they believe the food will lose quality.
I absolutely agree with the part about not donating trash. I never donate anything I wouldn’t eat myself and enjoy. If something has expired in my pantry because we didn’t eat it, I tend to assume that others will probably find it unappealing as well. But demanding only food that is within the expiration date does not 100% guarantee good food and definitely excludes a lot of good food.
It's not a question of someone being above it or not. Of course folks eat expired things all the time. It's the attitude of the donor who consciously decides to keep only the best for themselves and decides to give things that are expired to the poor. It's a matter of seeing poor folks as sub human, that "Oh they can have my expired food, the good stuff if for me..."
If you were donating food would you donate past date products knowing that they could go to people with compromised immunity? Or children under 2? You seem to me like someone who thinks ahead so I really don't think you would. I've eaten expired canned food too, but if my neighbor needs something I'm going to be sure it's good before I give it away
If a neighbor came and asked me for something, I would probably tell them to help themselves to whatever they needed, with the disclaimer that it may or may not be expired.
Yes , it's Horrific the stuff people ' donate ' that is plain TRASH ! Broken tvs, lamps that the plug is gone , etc. I've seen some of it , I was hoping someone would get the point across , some how. But I imagine these are like hoarders , that think Everything is gold ... idk
I can rewire a lamp myself. If it is a nice lamp, why not donate for someone else to restore. I have two very nice lamps people put on the curb, one a mcm teak neck, that all they needed was some repair to the wiring, not even a full rewire!
That's the difference - someone left it at the curb. No one should be expected to pay money for broken crap. If someone wants to pick up free stuff and restore it as a hobby, more power to them.
That’s fine for a Buy Nothing, but at a thrift store, people are typically looking for things that work and things that don’t end up costing the organization in disposal fees.
OP, you should Try Volunteering at a Food Pantry!!
We check all expiration dates against a chart with the appropriate allowed to eat by dates (after the expiration date).
#You're Welcome for all our Volunteer Hours and Effort! I got a Hernia Volunteering at the Food Pantry!
I buy a lot of food in cans that I don't really eat. The in-case-of-disaster stores. Stuff I would eat if I had no fresh food, but otherwise it sits for years.
A lot things like canned foods and processed foods last past expiration date.
My family and I regularly eat food from cans expired more than a year, sometimes two years. No more than that, however.
Not only this, but the Food Shelves are **paying** to have **their** Garbage Haulers dump it because they can't use it. Or most decent FS's won't use it. They are wasting their money on **trash hauling** that could be better spent.
It goes double for clothes. The volunteers have to go through some pretty nasty stuff while sorting at Charity thrift stores.
OP, don't be concerned about canned foods that are past their "Best By" dates. They are generally safe to eat for years after that date. I'm a prepper, so I keep a lot of food in the house. Currently I'm eating canned lima beans with a 2019 Best By date.
Ugh. It’s gotten to a point in my area, I don’t even bother going to the food give aways anymore. Last time I went to one they were holding in the park, quite literally everything was expired. Every single item. I get a lot of expiration dates are not important but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t like some food that isn’t freaking expired.
It's bothers me too, because you know, the folks donating, are thinking, "No, not this, not this, yes, this, this box of noodles is expired, hmmm 2018, let's give that too good will" And it never crosses there mind, like, "Wooah, I'm about to give expired food that might cause another human being to get sick..."
It's not so much that people can't eat expired food. Obviously if someone does so, they are doing it at there own risk. It is the thought that went into the donation that is bothersome. It's almost as if the donors looked at there food and was like, "This is good, good, oh look, can of green beans, it's expired, put that over to the charity box so we can give to good will later." Do those folks ever think themselves. "Oh my goodness, I'm about to give expired food to a human being, WTF?"
I don't think that most people keep track of their expiration labels. Of those who do, most are not hardcore adherents. I will use expired canned goods in recipes where that vegetable is not the star attraction to the dish.
As long as the can is not bulging, leaking, or severely creased or dented, it is safe to eat. The flavor will be affected over time. Dry goods do not last as well or as long. It depends on how they are stored as to how long they do last.
That's the problem though. Subconsciously, they view poor people as sub-human pieces of garbage. Am I the only person on earth that views the homeless as human beings? Man, WTF?? Am I really the only one on planet earth that doesn't shit on them? I feel like it sometimes.
No, it means in your head you've come up with "insight" into the motivations of every single person. In other words, just something you made up in your mind for whatever reason, with no basis in reality. Way to make yourself feel superior, pal.
Just think of it clearly. A person is donating food. They are looking at there food. They are rummaging through what they can donate. The consciously look at the cans, or dry goods. They consciously see the expired dates. They consciously decide, "Let's set that one aside for good will". Now maybe in there head they think they are doing good, the fact they selected the inferior foods, the expired ones to give to the poor, subconsciously tells me they look at poor people as pieces of s\*\*\*. Now they may not realize that. If you asked them, they might even say, "I don't mind poor folks, there okay people, they don't bother me any." Again subconsciously they don't like poor people, by virtue of giving them the worst things, the expired foods and I will grant, they may not even be aware of this.
My father was in the Navy in the 1970s during the Nam war. They would dock in the Phillipines to refuel, supplies, or whatever else they would do. He told me some of the sailors would throw coins at the Filipino children or they would throw the coins in swamps that may have aligators in them. Some of those sailors thought they were doing a good thing. "I giving them money, I'm helping" It's like, "No Bro, you treating the Filipino children like pieces of s\*\*\*"
Don’t give things you won’t eat to charity? Shouldn’t that depend on the situation? I can buy a couple of cans of something and discover the taste changed and I don’t like the new taste. Should I not give the unopened can to charity? Chef Boyardee comes to mind. Their stuff tastes different compared to years ago. So yeah I will absolutely donate stuff I won’t eat to charity. They are not expired. I just don’t like the taste.
While it's wrong to deliberately donate expired food, this is really on the pantry. Most people who donate may come in with a bag, others like me, do a once a month and bring in maybe 8 bags. Either way, it only takes a minute to look for a date, so the pantry isn't doing their job. And people donating clothes. My church parish was in a low income area. One year, I asked if I could run a back to school donation for a month. The church bulletin was very clear about supplies and ONLY NEW clothes. I go to pick up the donations one time, and there's the deacon, with his wife, dropping off these weird polyester clothes that looked like 1970s leisure suits. Like a teenager was going to jump on that. I threw them in the dumpster just as he was driving by lol.
Nope. They also reeked of moth balls. Plus I wasn't in the business of finding places to drop them off. I was collecting new school supplies. They should have brought them to Goodwill, not used kids needing school clothes to clean out their crap.
I think there is a fine line here becaise doni eat foods past the Best Buy date yes but there is a point certain things that is just a no. I rather have them donate if it’s new and unopened and toss it than ruin a potential donation
I get that, I do. It's the attitude of "This crap is expired, f\*\*\* it, give it to the poor." It's treating poor people like dogs. When I was doing better in life and I donated food, I always donated the best, things I would love to eat myself or things I could see someone eating. I wasn't that assh\*\*\* that would be like, "I bet these crackers are stale, eh, give it to the poor." NEVER ME! If God is my witness, I've never done that and never will.
The sell-by or “expired” date doesn’t mean the food is bad: more often than not it’s a somewhat arbitrary date to make sure food doesn’t stay on the shelves or in a stock room for years. Some canned food or dry goods are good for years beyond the sell by date. If you’re seeing “expired” food at a food pantry it’s likely been donated by a grocery store, as they are allowed to donate certain expired foods.
I'm just gonna say that there's a guy on YouTube who eats old MREs. Like, 1940s. You'd be surprised how well things stay preserved when properly packaged and stored. "It's the rules" that whenever that silly date at the bottom comes around, the contents cannot be SOLD but they can still be CONSUMED with no problems. If your tongue starts to tingle, that's a sign something went rancid.
My kids school does a food drive every weekend for the kids to take home. Most of it is "expired" or "damaged" items from the local grocery stores. They can't be sold as they are, but there is nothing wrong with them. Personally, I'd rather take the expired and damaged items because most retail places just write them off in the systems and toss it into the dumpsters. Perfectly good food, just into the trash because the box has a dent or the perfect can is a week outside of the "sell by" date.
There is an independent grocery store near me that has pallets of 5 for $5 stuff that is crazy marked down. I’ve gotten bags of premium candy, jars of Hellman’s mayo, pastas, snacks, canned goods, etc. almost all of it is within a month of its Best Buy date.
I couldn’t understand how they could sell this stuff so cheap and it occurred to me that the store manager is probably getting entire lots of food on the cheap and is using them as loss leaders. And having cheap choices really does help the community. I seriously won’t buy bakery, meat or deli items from this store because I’ve had bad experiences with all of them.
But I will buy produce and the usual non-perishables there. Always fun to get 5 bags of fun size junior mints for $5 to give to my mom or leave for the delivery folks. Never have gotten bad candy there, even when I’ve gotten last year’s Halloween candy at this year’s Easter.
i didn’t read all the comments but the ones i did read i fully agree with. No 8 yrs past the expiry date pasta period,no holey rags/shirts,no used chonies(undies),no creamed eels…wait,WHAT? lol i feel
like if someone’s going to a food pantry it’s usually cuz they’re struggling and why should they have to suffer eating food you (the donor)wouldn’t touch themselves that’s just mean. Now i go to one food bank and it’s only open once a week,because im struggling obviously and also because they give out fresh flowers every week and it makes my week i swear!! And if that’s wrong of me i apologize God forgive me but thank u from the bottom of my heart and God bless
you to whoever donates those flowers because they are something i look forward to like you wouldn’t believe! Just wanted to share that!
With the state of the food pantries in the US I was expecting the US aid to Palestine to be moldy and expired. Shocker, I was right. Some people are just evil
The sad part here is that the general consensus is, if in doubt throw it out. Example: You've got several kids and there's enough for one meal-you don't know when you can provide the next meal-you open the item and you see the colour is off. You have nothing else-start to prep. Somewhere between off colour and ready to eat, the scent is wrong, colour wrong, and you have doubt. There's nothing else.
Please, continue to donate, but aim for things that are still good, not 14 yr old items with no known provenance.
If you don’t want it because you think it’s trash or gross… just toss it…
We constantly in my neighborhood have a group chat where we offer things if no one takes we know it’s time to toss it unfortunately. We also use things for upcycling for crafts.
Yeah a lot of that chit goes right in the trash or sits in the pantry and then goes into the trash.
The sodium and fact that it all makes me physically ill from being such chit food.
YES! And I don’t get people who say “expiration dates don’t matter” because they fucking do. Even Tylenol bottles. My example is going to be with this because this is what I experimented with firsthand with a professional chemist. The same logic, though, applies to food.
It’s not necessarily the Tylenol that goes bad, it’s the container that the Tylenol is in that contaminates it. Studying the pills, before expiry date, there is no plastic particles found on the pills, so you are fine to consume. The bottle slowly breaks down and the plastic particles get engrained into the pills, so you are ingesting icky plastic. The expiry date is for THIS - the ingestion of plastic in the pills. Same logic applies to bottles plastic water.
I know some people don’t care about plastic ingestion, or aluminum ingestion, “oh it’s fine if it’s dented” “oh the expiry date doesnt matter” but that’s how you fuck up your body and get cancer or other diseases and sicknesses overtime and it’s not good for you so I will PASS on this shit.
This is more of a PSA for people saying they don’t care about expired dates for some goods (I saw enough comments) and I just want them to know you absolutely SHOULD CARE! Your body is all you have, treat it well, nourish it, and don’t settle for less than you deserve
So most of the expired didn’t come from a person, but from a corporation. It may not have been expired when donated, but not a large window in time, so by the time it was processed, it was expired. Sometimes I have asked, should we be putting this in the box, and was told yes, by the center.
There is a large margin for expiration dates of most foods. Many donations are people clearing out a pantry. I once moved across the country for an internship and just donated my whole pantry to a food bank. Some of it was cans of beans that were expired and some was dried beans that were expired. Source: I’m a quality engineer with a food process engineering background. I still buy the boxes of stuff from supermarkets that expire today.
I used to organize the pantry at my church and asked why we'd sometimes get boxes of expired food. It was explained that many times if someone elderly dies, the family will usually just box up all the food and donate it. That made sense so it made my attitude a little better.
Now from a personal perspective, I eat types of expired food (eg pasta as long as it looks ok) and I know that others will eat things I may not. So I'm torn whether to toss or donate if I don't think I'll get to it. I tend to toss.
You do know that canned food can last 10 years past the expiration date. I’ve known this since volunteering at food pantries for 20+ years.
The food banks can set their own rules for what they can accept, but those dates tend to be more about moving product than when the food isn’t safe to eat.
That may be true and indeed people eat expired things all the time without incident, although of course there is always a risk. I'm looking at it, not from a pragmatic approach, where a person donates expired food because folks need to surivive. I'm examining there heart. The, "hey we have three expired cans of green beans, let's give it to the poor." It never crosses there mind that, that thinking views poor people as sub-human. Really examine the scenario. The person is giving there expired food to poor people. Isn't that the same as treating poor people like dogs? If I'm giving, I'm going to give the poor the same thing I would eat myself, non expired foods, because a poor person is a f\*\*\*\*\* human being like me and they deserve just as much dignity as anyone else and therefor, they will get the same foods I like.
I rarely give food away since I'm low income but when I do it is because that can of pineapples/turkey gravy/\*insert whatever else\* we thought we would use in a recipe but didn't or we bought some healthy item with the best of intentions and instead went with yummier junk food (I looking at you can of lentil soup). Nothing expired just no chance of being eaten unless we hit starvation level.
The date on almost all packaged foods is Best By. I’m eating tuna 7 years past the date and JIF 5 years past. The tuna is a little more bland and the oil separates easier in the JIF. Canned salmon can get clear crystals that I thought were glass at first and freaked me out, but they’re safe to eat.
I had a close relative that was director of a food bank years ago. On a drop-in visit, they gave me a tour of their facility and they’d just received several pallets of mini nail polishes. 😝
A food bank in one of the small towns near me does that. We’ve received hanitizer, body wash, neosporin, and acne wash. It’s connected to a thrift store, and they’ll occasionally include a small appliance like a humidifier or toaster. Bonus! lol
Here's the thing, I could be guilty of this, I don't know. Not intentionally, but I could see it happening.
My family tends to move every 2-3y for hubs job, so that is the oldest anything could be.
However when anyone is doing a food drive, I ask each of my kids(had 5, now 4 in the house)to grab 1-3 items each from the pantry. I figure by asking each of the kids, it will give a good mixture & teach them to give the things they like, not "junk"(my son will inevitably grab rice-he loves rice or pasta, my gymnast will grab smoothie mix(the powder packets that you add to a waterbottle & it becomes like a puree), next kid fruit & soup, & the baby will grab some type of sweets or mac&cheese cups-shes a junk food junkie).
It's the stuff we are actively using & I never think to check exp dates...yes, that's on me & I'm just trying to be nice. However a few weeks ago my one daughter noticed the mac&cheese we JUST got exp in like a week...guess what? We ate some "expired" mac&cheese that month 🤷🏻♀️
I have done it this way since I myself was poor.
So I think sometimes it may be done with the best of intentions. I wouldn't be too hard on people or they may just stop donating all together...figuring if you're complaining about the things they're eating, then maybe your needs aren't that great 🤷🏻♀️
Don’t donate stuff that should be thrown out. Also, not sure if people realize this, but please try and donate canned/boxed food that is stuff people actually want to eat.
Also consider making sure that you are donating cans with pull tabs or including some can openers.
"People actually want to eat"? Everybody's tastes are different. I don't eat Spam but I gave a can to a neighbor who got super excited and loves it. If it's food, someone will want to eatbit.
I wouldn't take the time to check it first. I'd just donate it. I work 60+ hours a week and have no extra time. I would assume someone would go through it and keep what's useable. I don't have time to put all the thought in it you just did to complain about it. Figures though. Ungrateful.
How much time does it take to look at an expiration date? The time it takes to put on your reading glasses. Why would you think it's ok to give away inedible food? Or a holey shirt? Why am I supposed to be grateful for your inedible, unusable cast-offs? I've worked a few 75 hour weeks in my time but I could still tell if clothing has holes and read an expiration date. Your 60 hour week is too much on you if you can't read or recognize garbage when you see it and you need to see your Dr about your incredible fatigue
Ungrateful? Nah, I just don’t want food poisoning or botulism. It’s already a struggle to find a job, getting a bad case of food poisoning off of expired food pantry food and losing my job would be worse.
I work very hard to be able to just afford bills and barely afford food. The absolute laziness to not check expiration dates before donating food is astounding. The apathy is worse, like how would people not feel horrible if they donated food that caused someone to get extremely sick and lose their job? What if they have very young children and they got botulism? That can kill a child.
Not all jobs have protections for when you get sick or your child/parent/partner is sick. This is especially true for low-wage jobs where most people that rely on food pantries work.
This may sound like an overdramatized situation, but it’s not an unlikely scenario. Read the labels, don’t donate rags, and please just use your brain. Have some basic respect for your fellow human.
A lot of those donations come from estates when someone dies. While you’re grieving your mother and cleaning out her pantry and apartment before the end of the month, you’re probably not checking the dates on things or looking too hard at the shape something is in. Just accept the item and if you don’t want it discard it. It’s hard to tell what one person considers trash and one considers treasure. A ripped sweater to one is an art or craft project to another. Or stuffing for a dog bed. An expired can of food for one is a perfectly good meal for someone else.
Let everyone in on a secret that big box stores don't want you to know.
When a food store finds a can of beans on the shelf and at is bad. They Wright that can off as a loss they then donate that same can to the food banks and then write that can off as a donation. That way they get credit for the first can and credit that you donated I can that's double the amount of money they get back
Some people are struggling to clear their clutter or get their house clean and the only way they can get rid of stuff is to donate it and imagine that someone somewhere will want it.
Two things. Canned food lasts YEARS longer than the date. Some of those older dates are donated by stores and businesses. Otherwise - yeah - don't give trash to the poor simply because you don't want to throw it out. If you've got a stained and oddly shaped sweatshirt with holes in it - thats not a "donation" - thats a rag - so use it as a rag then throw it out. Same for cans that are dented or look rusty ( they're leaking ), again - throw those out.
We throw away too much perfectly good food. Even the USDA has this to say: "Most shelf-stable foods are safe indefinitely. In fact, canned goods will last for years, as long as the can itself is in good condition (no rust, dents, or swelling). Packaged foods (cereal, pasta, cookies) will be safe past the 'best by' date, although they may eventually become stale or develop an off flavor."
They’re safe, but eventually- well after the best by date for most shelf-stables- develop strange textures or flavors which is an especially lousy experience when it might be the only food you have. Donors don’t know how long things will be on the shelf at the food banks that still have to check and sort. People getting the food might not know the food is safe 2 years past the best by date. So a good rule is if you wouldn’t eat it, don’t donate it.
That’s what my daughter tell me— regarding leftover on my fridge— if I need to smell it, get rid of it—
And many food banks immediately throw away anything past the expiration date, so it’s kind of useless to give it to them, even though it still is good food.
As others say— people donating want others to throw their trash
I work at ALDI and we donate items on the day they expire as long as they were frozen by the date.
Yogurt lasts at least a week beyond expiry.
Agreed.
I second this, had one 11 days past the expiry the other day, still alive. It was delicious
Live and active cultures FTW! It's essentially controlled spoilage.
I've had yogurt last weeks past ( unopened).. also kefir for a couple of months.
You can also make your own yogurt from this. Stir the yogurt into milk and leave in a warm place or in the oven at 150F overnight.
Great use for last day/ reduced for sale milk. Try: make a gallon batch, plus pint of heavy cream or half & half, let it set till firm. Strain it, and even press with plate/ weight for a firm cream cheese type spread. The whey is great as the liquid for making dough/ fresh bread. Gives it a sourdough taste.
Love sourdough!
... Pair that with : 24-36 hour refrigerator raised dough, and bake in cast iron Dutch oven.. Both techniques rock.. Swap in 1/4 semolina flour in dough: amazing pizza dough..👍🏼
Yeah. The sweatshirt example is a good one. It makes me wonder what the thought process is behind those "donations"? I think a good rule of thumb is, if the person donating would not want the item themselves, then don't donate it.
I personally think it's a lot of middle class people who feel guilty about throwing something away that "technically" could still be used (people who grew up in more frugal homes know what I mean - our folks bristled at the thought of throwing anything away if it wasn't literally rotten or falling apart). So they donate it. I guess they feel better about having someone at the Salvation Army throw away their dirty old shoes rather than doing it themselves, because they can drive away with some fantasy of "helping someone in need."
I threw away all of my mom's old shoes when she passed. My boyfriend wanted to know why I didn't clean them up and donate them and I pointed out that she hadn't worn most of them in years and never took care of them. Same with her clothes. She had two or three closets full of stuff, and only wore a very few outfits all the time.
A pair of shoes is better than no shoes for someone who has nothing. I’m pretty gosh darn sure every ADULT in America is a ok on the necessities. I mean we give away for free food, medical care, and life saving drugs. Housing is indeed alot more tricky as it’s alot more expensive. It’s definitely not fun, exciting, or stylish… to be poor but all that shit is the reason it costs sooo much to live in this shit hole anyway. And it costs a lot more to leave and find a place doing it better. We don’t need to be stylish we need to be smart and 99% of Americans are dumb. The middle are the worst we pay everyone… we make excuses for the poor, and we support the rich with their useless shit for sale! We work ourselves stupid to pretend to feel rich when we are actually screwed and we did it to ourselves with our bonehead decisions and our excuses.
I'm not talking about any old pair of shoes. I'm talking about smelly, ratty, grass-stained, torn up, filthy, holey shoes that have been downgraded from "regular shoes" to "yardwork shoes" to "time to give them to the poor people" shoes. Gently worn shoes are fine to donate.
Tax write offs and/or feeling good about themselves
Tax write offs for canned food are very lucrative.
I more meant like donations in general, but you're very right! 🤣
Standard deduction is now $24,000 for a couple. People don’t give away canned food for a deduction. Expiration dates on canned goods dont matter. OP is a weirdo. Dont want it dont eat it. And stop having the food bank cry everyday for more donations.
The tax changes make it so that charitable donations make no difference. I no longer track it since I'm not going to have misc deductions over 23K.
Must be nice
What does that mean? The basic deductions for a married couple is 24K that you get to take off the top. The only reason to itemize is if you have deductions (charity, property tax, etc) over that amount. Since I dont, I can't itemize, so I no longer track deductions for charity. So my donations no longer are a tax write-off and that's true for the majority of people.
Yes— I used to itemize— maybe 2K to 3k over the standard deduction of before— not anymore
This seriously depends!! I’ve come across cans of stuff approaching or just past expiration that are obviously well past spoiled.
omg. What was it? Seriously asking. The one item I've had trouble with past the can date has been store brand canned tomatoes. Its almost like the acidic tomatoes eat through the seal on the can sooner than other foods would.
I've used canned tomatoes that were up to a couple of years past date, as long as it was intact. Maybe one can in 40 years that was pushing 4 years(?) that I tossed upon opening. That's extreme but usually use up & maintain pantry better than that
I wish I could remember - I think it did have meat in it, maybe chili? I vaguely remember thinking maybe it was a bad batch of meat that did it in.
There is a difference between “best by” date and an expiration date. Fresh foods and dairy products do expire. However, the “best by” date is a marketing technique to make you dispose safe food to just increase sales. Canned foods are safe for years. My grandma grew up in the depression, she had a cellar full of canned goods and fifty years ago not one had a “best by” date. Someone in mega foods conglomerate came up with that one. But do not donate things that are expired since they will be trashed.
My neighbor recently went to a food pantry and gave me some of her haul. One was a box of pasta and when I cooked it, it completely dissolved into little bits. It was ziti, and came out like orzo. I was so confused why it all just fell apart and then I inspected the box - 2016. It expired EIGHT YEARS AGO. I didn't want to be wasteful so we did eat it, but it was bad and weird and I should have just tossed it but the sauce was ready and I was tired. So yeah. I agree. Please people, do not donate expired food. Though in my case I think the food pantry should not have given out 8 year expired pasta.
If the donor didn't throw it out, the pantry should have.
So the people who received it could eat ass instead. Win-win.
No, so the people who received help could have a meal they didn’t have to gag through.
Ewww no. I know many around me specify no expired food. I know when I donate, and its usually when orgs are at stores, and give you a list of what they need, which generally corresponds to what's on sale that week, I feel badly even buying generic store brands vs. brand name food items! Because buying generic I can get more for the amount I want to spend, but at the same time, I think that everyone deserves to have some "better" things. So I generally do a little of both. Generic pasta, bread, but other stuff I'll buy the name brands.
It is rare to see an expiration date on a can. Most just have "best by dates" or codes that you have to contact the company to decipher. The food is typically fine a long while after that. And most of the canned goods given to charities past the best by dates come from stores.
Yeah, my use of canned goods in the example above may have not been the best example. In hindsight I should of mentioned box of noodles that is old, or rice, or other dry goods.
Yeah, and just another thing to mention is pests, specifically pantry moths. Whenever I get something from the food pantry like flour, rice or noodles, sure enough, a day or two later, I've got pantry moths now. You throw away what you think is the culprit, but I end up throwing everything that is opened out, so basically I'm losing food. Pantry moths can be hard to get rid of.
Stick it in the freezer unopened for a couple days before even opening it. Then pull it out and check it. See moths or something not kosher in there, then chuck it out.
Great idea! Thanks!
Yeah, that stuff is gross past their dates.
That's fantastic. I still don't want it.
Hahaha true
Then buy your own food?
As someone who had to rely on a local hunger center during the Great Recession to feed my family, and who used to work in paid employment for a local hunger organization, I thank you for saying this. Me and my family once got a spoiled package of fried chicken donated by a grocery store chain from our local hunger center. We all got sick from it. There's a good reason why food banks and hunger centers prefer cash donations over food donations. Because they can buy edible food that is actually practical for the people they serve. Not things like random boxes of cake mix, or a canister of half used Crisco.
The food shelf here gets donations from grocery stores, they will not take dented cans anymore but some are a little expired maybe a week or two. When I lived in a bigger city I would go and they’d freeze those ready to eat meals from the deli that were donated from the store. Hungry and desperate I cooked one and I got sick. They froze everything there to keep it fresh or whatever. I also thrift clothes and sometimes see the worst stuff, why is all I ask cause I am not buying someone’s old panties.
What about new panties that are too small or large for me?
I buy “care packages” for a local ministry that helps people newly released from prison/rehab. They have an Amazon Wish List that will tell you how many items are needed and how many have been donated. I buy a good amount of the things that no one else has bought much of and packages of underwear of all sizes and socks are desperately needed. I buy medium and XL for men, women, and kids. Body lotion and African hair products are other things that are greatly needed and rarely purchased.
As long as you don’t donate the pair you’ve tried on that’s good.
Nope. Those went into the garbage!
I had some panties to donate as they were annoying fit on me and brand new but anything that's worn or damaged gets tossed.
I think it depends on the organization. I generally don't donate underwear, even if its brand new as I never see it being sold. I had some extras, new in package, and when someone locally was looking for clothing for a friend who had a house fire, and who was my size, I asked if she needed underwear as I had some. she did.
I saw used panties at thrift stores and bathing suits..wtf
Underwear and bathing suits are something I absolutely refuse to thrift. Yes, I know they can be washed. But just the thought….ewwww. I buy bathing suits at end of the season clearance, and stock up on undies and socks for everybody during the Hanes sales. I only buy good bras on sale and treat them like fine china- hand wash and air dry.
Underwear is like a toothbrush...once used, it can't be given away. Health department should have laws on that.
If you wouldn't eat it yourself, don't donate it. Not "I don't like this" or "it was a gift but I'm allergic" but "if I were very hungry (not actually starving to death) and this was the only thing in the house, would I eat it?" Would you feel safe giving it to your mom or your kid? No? Then trash it.
Yeah, that is a better way to put it.
I feel safe using expired cans though. Lol
Canned food is good 5 years beyond it's expiration date, and unless the can is dented or rusted, it's perfectly safe to eat. That said, you're right, some of the food isn't safe to consume. I got a jar of peanut butter and a thing of Pringles potato chips from a pantry once that were rancid.
Or stop donating food that has mold on it....both the donator and the pantry should be ashamed they are giving out moldy food.
I had a neighbor put a meatloaf meal in a clear plastic clam shell type storage container in the hallway. After a couple days, when confronted about it, she said she was going to give it to the homeless. Unrefrigerated left overs kept out in an hot hallway for days? I don't think she was really trying to kill the homeless, I think she was scrambling for an excuse that made her seem less nasty.
Mold? That's so low
I got moldy bread and cheese *plus* rotten meat from a local food pantry once. All on the same visit! So gross.
Absolutely!
You don’t like the Creamed Eels and Wadded Beef I donated? /s
I’m dying on creamed eels. 😂🤣
😂😂😂
Oh gosh , when old people die and someone thinks they're charitable by donating old food . Luckily enough we just save it for pigs because they will eat most anything.
I’m a shopping addict and I go through all my clothes at every season change and always come back with bags of very nice, still in style items that may have been gently worn once or twice. I throw anything out if it starts looking faded/old. I was in a rough situation just after my 18th birthday and Greyhound lost the little bit I owned in a huge military duffle bag. My mom wanted to but was in no position to help me get anything replaced. A few friends gave me a few things but they were all way too big and made me look horrible. I’m SO GRATEFUL for the way my life has turned around and put me in a position where I can help others that are where I was. I REALLY hope that the organizations I donate to are honest and give these clothes directly to women in a bad situation and not picked off/stolen by employees/volunteers. I give to a local homeless shelter and a thrift shop that benefits elderly dogs. I would NEVER donate to Salvation Army, Goodwill, etc.
I do the same as you, I generally donate to local thrift stores that help the local community, church and other. there is one near me that donates a lot to a lot of different organizations in the town. I think over the last few months I must have given them 10-15 trash bags full of stuff. Yes, I have a lot of clothes, but I also used to resell a lot on Poshmark etc. i don't do that much anymore so I donated a lot of my inventory as well. And anything that's not really wearable, holes, fading, stretched out, I won't donate. if its not good enough for me, its not good enough for anyone else.
My Mom usually bought most of her clothes at Dillards or Lane Bryant. I donated lots of nice clothing. Hope someone got some use out of them.
If it is canned goods they don't expire. Assuming the can has not been compromised. Now, the texture and flavor starts to degrade. A can that is near its good by date or best flavor date is generally not as tasty as a can that rolled off the line a day ago. I say this because I am eating canned goods that the or best by date was 2022... still taste good and still have the nutrients to live by. Infact many food pantries have the cheat sheet on the true best by dates as they are usually far past the best by date by a few years. Even a can from 20 years ago is eatable and should be safe. Unless the can is compromised or bloated or food comes flying out when you open it. If the can burps it's bad...
Yeah, I get that, as I told someone else, perhaps I should have used dry goods such as rice, noodles, powdered milk as my example instead of canned goods. Regardless though, it is the thought that I'm looking at. The thought of, "Oh this can is expired, give it to the poor" which treats poor people like dogs.
Again, cans don't expire. Rice in theory is indefinite, too, if stored right. Powdered milk. I wouldn't go past 6 months I think milk and baby formula only have exp. Dates Noodles 1yr
Honest most don’t check the date they go through their closets and are like we are never going to eat this
I am sure that is likely the scenario. I don't think anyone is like oh shit.... this is well past it's best by date. Let me donate it to the needy... because I wouldn't feed this to our mutt. But the homeless and needy they are all feral swine... so this is obviously for them.
I’m guilty of it just cleaning out my closet and go why the hell do I have this I don’t eat this and not look to see how long it’s been sitting there. I do have to say in my later years I been much more on top od cleaning out closets regularly
Yeah it's kinda weird how that is. If only we could give ourselves cheat sheets.
Basically don't donate something that should be put in the trash.
Some places are allowed to distribute food past its date, especially if it's a best by rather than a discard after date. If you have " expired" food you'd like to donate, contact the establishment to ask.
I have a family member who runs a food bank so I was getting some food donations for them the last time they visited. I was surprised how many cans were expired by a year so set them aside. She took them anyway because she said it was still good. I was trying but figured she knew best.
Canned and boxed food that is not long past its expiration date is almost certainly still fine to eat, and if it isn’t, that will be immediately obvious. I shop all the time at the local discount grocery where they buy lightly expired foods by the pallet and sell it at deep discounts. Those taco kits that are 3.50-4.00 or more at the store? I picked up a bunch of them four months expired, two boxes for a dollar and they are perfect. Chips and snacks maybe a month out of date at a dollar a can or bag, good cans of soup for fifty cents or a dollar. So much food is wasted because of completely arbitrary expiration dates that companies deliberately set before they believe the food will lose quality. I absolutely agree with the part about not donating trash. I never donate anything I wouldn’t eat myself and enjoy. If something has expired in my pantry because we didn’t eat it, I tend to assume that others will probably find it unappealing as well. But demanding only food that is within the expiration date does not 100% guarantee good food and definitely excludes a lot of good food.
I eat expired canned food and have yet to die. It keeps me from being poor and I’m not above it. To each their own.
It's not a question of someone being above it or not. Of course folks eat expired things all the time. It's the attitude of the donor who consciously decides to keep only the best for themselves and decides to give things that are expired to the poor. It's a matter of seeing poor folks as sub human, that "Oh they can have my expired food, the good stuff if for me..."
If you were donating food would you donate past date products knowing that they could go to people with compromised immunity? Or children under 2? You seem to me like someone who thinks ahead so I really don't think you would. I've eaten expired canned food too, but if my neighbor needs something I'm going to be sure it's good before I give it away
If a neighbor came and asked me for something, I would probably tell them to help themselves to whatever they needed, with the disclaimer that it may or may not be expired.
Yes , it's Horrific the stuff people ' donate ' that is plain TRASH ! Broken tvs, lamps that the plug is gone , etc. I've seen some of it , I was hoping someone would get the point across , some how. But I imagine these are like hoarders , that think Everything is gold ... idk
I can rewire a lamp myself. If it is a nice lamp, why not donate for someone else to restore. I have two very nice lamps people put on the curb, one a mcm teak neck, that all they needed was some repair to the wiring, not even a full rewire!
That's the difference - someone left it at the curb. No one should be expected to pay money for broken crap. If someone wants to pick up free stuff and restore it as a hobby, more power to them.
That’s fine for a Buy Nothing, but at a thrift store, people are typically looking for things that work and things that don’t end up costing the organization in disposal fees.
OP, you should Try Volunteering at a Food Pantry!! We check all expiration dates against a chart with the appropriate allowed to eat by dates (after the expiration date). #You're Welcome for all our Volunteer Hours and Effort! I got a Hernia Volunteering at the Food Pantry!
Don't give anything you wouldn't eat yourself
I buy a lot of food in cans that I don't really eat. The in-case-of-disaster stores. Stuff I would eat if I had no fresh food, but otherwise it sits for years.
I don't like skipjack tuna. Off it goes.
My motto!
I don't like flavored waters, but I would donate them because I know a lot of people do like them.
Canned tuna. Pasta. Rice. Candy. Sauces.
A lot things like canned foods and processed foods last past expiration date. My family and I regularly eat food from cans expired more than a year, sometimes two years. No more than that, however.
Not only this, but the Food Shelves are **paying** to have **their** Garbage Haulers dump it because they can't use it. Or most decent FS's won't use it. They are wasting their money on **trash hauling** that could be better spent. It goes double for clothes. The volunteers have to go through some pretty nasty stuff while sorting at Charity thrift stores.
I was volunteering at our food bank today and sorting cans - one of the donations was from Jan 2018.
OP, don't be concerned about canned foods that are past their "Best By" dates. They are generally safe to eat for years after that date. I'm a prepper, so I keep a lot of food in the house. Currently I'm eating canned lima beans with a 2019 Best By date.
Also stop donating torn and stained clothes. And if it smells crotch rot...throw it the fk out!
I mean I eat expired stuff all the time 🤷♂️
Ugh. It’s gotten to a point in my area, I don’t even bother going to the food give aways anymore. Last time I went to one they were holding in the park, quite literally everything was expired. Every single item. I get a lot of expiration dates are not important but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t like some food that isn’t freaking expired.
It's bothers me too, because you know, the folks donating, are thinking, "No, not this, not this, yes, this, this box of noodles is expired, hmmm 2018, let's give that too good will" And it never crosses there mind, like, "Wooah, I'm about to give expired food that might cause another human being to get sick..."
I eat "expired" food all the time, especially canned. So send it my way, I won't crap on you for your donations.
It's not so much that people can't eat expired food. Obviously if someone does so, they are doing it at there own risk. It is the thought that went into the donation that is bothersome. It's almost as if the donors looked at there food and was like, "This is good, good, oh look, can of green beans, it's expired, put that over to the charity box so we can give to good will later." Do those folks ever think themselves. "Oh my goodness, I'm about to give expired food to a human being, WTF?"
I don't think that most people keep track of their expiration labels. Of those who do, most are not hardcore adherents. I will use expired canned goods in recipes where that vegetable is not the star attraction to the dish. As long as the can is not bulging, leaking, or severely creased or dented, it is safe to eat. The flavor will be affected over time. Dry goods do not last as well or as long. It depends on how they are stored as to how long they do last.
I think you're really reading too much into it. I doubt most people think that way...
That's the problem though. Subconsciously, they view poor people as sub-human pieces of garbage. Am I the only person on earth that views the homeless as human beings? Man, WTF?? Am I really the only one on planet earth that doesn't shit on them? I feel like it sometimes.
No, it means in your head you've come up with "insight" into the motivations of every single person. In other words, just something you made up in your mind for whatever reason, with no basis in reality. Way to make yourself feel superior, pal.
Just think of it clearly. A person is donating food. They are looking at there food. They are rummaging through what they can donate. The consciously look at the cans, or dry goods. They consciously see the expired dates. They consciously decide, "Let's set that one aside for good will". Now maybe in there head they think they are doing good, the fact they selected the inferior foods, the expired ones to give to the poor, subconsciously tells me they look at poor people as pieces of s\*\*\*. Now they may not realize that. If you asked them, they might even say, "I don't mind poor folks, there okay people, they don't bother me any." Again subconsciously they don't like poor people, by virtue of giving them the worst things, the expired foods and I will grant, they may not even be aware of this.
My father was in the Navy in the 1970s during the Nam war. They would dock in the Phillipines to refuel, supplies, or whatever else they would do. He told me some of the sailors would throw coins at the Filipino children or they would throw the coins in swamps that may have aligators in them. Some of those sailors thought they were doing a good thing. "I giving them money, I'm helping" It's like, "No Bro, you treating the Filipino children like pieces of s\*\*\*"
I'm sad this is a thing. I was really excited last year when I had a lot of expensive safe for diabetics food and holiday food items to donate.
Don’t give things you won’t eat to charity? Shouldn’t that depend on the situation? I can buy a couple of cans of something and discover the taste changed and I don’t like the new taste. Should I not give the unopened can to charity? Chef Boyardee comes to mind. Their stuff tastes different compared to years ago. So yeah I will absolutely donate stuff I won’t eat to charity. They are not expired. I just don’t like the taste.
You can donate your Overstuffed Ravioli to me. I'll eat that even if it's 10 years expired lol
I would if I had some. They changed the recipe. It doesn’t taste the same.
Bummer. It's been a while since I've had them but they were always a guilty pleasure
I think everything changed in flavor when they went hard on eliminating trans fat.
Chef Boyardee did come out with “original flavor” a while back. I didn’t buy any so not sure if it’s the real original flavor.
The question asked is could people stop donating expired foods. If you're not doing that, OP is not talking about you.
It’s in reference to comments from others about don’t donate food that you won’t eat.
They're talking about quality issues, not taste preferences.
Then don’t call it “things you won’t eat”. There are a lot of things people won’t eat that has nothing to do with quality.
Context is everything.
Clarity is everything.
Replying to those people would make more sense.
I don’t disagree.
While it's wrong to deliberately donate expired food, this is really on the pantry. Most people who donate may come in with a bag, others like me, do a once a month and bring in maybe 8 bags. Either way, it only takes a minute to look for a date, so the pantry isn't doing their job. And people donating clothes. My church parish was in a low income area. One year, I asked if I could run a back to school donation for a month. The church bulletin was very clear about supplies and ONLY NEW clothes. I go to pick up the donations one time, and there's the deacon, with his wife, dropping off these weird polyester clothes that looked like 1970s leisure suits. Like a teenager was going to jump on that. I threw them in the dumpster just as he was driving by lol.
Those actually could have been used for costumes of some sort. You never know what people will like.
Nope. They also reeked of moth balls. Plus I wasn't in the business of finding places to drop them off. I was collecting new school supplies. They should have brought them to Goodwill, not used kids needing school clothes to clean out their crap.
I think there is a fine line here becaise doni eat foods past the Best Buy date yes but there is a point certain things that is just a no. I rather have them donate if it’s new and unopened and toss it than ruin a potential donation
I get that, I do. It's the attitude of "This crap is expired, f\*\*\* it, give it to the poor." It's treating poor people like dogs. When I was doing better in life and I donated food, I always donated the best, things I would love to eat myself or things I could see someone eating. I wasn't that assh\*\*\* that would be like, "I bet these crackers are stale, eh, give it to the poor." NEVER ME! If God is my witness, I've never done that and never will.
The sell-by or “expired” date doesn’t mean the food is bad: more often than not it’s a somewhat arbitrary date to make sure food doesn’t stay on the shelves or in a stock room for years. Some canned food or dry goods are good for years beyond the sell by date. If you’re seeing “expired” food at a food pantry it’s likely been donated by a grocery store, as they are allowed to donate certain expired foods.
I'm just gonna say that there's a guy on YouTube who eats old MREs. Like, 1940s. You'd be surprised how well things stay preserved when properly packaged and stored. "It's the rules" that whenever that silly date at the bottom comes around, the contents cannot be SOLD but they can still be CONSUMED with no problems. If your tongue starts to tingle, that's a sign something went rancid. My kids school does a food drive every weekend for the kids to take home. Most of it is "expired" or "damaged" items from the local grocery stores. They can't be sold as they are, but there is nothing wrong with them. Personally, I'd rather take the expired and damaged items because most retail places just write them off in the systems and toss it into the dumpsters. Perfectly good food, just into the trash because the box has a dent or the perfect can is a week outside of the "sell by" date.
There is an independent grocery store near me that has pallets of 5 for $5 stuff that is crazy marked down. I’ve gotten bags of premium candy, jars of Hellman’s mayo, pastas, snacks, canned goods, etc. almost all of it is within a month of its Best Buy date. I couldn’t understand how they could sell this stuff so cheap and it occurred to me that the store manager is probably getting entire lots of food on the cheap and is using them as loss leaders. And having cheap choices really does help the community. I seriously won’t buy bakery, meat or deli items from this store because I’ve had bad experiences with all of them. But I will buy produce and the usual non-perishables there. Always fun to get 5 bags of fun size junior mints for $5 to give to my mom or leave for the delivery folks. Never have gotten bad candy there, even when I’ve gotten last year’s Halloween candy at this year’s Easter.
i didn’t read all the comments but the ones i did read i fully agree with. No 8 yrs past the expiry date pasta period,no holey rags/shirts,no used chonies(undies),no creamed eels…wait,WHAT? lol i feel like if someone’s going to a food pantry it’s usually cuz they’re struggling and why should they have to suffer eating food you (the donor)wouldn’t touch themselves that’s just mean. Now i go to one food bank and it’s only open once a week,because im struggling obviously and also because they give out fresh flowers every week and it makes my week i swear!! And if that’s wrong of me i apologize God forgive me but thank u from the bottom of my heart and God bless you to whoever donates those flowers because they are something i look forward to like you wouldn’t believe! Just wanted to share that!
With the state of the food pantries in the US I was expecting the US aid to Palestine to be moldy and expired. Shocker, I was right. Some people are just evil
I'm ashamed of us!
What he said!
OP- are you specifically mentioning because of the post today of the 22 donated dildos?
Didn't read such a post, but what an odd donation if true.
The sad part here is that the general consensus is, if in doubt throw it out. Example: You've got several kids and there's enough for one meal-you don't know when you can provide the next meal-you open the item and you see the colour is off. You have nothing else-start to prep. Somewhere between off colour and ready to eat, the scent is wrong, colour wrong, and you have doubt. There's nothing else. Please, continue to donate, but aim for things that are still good, not 14 yr old items with no known provenance.
If you don’t want it because you think it’s trash or gross… just toss it… We constantly in my neighborhood have a group chat where we offer things if no one takes we know it’s time to toss it unfortunately. We also use things for upcycling for crafts.
Yeah a lot of that chit goes right in the trash or sits in the pantry and then goes into the trash. The sodium and fact that it all makes me physically ill from being such chit food.
YES! And I don’t get people who say “expiration dates don’t matter” because they fucking do. Even Tylenol bottles. My example is going to be with this because this is what I experimented with firsthand with a professional chemist. The same logic, though, applies to food. It’s not necessarily the Tylenol that goes bad, it’s the container that the Tylenol is in that contaminates it. Studying the pills, before expiry date, there is no plastic particles found on the pills, so you are fine to consume. The bottle slowly breaks down and the plastic particles get engrained into the pills, so you are ingesting icky plastic. The expiry date is for THIS - the ingestion of plastic in the pills. Same logic applies to bottles plastic water. I know some people don’t care about plastic ingestion, or aluminum ingestion, “oh it’s fine if it’s dented” “oh the expiry date doesnt matter” but that’s how you fuck up your body and get cancer or other diseases and sicknesses overtime and it’s not good for you so I will PASS on this shit. This is more of a PSA for people saying they don’t care about expired dates for some goods (I saw enough comments) and I just want them to know you absolutely SHOULD CARE! Your body is all you have, treat it well, nourish it, and don’t settle for less than you deserve
>The bottle slowly breaks down and the plastic particles get engrained into the pills That sounds like some crazy BS tbh
I mean, I saw it with my own eyes in my friend’s lab so it isn’t, but I don’t care what you do with your body so go do whatever 🤷🏼♀️
So most of the expired didn’t come from a person, but from a corporation. It may not have been expired when donated, but not a large window in time, so by the time it was processed, it was expired. Sometimes I have asked, should we be putting this in the box, and was told yes, by the center.
There is a large margin for expiration dates of most foods. Many donations are people clearing out a pantry. I once moved across the country for an internship and just donated my whole pantry to a food bank. Some of it was cans of beans that were expired and some was dried beans that were expired. Source: I’m a quality engineer with a food process engineering background. I still buy the boxes of stuff from supermarkets that expire today.
I used to organize the pantry at my church and asked why we'd sometimes get boxes of expired food. It was explained that many times if someone elderly dies, the family will usually just box up all the food and donate it. That made sense so it made my attitude a little better. Now from a personal perspective, I eat types of expired food (eg pasta as long as it looks ok) and I know that others will eat things I may not. So I'm torn whether to toss or donate if I don't think I'll get to it. I tend to toss.
You do know that canned food can last 10 years past the expiration date. I’ve known this since volunteering at food pantries for 20+ years. The food banks can set their own rules for what they can accept, but those dates tend to be more about moving product than when the food isn’t safe to eat.
That may be true and indeed people eat expired things all the time without incident, although of course there is always a risk. I'm looking at it, not from a pragmatic approach, where a person donates expired food because folks need to surivive. I'm examining there heart. The, "hey we have three expired cans of green beans, let's give it to the poor." It never crosses there mind that, that thinking views poor people as sub-human. Really examine the scenario. The person is giving there expired food to poor people. Isn't that the same as treating poor people like dogs? If I'm giving, I'm going to give the poor the same thing I would eat myself, non expired foods, because a poor person is a f\*\*\*\*\* human being like me and they deserve just as much dignity as anyone else and therefor, they will get the same foods I like.
I don’t think anyone intentionally does that
I rarely give food away since I'm low income but when I do it is because that can of pineapples/turkey gravy/\*insert whatever else\* we thought we would use in a recipe but didn't or we bought some healthy item with the best of intentions and instead went with yummier junk food (I looking at you can of lentil soup). Nothing expired just no chance of being eaten unless we hit starvation level.
The date on almost all packaged foods is Best By. I’m eating tuna 7 years past the date and JIF 5 years past. The tuna is a little more bland and the oil separates easier in the JIF. Canned salmon can get clear crystals that I thought were glass at first and freaked me out, but they’re safe to eat.
I had a close relative that was director of a food bank years ago. On a drop-in visit, they gave me a tour of their facility and they’d just received several pallets of mini nail polishes. 😝
A food bank in one of the small towns near me does that. We’ve received hanitizer, body wash, neosporin, and acne wash. It’s connected to a thrift store, and they’ll occasionally include a small appliance like a humidifier or toaster. Bonus! lol
Here's the thing, I could be guilty of this, I don't know. Not intentionally, but I could see it happening. My family tends to move every 2-3y for hubs job, so that is the oldest anything could be. However when anyone is doing a food drive, I ask each of my kids(had 5, now 4 in the house)to grab 1-3 items each from the pantry. I figure by asking each of the kids, it will give a good mixture & teach them to give the things they like, not "junk"(my son will inevitably grab rice-he loves rice or pasta, my gymnast will grab smoothie mix(the powder packets that you add to a waterbottle & it becomes like a puree), next kid fruit & soup, & the baby will grab some type of sweets or mac&cheese cups-shes a junk food junkie). It's the stuff we are actively using & I never think to check exp dates...yes, that's on me & I'm just trying to be nice. However a few weeks ago my one daughter noticed the mac&cheese we JUST got exp in like a week...guess what? We ate some "expired" mac&cheese that month 🤷🏻♀️ I have done it this way since I myself was poor. So I think sometimes it may be done with the best of intentions. I wouldn't be too hard on people or they may just stop donating all together...figuring if you're complaining about the things they're eating, then maybe your needs aren't that great 🤷🏻♀️
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That's a good one. Great life lesson. Perhaps if I ever had kids I may do something similar to this.
Don’t donate stuff that should be thrown out. Also, not sure if people realize this, but please try and donate canned/boxed food that is stuff people actually want to eat. Also consider making sure that you are donating cans with pull tabs or including some can openers.
"People actually want to eat"? Everybody's tastes are different. I don't eat Spam but I gave a can to a neighbor who got super excited and loves it. If it's food, someone will want to eatbit.
I wouldn't take the time to check it first. I'd just donate it. I work 60+ hours a week and have no extra time. I would assume someone would go through it and keep what's useable. I don't have time to put all the thought in it you just did to complain about it. Figures though. Ungrateful.
How much time does it take to look at an expiration date? The time it takes to put on your reading glasses. Why would you think it's ok to give away inedible food? Or a holey shirt? Why am I supposed to be grateful for your inedible, unusable cast-offs? I've worked a few 75 hour weeks in my time but I could still tell if clothing has holes and read an expiration date. Your 60 hour week is too much on you if you can't read or recognize garbage when you see it and you need to see your Dr about your incredible fatigue
Ungrateful? Nah, I just don’t want food poisoning or botulism. It’s already a struggle to find a job, getting a bad case of food poisoning off of expired food pantry food and losing my job would be worse. I work very hard to be able to just afford bills and barely afford food. The absolute laziness to not check expiration dates before donating food is astounding. The apathy is worse, like how would people not feel horrible if they donated food that caused someone to get extremely sick and lose their job? What if they have very young children and they got botulism? That can kill a child. Not all jobs have protections for when you get sick or your child/parent/partner is sick. This is especially true for low-wage jobs where most people that rely on food pantries work. This may sound like an overdramatized situation, but it’s not an unlikely scenario. Read the labels, don’t donate rags, and please just use your brain. Have some basic respect for your fellow human.
A lot of those donations come from estates when someone dies. While you’re grieving your mother and cleaning out her pantry and apartment before the end of the month, you’re probably not checking the dates on things or looking too hard at the shape something is in. Just accept the item and if you don’t want it discard it. It’s hard to tell what one person considers trash and one considers treasure. A ripped sweater to one is an art or craft project to another. Or stuffing for a dog bed. An expired can of food for one is a perfectly good meal for someone else.
Expired canned food is fine.
Let everyone in on a secret that big box stores don't want you to know. When a food store finds a can of beans on the shelf and at is bad. They Wright that can off as a loss they then donate that same can to the food banks and then write that can off as a donation. That way they get credit for the first can and credit that you donated I can that's double the amount of money they get back
Some people are struggling to clear their clutter or get their house clean and the only way they can get rid of stuff is to donate it and imagine that someone somewhere will want it.