Are Expiration Dates A Scam? Does It Matter?

Expiration dates can be really confusing. There are so many different kinds, from best by dates to sell by dates, and so little information about what actually matters when all you’re trying to do is make sure your food doesn’t make you sick! There’s a ton of CYA going on, and no one is telling us where to draw the line.

Well, when it comes to organizing your pantry, I think it doesn’t matter how much of a scam those expiration dates turn out to be. You should throw away any expired food from your fridge and pantry anyway.

Why? If you have food in your pantry that is expired, that expired food is telling you something. What it’s telling you is that you’re not eating as much of that food as you’re buying. And in my humble opinion, if there's food in your pantry that no one in your family is eating, it's literally taking up space and it's best to get rid of it.

So what do you do with expired food? First and foremost, please do not donate expired food to a food pantry unless they affirmatively tell you they accept the type of food you intend to donate with the expiration date that is on it, otherwise you’re basically making a nonprofit take care of your trash and that’s frankly pretty gross. In general, food pantries want donations of large amounts of one thing, rather than bits and bobs in small packages, so don’t be surprised if they turn down a donation from your kitchen. It’s just not worth their time to try to incorporate mismatched food into their programs!

If you want to maximize the chance that someone consumes the food, list it on Freecycle, NextDoor, or Facebook Buy Nothing. Again, please be clear about what the food is, the expiration date on it, and the state in which it has been stored and used. Let people make their own choices about the food they want to put in their bodies with complete information!

If you want to dispose of the food in the most eco-friendly way, take it out of packaging, put it in compost or down a garbage disposal, and recycle the parts of the packaging that are recyclable. Please note: you should never, ever put oil down a garbage disposal!

If you don’t have time to arrange pickups or the ability to easily compost food, I don’t judge. Every act of getting rid of something is a trade off between sustainability, effort, and cost, and every person needs to make their own trade off. It’s ok to throw some food in the garbage now and then. And I actually think that even trashing food has an upside: it may make you uncomfortable, and encourage you to change your shopping and consumption habits so that you don’t have to do it again!

However you choose to dispose of expired food, it has no place in your pantry and I’m hereby giving you permission to get rid of it!

LMW