I have some food and I don't know if it's bad or not.?!
I have some food and I don't know if it's bad or not.?
my neighbor just died, and she has a ton of food (literally... 2 deep freezers full, and every cabinet in her house, along with the refrigerator/freezer) Well anyways, her niece, who inherited everything decided to be nice and give us everything that she wouldn't use (which was almost everything)
the items I'm concerned about are an old bottle of ketchup, cream cheese, hot dogs, and pork and some other meats.
the ketchup has NEVER been opened (the plastic seal under the lid is still there) but it's dated 2005.
the cream cheese looks fine, but it's dated 2005 as well (she died this year by the way to anyone that wonders =P)
some hot dogs that have been frozen since date of purchase, but they as well are dated 2005.
the pork isn't like pork you buy at a store, it's like someone takes it to a processing plant and says "here's a pig, I want half the meat off of it, you can have the rest." the same thing with the other meats (theres beef, chicken, and turkey in there)
16 hours ago
well the meat has been frozen since.... *dramatic pause*... 2005. it has been 100% frozen the entire time, and the only time electricity went out at all was during the terrible ice storm that hit this last January, and the freezers are out in a garage with no insulation, so it was fine.
any advice on what else to check for would be great.. THANKS!
Answers:
A rule of thumb for frozen items is If it is in a deep freezer it can be frozen for two years, in a above the fridge model frozen for one year. as for the ketchup toss it ketchup is cheap enogh to buy new from stores anyway. Same thing for the cream cheese, toss it. Dairy can give many horrible side effects when it is expired.
FYI butchers meats are dated the year they were processed, not by expiration date. The meat should be fine if it has been frozen. DYK that people have eaten wooly mammoth in the 1990s and it was frozen for over 10,000 years and they were fine.