Comments on: 8 Things to Avoid Buying in Bulk

By: Witty Artist

Witty Artist — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 10:54:56 +0000

Great post, Miranda! I don’t like to buy frozen foods because they aren’t healthy and tasty. As for the medicines, it also happened to me once to find a box of expired Nurofen. And since then I always check on expiration dates and try to limit the purchase in bulk.

By: Alex

Alex — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 21:39:46 +0000

I try to eat brown rice because as you mention it is healthier, however I recently had a first hand experience of the fact is does not keep as well as white!

By: Bob

Bob — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 20:35:13 +0000

Overall I agree, but frozen foods and rice? I guess if you are buying a HUGE amount then it might be a problem. But a 6-12 month shelf life is a pretty long time. If you can’t use what you have bought in that time then something is wrong.

By: Emily

Emily — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 14:48:23 +0000

He did specify non-prescription meds.

There was a study done a while ago that most pain-killers still have potency years past their expiration date.

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2000/04/02/drug-expiration-part-one.aspx

“Fifteen years ago, the U. S. military decided to find out. Sitting on a $1 billion stockpile of drugs and facing the daunting process of destroying and replacing its supply every two to three years, the military began a testing program to see if it could extend the life of its inventory.

The testing, conducted by the U. S. Food and Drug Administration, ultimately covered more than 100 drugs, prescription and over-the-counter. The results, never before reported, show that about 90% of them were safe and effective far past their original expiration date, at least one for 15 years past it.

In light of these results, a former director of the testing program, Francis Flaherty, says he has concluded that expiration dates put on by manufacturers typically have no bearing on whether a drug is usable for longer.

Mr. Flaherty notes that a drug maker is required to prove only that a drug is still good on whatever expiration date the company chooses to set. The expiration date doesn’t mean, or even suggest, that the drug will stop being effective after that, nor that it will become harmful.”

By: Kae

Kae — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 14:23:24 +0000

you can freeze nuts.

By: Lucy

Lucy — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 00:14:35 +0000

Vacuum sealing will lengthen the shelf life. A mason jar, vacuum sealed, will protect crackers, cereals, rice, etc. Meats vacuum sealed will last a lot longer in the freezer. Not all of us live close to stores so we must stock up. We do the FIFO method. (First in, first out.) If products are stored properly the “use by” date doesn’t really mean a whole lot.

By: Jen

Jen — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 17:07:42 +0000

A caveat: some non-liquid meds do actually expire, especially when commonly stored for convenience in a bathroom cabinet. The humidity actually enhances decomposition. One example: tetracyclines – they can deteriorate into toxic substances. – a chemist

By: Danji

Danji — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 22:57:25 +0000

Hugely agree with JohnnyH – and many of the other comments – expiration dates are essentially liability dates for multinational food companies worried about getting sued. Smell and taste, and some common sense – that’s what’s going to keep you healthy, not blogs telling you to religiously follow mass-produced timestamps.

By: Gina

Gina — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 18:12:20 +0000

While it is wise not to buy in excess, I agree with the many commenters who are in no hurry to throw out their “expired” goods. This weekend I discovered some frozen mango chunks that were a bit dried out, so they went into a delicious smoothie. Yum.

By: Abby

Abby — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 18:13:05 +0000

We have a colored dot system for tracking how long has before expiration.

A red dot is we can’t find an expiration date but as of a certain date, we had it.
A yellow dot expires this year. A hand written number on it will tell us which month.
A green dot is 2011 or more. If it is a 2011, it is just the month while the others have which month and the last 2 digits of the year.

Just look for the dot.