How much attention do you pay to the expiration date on dry foods?

[Eastlake]

I voted other because, like joshH said, my fish act like this feeding will be the last feeding they'll ever get. The food never gets close to expiring.

 

[Brew12]

What is this "dry food" of which you speak?

 

[40B Knasty]

I look at like this. If it is past there highest quality of time. Tossing out a food product that is less than $20 probably even $10 is worth getting rid of since there is thousands invested into something you want the highest of quality for. So toss it. Spend a couple backs. Avoid a mishaps and maybe HLLE since the quality of the food is no longer of its highest quality.

 

[Pntbll687]

I am currently feeding Dr Tims food, and it has been expired the entire time Ive been using it. It is a freeze dried food that you add water and freeze to make your own cubes.

If it's a freeze dried product and has a date, it's probably to get movement on the shelf.

 

[AdamNC]

Maybe a couple days past but not much more. Imo it’s like us eating an expired bag of Doritos.

 

[Breadman03]

For my personal consumption...if it ain't moving, I'll eat it. If it's moving, maybe I'll eat it.

What I'll serve is an entirely different story. My wife has looked at me in horror as I toss away meat that expired the day before and wasn't frozen. She's not as in tune to dates as me, so she doesn't notice that the meat she bought expires 2 days before she intends to use it. At work, I live by the minute. If something expires at 1556, it's gone at 1555.

 

[KMench]

No dry food here. Only feed frozen

 

[Greybeard]

With the exception of nori sheets, and the ones I buy are intended for human consumption, I don't feed much dry food.

Those that I do are probably expired.

Expiration dates on human foods rarely indicate quality or suitability for human consumption. Regulations require an expiration date... so they put one on there. If you throw out food because it's expired... hey, just means you'll buy more. I pay little, if any, attention to such things. There's an expiration date on saltine crackers... what for? If they're sealed, still crispy, they're fine. Canned vegies? As long as they smell good, color isn't off, no problem. Milk? The only thing I'm interested in is the smell test.. if it passes, I'm drinking it. Cheese? For heaven's sake... cheese is _supposed_ to be aged.

Anybody like Asian cuisine? Watch a video some time on how fish sauce is made

As someone already mentioned, I have MRE's from the late 80's. With the exception of the clam chowder and the cheddar cheese sauce <shudder>, I'd eat 'em, no problem.

Fish food? I try and feed a high quality diet to my fishes. LRS, Rod's, Hikari, and PE are my normal foods. I worry far more about keeping it frozen than I do about expiration dates. Let that stuff thaw bringing it home, or worse yet, in the delivery truck from some online source, and expiration date or no, it's not going to retain it's quality. I carry a cooler and ice packs to the LFS when I'm buying frozen foods.

 

[cracker]

I use very little dry food. Just some pellets if I want to use some vita chem or such. I'm not concerned about the nutritional value it's just a means to present something else.
I have some corella flake I just found it in the freezer unopened & a year out of date. So I add a good pinch to the frozen fish food mix. Which I do watch carefully for spoilage.

 

[Halal Hotdog]

The example that jumps out at me is nori. I would have no apprehensions feedings nori past its 'sell by date'. As long as it is kept dry with no exposure to direct sunlight, I feel perfectly safe consuming it and feeding it to my fish. For a lot of products the 'sell by date' is just 1 year past the date that it was manufactured, in a lot of those instances it is an arbitrary date.

 

[Greenstreet.1]

other as I don't feed dry foods.

 

[sfin52]

There’s an expiration date on dry goods.

 

[revhtree]

I usually will feed it if it's not like YEARS past the date.

 

[Potatohead]

Maybe a couple days past but not much more. Imo it’s like us eating an expired bag of Doritos.

The Doritos were still bad for you before the expiration date and they are still delicious after. What's the problem

 

[vetteguy53081]

I refrigerate or freeze them for freshness and extended use

 

[Reefinny]

They expire? ;Vomit

 

[evolved]

If it still tastes fresh to me after the expiration date, I'll use it. ;Wacky

 

[mfinn]

I didn't really pay attention to any dates on any of the labels.
But since you brought this up I looked at the only dry food I'm feeding at this time and the container of NLS Algaemax I have has a use by date of 7/21 and I've had it for about a year.

I dug into the back of my supply cabinet and found a container of Spectrum Thera + A that has a use by date of 6/14. But I haven't use it or even looked at it for a very long time.

 

[Jesterrace]

What is this "dry food" of which you speak?

Agreed. I keep some mysis pellets around as a backup and have some dried seaweed for the same reason, but I rarely use it. Huge difference in how nasty the water is between my reef frenzy and the dried foods.

 

[CWR24]

They'll put an expiration date on a dang bottle of water nowadays...........

Only want you to throw stuff away to buy more from them is what I think.