The Food Expiration Dates You Should Actually Follow

• White Flour lasts quite long but whole-wheat and whole-grain flour start going bad after a few months. Anything refined and ‘white’ lasts longer than anything unpolished and brown. This is due to the presence of fats in anything which is unrefined.
• Tree nuts can go bad in a few months if not stored in a freezer.

Processed bread (with preservatives and oils) stays soft and fresh for a week, but real bread made in a real bakery will be stale in one or two days. It’s a good idea to keep your bread in the freezer.

• Dried beans and lentils can last for years but can be tough to cook if they are kept too long, especially with acidic ingredients like molasses or tomatoes.
• Spices don’t go stale, and at most lose some of their flavor and potency while still being edible.

Food packed in aluminum cans, if not punctured or spoiled externally, can be edible after their expiration dates in case of fruits, veggies, or meats, though you have to be cautious and check for moldiness, bad odors or cloudiness. Food packed in metal lasts longer than what is packed in a glass jar, while plastic-packed food spoils the fastest.

Soda cans stay fizzy for years, glass ones for a year, while plastic soda bottles lose their fizz in a few months.

• Oils remain usable for years, but one has to check for fishy, soapy or metallic smells. Touching a spoiled oil feels tacky, too.
• Salad dressings last for months in a fridge, while mayonnaise and mustards can last even longer.
• Ketchup can change color but still be usable for about a year. Pickles kept in their oil preservation last long even without refrigeration, while soy sauce is also usable for a good period of time.

• Eggs can last up to 30 days more than the 30 days stamp on most of the cartons, and give off a distinctive rotten smell to warn you in case they turn bad.
• Milk is trickier, but the ‘UHT’ labeled one lasts longer.

Baby food, due to its sensitivity, carries a federally mandated use-by date. You may not feed it to babies after the expiration date, but you still can eat it yourself for some nutritional benefit, if needed.