Best Before


Last night, while I was out in the lane in my pyjamas giving the dogs their last wee stop of the day, next door neighbour Mandy came out of her cottage and presented me with a newly bought six pack of potato crisps ( chips as you Americans say)
There is a story behind this little kindness.
For years our back garden wall has provided an avenue for barter, egg collection and gift giving.
Dog walkers often give me their orders on the way down the lane and will collect their eggs boxes on their way back to the village. Bags of stale bread, old pasta, and garden greens are often anonymously  left for the animals and only a month or so ago , two large bags of strawberry plants were left for me to plant out in " Bosoms". from someone unknown........it was only by chance that I bumped into Alan Walker the other day, who mentioned in passing that he hoped I could use them.
Yesterday a dozen empty egg boxes arrived from somewhere or other , and it's only been a few weeks since a plastic carrier bag full of scones was found looped around the front door knob.

Anyway last week , I came across a large unopened multi packs of crisps out on the wall. There was no note with them, nothing to let me know which kind soul had left them........nevertheless I was delighted at this unexpected surprise and as I took the dogs out for their walk I tucked into the first packet with all the gusto of Billy Bunter sucking the centre out of his first cream horn.

I was on my second packet when a  head popped up from behind the neighbour's wall. It was the ever cheerful Mandy
" are you eating those crisps?" She asked with a slightly worried expression
" yeash, they're lubley" I tried to tell her with my gob full of potato
" The packet is a year out of date !" Mandy wailed " I left them for the hens!"


65 comments:

  1. Ha! Well, you know, those expiration dates don't mean anything anyway. They're just there for manufacturers to convince us to throw things away and buy more.

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  2. Lol.
    Probably a good job you ate them rather than the hens....salt kills hens, they can't process it.

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    1. Well that's good for the sheep ate most of them

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  3. It's only the 'use by' date that must be obeyed, crisps usually taste ok, though I've never eaten any as much as a year out of date.
    I've just recently had an order from Approved Foods but, this time, no crisps,sauces or other 'forbidden' foods in it as I've joined a fat club. 4lbs lost so far.
    Enjoy your crisps, perhaps not too good for the hens anyway..........

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  4. You are just doing a quality and safety check, you have to make sure they are safe for the hens.

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  5. Anonymous11:28 am

    Almost wine sprayed on the keyboard.

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  6. Mmmm now I knows where to dump...ahem....happily donate those out of date mammoth steaks.......

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  7. morning john; 7a here; again, the first blog read for the day has me spitting coffee at the computer! :)

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  8. LOL well at least you got some use out of them ;) expired or not!

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  9. p.s. and congrats on your upcoming nuptials as well!!

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  10. As long as they're not soggy they're fine. Soggy is bad.

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  11. Who looks at dates on chips? As long as they tasted good, there is no problem.

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  12. Anonymous1:04 pm

    Always read the label.

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  13. Never read the label.

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  14. Just goes to show how much notice you needn't take of the dates.

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  15. If it smell OK and tastes OK, you'll probably live.

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    1. My stomach could probably digest a snakes skin handbag

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    2. PS Maybe the salt would not be good for the hens?

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  16. As long as they were still crispy ... that's all that matters. Smothered in salt there'll be no room for any nasties to grow!!

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  17. HA!
    The hens lost out.

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  18. We fill a big stainless steel dish with unwanted crisps (usually my salt and vinegar), old bread and biscuits and jam from old jars... The pigs tuck in and love it! Didn't you say you use to keep them John?

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    1. My pigs once went absolutely gaga over two bin bags of mushroom volauvonts

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  19. Get the rest down to the hens a.s.a.p. Weight and out of date - both good reasons for eating no more.

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  20. Good job the plastic carrier bag full of scones was looped around the door knob!

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  21. My mum in law left a bag of towels for us a few years ago - she explained that they were past their best and may be of use for drying the dog. They were in a much better state than our best towels so we used them for ourselves!! If food smells, looks and tastes ok, it usually is ok. Hope you enjoyed them!

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  22. Crisps/chips have a nuclear shelf life.

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    1. Anonymous5:36 pm

      That is what worries me.

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  23. EW, John! You need to watch that, it's the hens that like those little worms and bugs that grow in that out of date stuff.

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  24. …..I must start building a garden wall, nobody is leaving a thing on the back fence!!!

    John, you, well what you get up to in that amazing village, are my best giggle of the day!

    Mary -

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  25. At least you enjoyed them, Mr Twigs eats stacks of crisps, every day, very odd.
    Twiggy

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    Replies
    1. Things always taste better when you don't buy them yourself

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  26. Expiration dates are the five second rule for printed material. If they have any date they're OK to eat.

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  27. Handsome chap in that photo!

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  28. Ah the wonders of chemicals.

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    1. They could probably survive a nuclear war

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  29. A big hip hip hurray for Mandy who had these chips in her house for a really long time but never ate them. She must be a woman of strong willpower!!

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    1. She buys em for the grandkids so bugger knows where she originally hid them

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  30. I have always believed that those expiration dates (on some products, like milk, better pay attention to those) are suggestions.

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    1. Me too....I was more bothered by the fact the crisps were earmarked for tge hens in the firstplace

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  31. Far be it for me to tell you that you've got a wedding outfit to squeeze into in not very many weeks now. Think wedding pics - you are what you eat!

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  32. Potato chips a year out of date... no problem... I'm not sure why we are so hung up on eating out of date food providing it isn't going to kill us. I mean who in their right mind would eat a chicken several weeks over its best before date if it hasn't been frozen first, but dried potato chips? Here in NZ we have ex-pat shops for both us Brits and the Saffas, they sell goods that are past their sell by date but have a notice in the shop advising of this so if you are of the persuasion that buying out of date stuff is a problem you don't buy it...me I hoover up stuff from Blighty out of date or not, especially for the memory of it....Vesta chow mein with crispy noodles on top anyone? (Memory one much better than the actual one btw).

    Jo in Auckland, NZ

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    1. Interesting jo,
      I hate the level of waste in this country criminal

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  33. I work at a food packaging plant and we do studies to determine how long our product lasts on the shelf before it begins to develop on off taste or odor. Nothing wrong with eating it after that (we do rice and grains), but it isn't "Best" anymore.

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  34. I would never have out of date chips. NEVER. They have a siren call, aimed right in my ear.

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  35. Bet the bag of scones was from Auntie Glad, baked that morning.

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    1. Of course molly,.....and like you said.....still warm

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  36. Pffft......they eat old food on Walking Dead all the time and look at them, they are just fine! ;-)

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  37. It seems a funny thing to leave for hens !

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  38. Jenny and I were once staying in a cousin's house in Toronto and we had a delicious meal lavishly sprinkled with parmesan cheese. It was only later that we discovered the use-by date on the parmesan was two years previously. But it tasted fine and we had no ill-effects from it.

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