Have you ever looked at foods in the back of your closet and found out it says "best before: last year" or some other date? Happened to me this week when i figured out i would clean out of the closets. After finding very many products that were out of date i decided to put it all into one shelf for easier and faster use:
We have 6 shelfs in total, so 1/6 of the shelfs were out of date (and probably more than 1/6th of the food since i had to squeeze stuff into the out of date shelf).
When people find products that are past the "best before" date (but otherwise seem fine) there are different kind of reactions:
- throw it in the trash
- use it (after reassuring that it still is fine)
If the products however looks, smells or tastes wrong, it should indeed not be consumed and should be thrown away. Also be cautious with the "to be consumed within: date", because this food might make you sick if eaten after this date. "To be consumed within: date" is mostly used for flesh though, so vegan food is mostly safe eating after this date if it seems to be in fine condition. My family compost food that has gone bad so it will turn back into soil where we can grow new food, and i recommend composting for everyone who has the possibity to do it.
Personally i don't understand the people who throw away fully eatable food once it's past the "best before" date. Depending on the food it can often be consumed several years after this date, although it's better eat it within days/weeks/months rather than years after this date =p Throwing away eatable food is just a waste of food and money. Producing food uses a lot of land, resources, water and causes pollution, especially the production of animal products, so to produce food just to throw it away is very bad for the environment. There are also a lot of people who are starving in the world, and even if eating or throwing away this out of date food won't have any immediate effect on these starving people, it seems rude to just throw away eatable food. If you don't wish to eat it yourself you could donate it to someone poor, who will appreciate having something to eat, even if it has been "best before".
People throw away too much eatable food each year, but this can be reduced by planning so you don't shop too much food, correct storing, being aware what should be used from what you already bought, and by being creative in ways to use this food. Old bread can become bread crumbs, bruchetta, crutons, toast, pudding and more. Old bananas can become milkshake, banana bread, smoothie etc. Old apples can become apple cake/pie/crumble, apple sauce/jam, smoothie etc. Plantmilks can be used in puddings (breadpudding?), pancakes, milkshare (mix with the old banana =p), cakes (applecake?) etc. Vegetables can be used in soups, stir fry, oven baked, lasagne, etc =)
By having all that's out of date in one shelf now me and my family have a better overview of what should be used first, and can plan our meals from that. I found some out of date products i could use to make bread, and since our previous bread was eaten, it only seemed natural to make a bread. Here are the out of date ingredients i used in the bread:
The out of date yeast (9th april 2015) in the fridge was sadly turned bad, so i used a fresh one instead and threw the old one in the compost. I mixed the yeast with 6 dl water, sunflower oil (april 2015), dark syrup (februar 2014), salt, wheat bran (kruskakli, july 2012), psyllium husk (june 2013), various seeds (linseeds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, poppy seeds (march 2006)), grated carrots, whole wheat flour, and white wheat flour. I mixed the ingredients together and let the dough rise for an hour or so, then i put the dough in bread shapes and let it rise for another hour. Then i baked the bread in the oven on the lowest rack on 200°C for 1 hour.
Everyone found the bread delicious, and it seems that i have to make more breads since i still have more of all the out of date ingredients =p Next time i'll put fewer seeds on top though and rather more inside the dough, since they fell off too easily.
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