Good or bad?

[Bat]

How To Tell When Your Food Is Spoiled

Whether you are a mom who cooks for many, a bachelor who cooks on rare occasions for himself, or a new college student who for the first time has his or her own refrigerator -- you will eventually all open the fridge one day and say to yourself, "Can I eat this or will it kill me?"

Well here are some guidelines to help you get through the crisis, so you will know what to eat and what to toss.




THE GAG TEST
Anything that makes you gag is spoiled (except for leftovers from what you cooked for yourself last night).

EGGS
When something starts pecking its way out of the shell, the egg is probably past its prime.

DAIRY PRODUCTS
Milk is spoiled when it starts to look like yogurt. Yogurt is spoiled when it starts to look like cottage cheese. Cottage cheese is spoiled when it starts to look like regular cheese. Regular cheese is nothing but spoiled milk anyway and can't get any more spoiled than it is already. Cheddar cheese is spoiled when you think it is blue cheese but you realize you've never purchased that kind.

MAYONNAISE
If it makes you violently ill after you eat it, the mayonnaise is spoiled.

FROZEN FOODS
Frozen foods that have become an integral part of the defrosting problem in your freezer compartment will probably be spoiled (or wrecked anyway) by the time you pry them out with a kitchen knife.

EXPIRATION DATES
This is NOT a marketing ploy to encourage you to throw away perfectly good food so that you'll spend more on groceries. Perhaps you'd benefit by having a calendar in your kitchen.

MEAT
If opening the refrigerator door causes stray animals from a three-block radius to congregate outside your house, the meat is spoiled.

BREAD
Sesame seeds and Poppy seeds are the only officially acceptable "spots" that should be seen on the surface of any loaf of bread. Fuzzy and hairy looking white or green growth areas are a good indication that your bread has turned into a pharmaceutical laboratory experiment.

FLOUR
Flour is spoiled when it wiggles.

LETTUCE
Bibb lettuce is spoiled when you can't get it off the bottom of the vegetable crisper without Comet. Romaine lettuce is spoiled when it turns liquid. (We didn't think you needed guidance with this one)

CANNED GOODS
Any canned goods that have become the size or shape of a softball should be disposed of.
Carefully.

CARROTS
A carrot that you can tie a clove hitch in is not fresh.

RAISINS
Raisins should not be harder than your teeth.

POTATOES
If it looks like it is ready for planting, toss it.

CHIP DIP
If you can take it out of its container and bounce it on the floor, it has gone bad.

EMPTY CONTAINERS
Putting empty containers back into the refrigerator is an old trick, but it only works if you live with someone or have a maid.

UNMARKED ITEMS
You know it is well beyond prime when you're tempted to discard the Tupperware along with the food. Generally speaking, Tupperware containers should not burp when you open them.

GENERAL RULE OF THUMB
Most food cannot be kept longer than the average life span of a hamster. Keep a hamster in or nearby your refrigerator to gauge this.

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[Skylace]

Excellent tips Bat! Thanks for these!

[eefanincan]

Great tips, Bat. I think I'll put this list beside the fridge at work.

[IRiSHMaFIA]

I've had the displeasure of experiencing bad mayonnaise and that's something I'll never forget. I literally thought I was dying I felt so ill. The same thing happened to me using sour cream that had turned but I had no clue, and that time I took a pal down with me. We had some on baked potatoes at a bbq I had and we both ended up violently ill the day after and bedridden for 3-4 days.

Good tips Bat. The egg one about made me gag though!

[6ULDV8]

Add to the list:

Deli sliced meats, pre packed or from the deli counter:
If what was brown is now green, or pink is now brown, there is a good chance it has passed it's due time....
Another good indication of this could be the fact you knew it was sliced when you bought it & now you need a buzz saw to make a sandwhich.


Choc' Milk:
Large white lumps floating atop the Choc' Milk is a no go...
Don't be fooled by thinking it's marshmellows that come in hot choc' drinks...


Baking Soda:
That large lump of rock smelling of fishy garlic & onion...
It was placed in there as a powder to absorb them odors & it's not a good idea to chip away at it so you can add it to recipes that call for Baking Soda (as my mother did Xmas 05 here).


Whole wheat pasta:
It maybe healthy for you, it may be kinda' brown & flecked...
However, despite the protein in the little black things moving about in it, not a good idea to eat it now.


The Pork chops you almost had time to cook but put back in the fridge after they had been introduced to a pan for a few mins before deciding to order pizza... not a good idea.

[girldorksrule]