Best if used by

[greatbear]

Jeff and I have been cleaning up stuff in the basement. In one of the cabinets I use for storing non-perishable food we found a box of Kellogg's corn flakes. The box had been opened and a portion of the cereal had been used, and the bag was not even resealed. The box has a use-by date of Nov. 9, 1996. The box has been around the house for 13 years. That's not the scary part.

The scary part is that the cereal tasted like it was a freshly-opened new box.

Comments

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

I sampled it. I did not pour myself a heaping bowl of it for breakfast. It even smelled good. Stuff has a half-life better than strontium-90.

[cpj.livejournal.com]

Wow. You really did eat it.

Did it come with a free CD with NCSA Mosaic?

[nfotxn.livejournal.com]

LOL... but wouldn't it be like AOL or something?

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

Floppy for CompuServe! ;)

[barak.livejournal.com]

I can't believe you ate it!! Someone have the Emergency Room on alert, mmmkay?

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

It was just a handful at most. But I gotta say, I bet with milk there'd be no difference at all.

All those preservatives really do the trick.

[mondragon.livejournal.com]

non-decaying mcdonalds hamburger

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

What mazes me is the longevity of the fries. I have written before that any fries lost in the far reaches of a car's interior will outlast the car itself. I've done restos on cars 30, 40 or more years old. Quite often there are fries among the lost debris hidden under the back seats. If they have not been covered up with anything else, they look like the day they were lost. I've lost fries inside my cars/trucks countless times. I dont fret it, I figure I will eventually find them when I clean up the interior. The lost fries look perfect. Only a couple times have I tried them. They just taste dry.

[mondragon.livejournal.com]

Thinking about this more, though, the fries don't have much in the way of moisture in them and dry out quickly. Same with the burger and the bun - dried bread crumbs and beef jerky are examples of things that last for a long time with no refrigeration. So I don't know if the decade-old burger and bun are really a good example of how artificial McDonalds food is.

[redmoonriver.livejournal.com]

I'd have to agree with the others. The scary part - someone *thought* to taste it. The scarier part - you DID.

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

I wont tell you about giving our dog Kodi some gourmet dog food that looked and smelled so good I had to give it a taste. It was actually quite good.

[redmoonriver.livejournal.com]

that's nothing. while I don't leap for dog food... it's not ... yeah. 13 years old...

*hugs* I still love ya. Maybe even a little more if that makes any sense. ;)

[robearal.livejournal.com]

It's an Easter Miracle!
Braise Jeebus.

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

Indeed! My cereal rose from the dead after 13 years. Jesus had to cash in after only three days.