I have a "pet peeve".  It is with people that don't understand what the dates on food mean. Most of those dates mean "Sell by".  I know a woman that will throw away milk if it is in her refrigerator the day after the date stamped on it.  I asked her once if she thought the milk knew it was out of date and

was going to curdle. She didn't laugh. She was dead serious that the milk was spoiled. Needless to say, she throws away a lot of good food. I, on the other hand, go in the opposite direction. Now I will tell you that anything over a year out of date does get tossed. But if it's a couple months I give it the benefit of the doubt. If canned goods are out of date, but the can isn't bulging, I open it and inspect the food. Is the color OK? Does it have an odor? Is the inside of the can discolored? If it looks and smells OK I taste it. If it passes that test I use it. Here's a thought.......When ever you go to the grocery store and they have "great buys" on food, check the dates! I'm sure I got my 89cent cake mixes because they were close to the expiration date. I was so excited to get them cheap that I honestly forgot to check the dates. So this brings me to my cake mixes of which several are dated 2006!! I called one of the companies and was told if they were free of bugs and the bags were still airtight, they were fine. I just shouldn't expect to have a beautiful thick cake. Since I have tried to bake an old mix, I can tell you that the flavor is fine, but it won't raise. So I went phishing and found some cookie recipes.  They all taste great with old mixes so I'm wagering that they are even tastier with fresh ones!