A Bachelor's Kitchen Guide
Freezer Foods:
Ice Cream
If you can't tell the difference between your ice cubes and your ice cream, it's time to throw BOTH out.
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.
In the Fridge:
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 yoghurt. Yoghurt 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 - if you can dig down and still find something non-green, bon appetite!
Meat
If opening the refrigerator door causes stray animals from a three-block radius to congregate outside your house, toss the meat.
Unmarked Items
You know it is well beyond it's prime when you're tempted to discard the Tupperware along with the food.
On the Shelf:
Canned Goods
Any canned goods that have become the size or shape of a softball should be disposed of..... very carefully!
Potatoes
Fresh potatoes do not have roots, branches, or dense, leafy undergrowth.
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 good indications that your bread has turned into a pharmaceutical laboratory experiment. You may wish to discard it at this time, depending on your interest in pharmaceuticals.
Cereal
It is generally a good rule of thumb that cereal should be discarded when it is two years or longer beyond the expiration date, or when it will no longer fall out of the box by itself.
Flour
Flour is spoiled when it wiggles, or things fly out when you open it.
Raisins
Raisins should not usually be harder than your teeth.
Salt
It never spoils. However, if you can't chip off reasonable amounts from the block, maybe another box is in order, as fresh salt usually pours.
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. Even dry foods older than you are may be ready to replace.