Cathy Classics by Cathy Guisewite for March 18, 2010

Agreed!!! Good Morning All!!!!!!!

Sooooooooo, if the food is still good by that woman’s nose why does Cathy look like she’s about to pass out in the last panel? She should not only toss the food, but the outlaws as well!

outlaws are wanted

While mothers’ noses are usually the more discerning, I think this mother-in-laws nose is past her “use by” date.

doctor toon -

they don’t. the dates are chosen to give a very high probability that the food will still be usable on the use-by date (assuming proper storage, etc.).

after that, the consumer is on his/her own.

If in doubt…throw it out!

The dates are chosen to protect the seller. Usually the food is good for quite a while after the use-by date. You just have to get to know what food will be ok and what won’t. And, of course, smell it (or even taste it) to check.

Occasionally it goes bad before the use-by date - or even before the sell-by date. Then I guess you can return it to the store.

I bet she ate everything.

What’s left has her nose in it.

GREAT!

Eggs are good for more than a month after the date on the carton. Medicine and vitamins, one to two years.

The only thing that really abides by that date is milk. Usually within seconds of the date it forms clots. Yuk. Organic milk not so much. It’s ultra pasteurized, and good for a month or more. I still end up throwing it out before it’s used up.

When I was a kid (not that long ago), nothing had expiration dates, now even paint has them.

Food lasts long after the dates expire. Sometimes flavor is reduced, but it’s still good, and won’t hurt you.

The main reason people get e-coli and salmonella, is because they don’t wash the meat before they cook it. You need to wash it! You don’t know where it’s been. Then cook it thoroughly, and don’t reuse utensils from raw meat to cooked meat, especially pork! And wash your hands and everything else in hot, hot water.

That was the recommendation on NPR last week – ignore the sell by date and use your nose. Veggies also hold e-coli (from fertilizer) and should be washed thoroughly (even if the package says they’ve been washed THREE times). And if you don’t buy organic eggs (quite expensive), the shells may also have e-coli because of the crowded conditions chickens live in – so wash the shells.

The MIL has already expired and her use by date is beyond the capabilities of any nose I’ve ever met. Maybe she will just shrivel up and blow away one day – nope, Cathy could never be that lucky.

I’m with Mrs Luke on this one. We used to learn ways to tell spoiled food: -smell the milk. -if the end of a can is puffed out before it is opened, toss it. -wash all the vegies, wash or wipe off meat and cook it well. -eggs are good if the yolk isn’t broken and it stands up in the white. -we used to cut mold off of cheese- I mean what is blue cheese, anyway?

I do draw the line at what one of my mom’s friends, Signe would say —weevils in the flour? that’s why they make sifters. —

Oh, this is my mom to a tee. Even if the food still smelled okay and was in date, she’d throw it out, “just to be safe”.

also, ellisaana, cracked eggs are still good if the membrane is intact.

I spend the extra on the organic milk because it’s good for almost 2 months. I throw the organic, ultrapasteurized milk out because it never ends up getting used by the date. I don’t mess with milk. If it’s at that date, it goes down the drain, at $4 a half gallon! If there’s no milk in the house, that’s when I NEED it for something. I can’t win.

Sorry I previously wrote about milk above in a confusing way. I should have been clearer.