Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Dining Alone - at your desk

Does anyone know whether eating convenience foods after their "best by" date will kill you?

It's raining outside, I have a meeting in an hour, I'm starving for lunch, and all I have in my emergency food stash in my desk drawer is a container of Healthy Choice lentil soup with an expiration date of December 2010.

Lunchtime gives me a chance to do my French homework, which is due this evening in class. Our professor claims that writing out your answers in longhand really helps you remember and mentally process the language.

My emergency food stash is for exactly such an occasion - when I don't want to go out for lunch, or don't have time to, or don't have enough cash on hand. I usually have on hand some individual serving-size cans of tuna; sealed containers of soup or Kraft mac and cheese, packets of instant ramen or Thai noodles. My problem is that sometimes I get hungry and eat them even when I can go out to lunch, so when a day like today comes up, I end up with expired lentil soup.

It wasn't so bad, spiced up with a squirt from a plastic packet of Taco Bell hot sauce, also in the drawer.

What's in your emergency stash drawer where you work?

6 comments:

ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said...

It's probably o.k., he vouchsafed.

(Actually I have no idea, I just wanted to type vouchsafe.)
~

smalltownme said...

As long as the can is not bulging, it's probably safe to eat, although the flavor may have deteriorated. I learned this in my childhood.

I always used to keep a stash of Cup Noodles for those emergency lunches. Now, I have some Clif Bars stashed in the car, purse, etc.

Cassi said...

Today I used a can of peas in our dinner that had an expiration date of 2007! I tasted them first and they seemed fine. None of us has died yet :-)

The only emergency food I keep in my office is chocolate.

Mingus said...

Deadly choice.

M. Bouffant said...

Weasel words: "Best by." At the worst the salt will have gone & it won't taste so good, as noted above.

All home no office for me, but ramen & peanut butter. (Not necessarily together.) Occasionally bananas.

Karen (formerly kcinnova) said...

No bulging? No other signs of deterioration? I'd eat it. But then, I'm pretty darn frugal.

I currently have a stash of miniature PB cups in the car. Not exactly for emergencies....