What is the oldest date you can find

I have several Christmas puddings I buy them and then do not use them at Christmas. I thought they improved with age.
when I said that to my son he said "What like you do you mean" He can be a cheeky so and so.

I think you probably win Calendargirl i do also have a Hestons hidden orange pud,Chewbacca! not as old as yours(couple of xmases ago) so am wondering if its still safe to eat maybe??( im surprised its still there as i love xmas pudding!)i also had a few packets of various stuff from 2016&2017-which i binned& some fish sauce ( bottled,for chinese cooking) from about 2012(poured away& recycled) but not too much out of date in there,as i did sort awhile ago.) The sauce got missed last time

Yes 3nanny6,i thought so too,& hoped the sugar content kept them safe to eat??your sons comment made me laugh

A tin of strawberries in grape juice - end Jun 2005.
Packet of polenta - 29 June 2000.
(It gets worse)
Nutmeg - end Mar 1993.

Forgot to say that I don't intend to throw any of them away ... in fact I just used some of the nutmeg in the bread pudding I made this morning (delish!). Best Before dates are just that, it's Use By dates you have to respect.

AAAaagh! As a family custom: We used to take a packet of dried veg (!) with us every time we moved. It was pre-date stamps and marked something like 1/3d. I lost it last time in 1999.

I'm scared to look!

Two bottles of whisky that we were given 10 years ago, we hate whisky. Is it still drinkable. I’m sure we can find someone who would appreciate it

It'll be fine Trendy !?

This is being awful but my oldest daughter used to have tins of food years out of date until my youngest daughter went to her house and threw everything out my oldest daughter just said why have you done that I won't say what her sister replied but I did learn 1 thing I found out why she never wanted me to go in her kitchen

Bovril 2004!

a Bottle of champagne - a gift from Colleagues for my 50th Birthday (I'm 72)! I had a weekend away immediately prior and came home (on Sunday - with my Birthday being the next day) to find that I had been burgled! Didn't feel much like celebrating for a while after that - and still haven't opened it!

Calendargirl how can you have half bottles of whisky and brandy started 30 years ago?!

When MIL had died and we cleared out her larder she had bottles of white wine that had turned to vinegar!

Oh, and bottles of paracetamol from 10 years before when you could buy huge brown glass bottles of them, if anyone remembers that.

Trendy
As long as spirit alcohol remains unopened it should be fine. Once opened it loses its strength so those two half opened bottles owned by Calendargirl won't be worth drinking now.

We have just had a new kitchen fitted (finished last week) so I was ruthless when throwing out the contents of our cupboards , so no food item is out of date. I do , however , have a bottle of Pernod bought as a present for my silver wedding anniversary which is now 23 years old . As I no longer drink it may well be there for another 23 years

We bought a commemorative bottle of Hardy's Ale to celebrate our son's birth - in February 1989. He's 31 and it's still in the back of the cupboard unopened.

Have had a clear out of my tins cupboard today. Found a tin of kidney beans with a best before date of 2005!!! Now I am quite sensible about using things up ...especially during these difficult times ...but even I draw the line at a tin 15 years old. Not so dh who has decided he will undertake dinner tomorrow night. Has just taken a pack of mince out of the freezer. Apparently I am now looking forward to the delights of his concoction with the mince 'bulked out' with the kidney beans No!! I say ...please just bulk out with carrots and onions. That will be lovely. Apparently I am irresponsible. Those carrots are good for another week and those kidney beans will do us both good Help!!!

Bottle of gin from my deceased father’s house, 27 years ago. I don’t like gin. Now discovered it’s not useful even as hand sanitizer. ?

Shizam ...I like gin ...I could do a swop with you for a truly delicious meal

I love this thread but I'm amazed we haven't all died of botulism or ptomaine poisoning

When they write the book about Corona, there should be a chapter about the way we all found our ancient foodstuffs.
It will be as interesting as finding edible honey in the pyramids and tombs.

A decoration flower from a birthday cake 41 years

I have loads of out of date things in my cupboards. Dates don't frighten me, I use my common sense just as I did in the days before they put dates on things. Now I'm stuck indoors, I am hoping to work my way through a lot of these items before I need to ask someone to shop on my behalf!

A bottle of very cheap cooking brandy we brought with us when we moved here from London. That was in 1985.