What is the oldest date you can find

I phoned a friend yesterday - her OH answered the phone and said she was on the other line asking her sister about mung beans. Turns out she'd brought back a lot of tinned food from their holiday home and found this jar of beans. She couldn't remember when she'd bought them but thinks it must have been 50 years ago when they lived in Balham.

When we cleared the flat of an old aunt of dh after she died, we found masses of tins, most of which went back many years.
However since none of them were blown or rusty, we took them home and used them all.

The only out-of-date things I’ve had to chuck were 2 large jars of cherries (bought, not home-bottled) among other things passed on by a friend who was clearing her kitchen before moving country.

I was all set to make a clafoutis with them, but when I opened them they were horrible - just a squashy, tasteless mess. I was really looking forward to that clafoutis, too! ?

Me!
when l was groping around in the cupboard trying to reach the baked beans at the very back!

Eazybee, check out the Michael McIntyre sketch on YouTube, brilliant and so true ??

Erm not quite in my food cupboard but I have an unopened tin of Lyons coffee from WW2. lol. My Mum kept it and when I cleared her house I just kept it. I have now promised it to a museum.

Was going to say not me, as when we moved in 2016 I chucked away anything more than 2 years out of date.
However the reference to alcohol reminded me that we have a number of bottles of Liquer that were at least 10 years old when we moved to Ripon 20 years ago. They are just too strong for us these days, we've gone soft in our old age.

I think that I can beat that. I have some cloves that date back to when we first married 51 years ago. I still use one now and again

Oo, Angostura bitters, Auntieflo. I use a few drops in my Christmas cakes and threw one out this December that had no date and must have been over 30 years old. I only ditched it because I tested it and found it had given up. It tasted of nothing at all.

Thank you so much for this post, it has certainly cheered me up! DH always moans when he finds something out of date but as my dad used to say, Tinned stuff will keep for ages! Does anyone know just how long tinned stuff will keep for?

Found two bottles of food colouring dated November 1995 and March 1996. Wouldn’t mind, but I even hesitated about putting them in the bin!!! ?

I haven’t reached the kitchen cupboards yet, but I did clear out the bathroom ones yesterday. I threw away a tube of antiseptic cream which was use before 1997....

At our last house move, I found a tin of mushroom soup (Campbell) with a best before date of 1984. It came with us. We still have it. I have no idea why. We moved in 1992?

I’ve unearthed a part-used bag of moong beans from goodness knows when - can’t even read the best before date. I suspect I bought them aeons ago in order to try to make bean sprouts, but it’s been so long I can’t even remember a) whether I did, and b) if so, whether it worked.

Still, I’ve found a recipe for moong bean curry which sounds good - it will used up some of my cumin seeds, turmeric, ground coriander, etc., all of ancient date.

It also needs nine cloves of garlic! Just as well we won’t be breathing on anybody!

A bottle of Campari that I bought before I had children, and my eldest is 34! I really must throw it away ?

I did find a very wizened one, date that is, under the sofa. Probably from last Christmas

I have a jar of Dijon mustard in my fridge which the makers say they have been proudly producing since 1747.

I suspect I may have one of the original jars.

The 'sell by' and 'best before' dates are completely black and tattered.

A box of sugar cubes - can't find a date, but these belonged to husband before we met in 2006, so they are fairly elderly. A tin of butterbeans (2009) heaven knows why, because I hate butterbeans. There is also a Fray Bentos steak pie in a tin (2015), which I know isn't that old but it's the instruction to "remove lid before baking" that made me smile ..

Nothing in my store cupboard out of date that I can see ?.
After my Dad died I purloined most of his booze including a bottle of Baileys which I recently came across again. I’ve never touched the stuff (bleugh) so opened it in trepidation, had a sniff and nearly vomited. Smelled like rancid cheese. He died in 2001 . My Grandad still had powdered eggs from WW2 in his larder when he died in 1977 I’m surprised he didn't die earlier ?

Multicoloured musical note pasta shapes c2000! Just put them in a nice glass jar as decoration as they were too nice to cook! Still there in the jar despite moving house in 2013

I found a spare tier of the wedding cake I made for my son's wedding, 24 years ago, lurking at the bottom of my chest freezer. I dared myself to sample it.....and it was perfect.

I have a jar of dried lemon peel and a jar of dried red peppers (chilli) bought in 1992 when I was living abroad. I have used some from them both recently and I'm still here!

Oooo Chewbacca, that pudding is amazing! I had one and ate over half of it (secretly, while no one was around) myself. Mmmm.

Nothing old in my cupboards. I move so often nothing gets saved.

A lady at the health club, before lock down, gave me a large bottle of hand sanitizer. I thanked her profusely. When I got home I found the use by date on the bottom of the bottle- 2007.

Does a bottle of Angostura Bitters count?
I can't find a BBDate, only a for figure code on the screw top.

This is brilliant, keep it up. My spices date around 2009 but can’t find older except a bottle of desert wine dated 2004 but not sure that counts but also not sure it would be drinkable!