Expiration date past & consumption?

[ahansel]

I have a handful of Heather's Choice dehydrated meals that are now past the stated expiration date (expiration date is in March 2025). I'm now eating them as normal meals at home because I hate to see them go to waste, and I'm paranoid about eating meals when they're a few months past their expiration date.

The question is: How long after an expiration date do you think it is safe to eat (won't make you sick), versus how long after expiration the nutritional value has degraded? I'm working on the assumption that there is a different timeline for those two things.

 

[Marbles]

I'm still eating some Backpackers Pantry meals that are 2-3 years past expired.

Safe, no clue, you are stuck with your own judgement on that one.

 

[fmyth]

I ate a MH Chicken A La King that was 5 years past the expiration date and didn't get sick.

 

[V2Pnutrition]

Light, enzymatic activity, and moisture (content of a food) are the three greatest threats to food spoiling.

Most all of those should be taken care of with the food being in mylar bags and and undergoing processing ahead of time (the same reason I wouldn't worry about any nutrient degradation that happens beyond whatever the food undergoes in processing).

This is all assuming that everything pre-preservation (dehydrate, freeze dry, etc.) was kosher (no microbial growth on the food, proper food handling, nothing intrinsically in the food ahead of time, etc.).

Make your own call, but I have some that have expired in 2020 in my tote that I plan on getting to some day.

 

[Poser]

I would note that Heather's Choice meals are dehydrated not freeze dried. HC meals also tend to have much higher fat content than the freeze dried companies.

 

[Speaks]

I would have zero worry being a month or two past the date, I really dont think I would be overly concerned it they were a year or two past. These things are made to last years, the margin of error on estimating when it might go bad would be far more than a few months and they have no reason to not be overly conservative with it.

 

[ahansel]

I would note that Heather's Choice meals are dehydrated not freeze dried. HC meals also tend to have much higher fat content than the freeze dried companies.

The dehydrated vs freeze-dried is the main reason why I'm being more cautious about the expiration date. My understanding is that dehydrated meals retain more nutrient content vs fresh food and that freeze dried keep a lot longer but you're losing more of the bioavailability of the nutrients vs dehydrated.

 

[ahansel]

I would have zero worry being a month or two past the date, I really dont think I would be overly concerned it they were a year or two past. These things are made to last years, the margin of error on estimating when it might go bad would be far more than a few months and they have no reason to not be overly conservative with it.

Agree with you on 3-6 months past expiration for the dehydrated meal and probably even more margin of error for freeze-dried.

 

[ahansel]

I would note that Heather's Choice meals are dehydrated not freeze dried. HC meals also tend to have much higher fat content than the freeze dried companies.

Have you seen any research or content on higher fat content meals and expiration date? I know that meals with higher fat content take longer to rehydrate ... that's why some guys take only meals that have lower fat (esp beef fat) bc they're easier to rehydrate. So if your jetboil gets busted you can still rehydrate a low-fat meal with cold water, and higher fat content ones don't really rehydrated with cold water (if a situation creates that necessity)

 

[Dave_]

As long as they were stored correctly (especially temp) they should last for years past the date.

I've eaten 10+ year old MREs that were fine. As long as the packaging is solid and it smells fine, go for it.



Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

 

[V2Pnutrition]

The dehydrated vs freeze-dried is the main reason why I'm being more cautious about the expiration date. My understanding is that dehydrated meals retain more nutrient content vs fresh food and that freeze dried keep a lot longer but you're losing more of the bioavailability of the nutrients vs dehydrated.

Typically the opposite. Vitamins are going to be more prone to degradation via excess heating than cold-treatment (this is why vegetables frozen at the picking site retain more nutrients than fresh that sit on a shelf). Unless a company has taken this into consideration by dehydrating the entire batch at <135F (even as low as 85-90F), heat-sensitive nutrients with lose some potency.
Fat will go "rancid" in most cases and have an effect on taste/texture/consistency more than anything else (it being "bad"). HC meals are fairly low on the fat side of things when compared to other offerings from Peak (nearly double). The reason most advise lower fat meats is the end texture if FAR better than fattier cuts- it's more like a beef crumble than a rubbery piece of chewing gum.

If you're up for it, send me a good email address and I'll send you a guide we wrote on this for free. It talks about how to dehydrate your own food, but also gives some background to many of the questions you're asking.

 

[ahansel]

Typically the opposite. Vitamins are going to be more prone to degradation via excess heating than cold-treatment (this is why vegetables frozen at the picking site retain more nutrients than fresh that sit on a shelf). Unless a company has taken this into consideration by dehydrating the entire batch at <135F (even as low as 85-90F), heat-sensitive nutrients with lose some potency.

Fat will go "rancid" in most cases and have an effect on taste/texture/consistency more than anything else (it being "bad"). HC meals are fairly low on the fat side of things when compared to other offerings from Peak (nearly double). The reason most advise lower fat meats is the end texture if FAR better than fattier cuts- it's more like a beef crumble than a rubbery piece of chewing gum.

If you're up for it, send me a good email address and I'll send you a guide we wrote on this for free. It talks about how to dehydrate your own food, but also gives some background to many of the questions you're asking.

For sure interested. Sending you a PM with my email.

 

[Sccritterkiller]

It's still 2025 how is that expired?

 

[ahansel]

It's still 2025 how is that expired?

Expiration date on the lot I have is March 5, 2025, so they've been technically "expired" for little over a month. Prob fine for awhile, just doing research in what "awhile" really means.

 

[Sccritterkiller]

Expiration date on the lot I have is March 5, 2025, so they've been technically "expired" for little over a month. Prob fine for awhile, just doing research in what "awhile" really means.

Just ate a peak from '22 on turkey hunt last week...no issues.
Some you guys crack me up...smh

 

[ahansel]

Just ate a peak from '22 on turkey hunt last week...no issues.
Some you guys crack me up...smh

Glad I could make you laugh! I’m not ashamed to say I have a sensitive gut, haha.

 

[ElkArcher918]

Any Peak Refuel and such I'll eat if it's less than 2 years old. No problems here. I think most dehydrated food manufacturers probably build in a safety/taste time factor into their products. Just like when your gas tanks reads Empty but you can still get another 30 miles on fumes. Just saying, not a scientific assessment.