Use By/ Best Before Dates

[Clive HartlandParticipant @clivehartland94829]

Just been through a cupboard and found out of date coffee and tea and some condiments. 3 or 4 years out of date. It has certainly thinned out the space in the cupboard!

Clive

[the artfull-codgerParticipant @theartfull-codger]

Grinding Disks!= I use mine as I got a "scoop job lot" at an autojumble a few yrs ago & they're now "out of date" but still work ok , & I'll keep using them, LeadPipes= our cottage is 350 yrs old so somwhere along the supply line there's lead pipes & the house belonged to my wifes grandad & he lasted till in his 90s Loctite= I got given a large container of studlock over 25 yrs ago & I still use it,the only thing is that it sets faster than normal[but I can live with that] Honey=I'm using my own honey from my bees that's over 25 yrs old & it's yummy[ after a little microwaving to soften it]

[V8EngParticipant @v8eng]

The Wife's Astra seems to have lifetime warranty, I have not read the T&Cs but think it applies to the 1st owner (her).

That could be interesting, because most of the women in her family have stayed fit and well until their late 90s.

Edited By V8Eng on 22/11/2015 18:25:52

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

It's probably the life of the Astra, maybe until the next model comes out.

Ian S C

[V8EngParticipant @v8eng]

She's owned it 4 years and there is a new model, so that's that then

I put a new battery on it this morning as well!

Edited By V8Eng on 23/11/2015 14:00:19

[GeorgineerParticipant @georgineer]

Ian –

"Got some info on solar water heating yesterday, it came with a 25 year life time guarantee." If you are thinking of spending money on it my advice would be, don't. I had some installed about six years ago, and quite honestly I wish I had left the money in the bank.

George

[the artfull-codgerParticipant @theartfull-codger]

Posted by Georgineer on 23/11/2015 14:13:50:

Ian –

"Got some info on solar water heating yesterday, it came with a 25 year life time guarantee." If you are thinking of spending money on it my advice would be, don't. I had some installed about six years ago, and quite honestly I wish I had left the money in the bank.

George

Thanks for the"heads up" on them George I was wondering about them myself,we keep getting automated phone calls about them [a damn nuicance]

Graham.

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

Don't worry George, my money is safe for now, although the prices are coming down quite quickly here at the moment.

Ian S C

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

I thought it best to revive this thread, rather than start a new one:

I have just been sorting some boxes of tools & materials, and found a tube of Jenolite KOLDBLAK which I bought maybe 10 years ago.

The plastic tube has degraded and split, leaving dry blue crystaline material instead of the paste.

According to the BioHazard caution on the tube, the product is TOXIC and contains Selenium … So I'm not much impressed by the packaging !!

I have tranferred the residue to a better container … Can anyone please advise whether the product can be re-dissolved [in water, or some other solvent] to make a useable paste? … or has it "gorn orff"

MichaelG.

[Tim StevensParticipant @timstevens64731]

The answer depends on which Selenium compound is in there, and what else in in with it.

Many chemical compounds will last indefinitely , some don't, so the answer is – mix some with water to try for the original consistency (the only guide you gave) and try it. Not on anything special, of course.

Regards, Tim

[AjohnwParticipant @ajohnw51620]

Interesting question. It seems to be an acid based process so if these are still about water will probably do it. Might be a good idea to use distilled water. Severely de ionised water might have a strange effect. It turns acidic as soon as it's exposed to air (CO2) were as distilled is stable.

There is some info about on the web about how it works and what form of coating it gives. Use selenium in the search.

John

–

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Thanks, Tim and John

At the moment I'm sulking, because there was a very good MT_1 test mandrel in the same box, and about half its length is currently covered in brown gunge … maybe rust, or may just be a deposit, but I feel sure it was caused by the KOLDBLAK [it's currently soaking in soapy water, in the hope that the gunge will dissolve] … There was also a little Bronze drive-dog which was covered in 'verdigris' but that came clean with a Brillo pad.

MichaelG.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Tim Stevens on 19/12/2015 15:46:35:

so the answer is – mix some with water to try for the original consistency (the only guide you gave) and try it.

.

Unfortunately it was a new, unopened tube

MichaelG.

.

… Just checked the remnants of the plastic tube

… It's described as Cream [not paste], but that's all I have to go on.

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

Noticed recently that even sealed tins (Peas, broad beans etc) have "Use By" dates on them!

Many years ago, meat (the contents of a tin retrieved from Shackleton's expedition, was eaten, inadvertently, by the lab assistant. He thought that it was his lunch, and reputedly said that it tasted good.

In a long life, I have only met one tin that was "blown", and that was a few weeks ago.

Several years ago, drank a bottle of french beer that was two years out of date, without any obvious ill effects, and am still here to pester all the readers.

Can you understand my cynicism about "Best Before" and "Use By" dates?

Howard

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Howard Lewis on 03/01/2016 17:14:17:

Noticed recently that even sealed tins (Peas, broad beans etc) have "Use By" dates on them!

…

In a long life, I have only met one tin that was "blown", and that was a few weeks ago.

.

Q.E.D.

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi Howard, the dates are not always to do with food going off. Best before dates are just what they say they are. All vitamins degrade with time, the right storage can slow the degrading down but will not stop it forever, so while some foods don't go bad, they may well have no nutrition left in them and therefore you may well use more energy eating and processing them than you get back from them.

Regards Nick.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Nick,

Admittedly I haven't seen the evidence, but;

Howard did explicitly write "Use By".

MichaelG.

.

P.S. … For general information; this is a reasonable summary.

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 03/01/2016 22:46:32

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi Michael, his cynicism is aimed at both best by and use by dates in his last sentence, and the same applies to use by dates also but has the risk of making you ill also.

Regards Nick.

[Danny M2ZParticipant @dannym2z]

Back in the 70's, the Australian Senate blocked supply (ie; the Govt had no money to pay it's bills).

I was in the Aust. military then, and one of my tasks as 'Duty Officer' was to inspect the digger's meals.

Imagine my surprise when in the kitchen I noticed cases of tinned beef with a date stamp of 1944.

The cook Sgt. said that that's what he had been issued with. As was my habit I sat down with the soldiers and ate the same meal that they were eating – It was a quite tasty goulash as I recall – I'm still here.

Our biggest worry was 'would we get paid'? – Luckily the situation was quickly resolved (we got a new Govt).

When out in the bush, some of our ration packs were a bit aged also. The biggest culprit was chocolate bars that grew a white powdery film. Although it was officially 'frowned upon' we often took supplementary goodies (jack rations) out bush – it's quite surprising how many hidey holes there are in a Series IIa Landrover – also fishing gear and a few snares always came in handy. That's Keppel island in the background, Gt. Barrier Reef, Qld

* Danny M *

[David Clark 13Participant @davidclark13]

Don't know if they still do it but I saw a documentary of a major chocolate factory that melted their old chocolate down when it went white, bulldozed it all into a pile and recycled it into new chocolate bars.

[MuzzerParticipant @muzzer]

AFAIK, the white is simply some of the fat leaching out due to it having been warmed up. Hardly a problem but cosmetically unappealing. For warmer climes, they have a different formulation to stop it going soft and degrading. Probably makes it rock hard if you take it back home to Blighty to eat.

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

When I was nursing(that came after my aviation career), I was working in a small rural hospital at Riverton in Southland (NZ), My first year there I was in charge of a complete audit of the place, and came across a locked cupboard in one of the ward kitchens. I tried to find a key, nothing, I asked an elderly nurse who had worked there during WW2, and she thought that something was hidden there during the war, but she didn't know what. I was able to pick the lock, and we found dozens of tins of food, the remains of bags of flour, and sugar, and quite a stock of medical supplies, all this in 1970, it had been there since 1940, why was it not opened in 1945?

Ian S C

[Ady1Participant @ady1]

Imagine my surprise when in the kitchen I noticed cases of tinned beef with a date stamp of 1944

The stuff my old boy ate on National Service was all WW2 stuff. Tinned salmon was the best one, Irish stew the worst. The chocolate bars had turned to powder but could be licked out.

Worth noting was the mass immunisation of soldiers for going abroad, around 100-150 soldiers could be done with a single needle before it got too blunt

He's still going… most of the time

[Geoff TheasbyParticipant @geofftheasby]

I've just had a flu jab, and the doctor didn't swab my arm, just stuck the needle straight in. However, when I give blood, they swab my arm for several seconds using a timer, before inserting the needle. At least we get new needles these days…

Geoff

[the artfull-codgerParticipant @theartfull-codger]

Every time we go to our daughters in perth [aus] we usually have 1 suitcase crammed with all different chocolate because the chocolate in aus tastes crap, grandson had 2 absolutely identical advent callenders 1 from us & 1 from his mam in aus, the 1 from us was all opened after a few days but the aus one never touched. The customs never bother us because we declare it.

[Author]

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