This Is How Long These Little Seasoning Packets Last Before the Expiration Date.
You open your closet or look into your camping cooking utensils and find a bunch of old ketchup bags. Are they still good to eat? How long do they last? Let’s figure it out.
Saving these one-time packets of seasoning is a fairly common practice. After all, they give you a thousand bags of ketchup for one order of fries on the road. Why waste it? They will last forever, right? Unfortunately, while their packaging may appear to be true, at some point they will expire. The folks at the Outdoor Herbivore Blog did some digging and asked producers what dates they “best” recommend for different types and brands of seasonings. After they collected all the data, they figured out how long you should keep this packet cache. Here are some examples from their findings:
- Ketchup, mayonnaise: one year for optimal taste.
- Mustard, taco sauce, parmesan cheese: one to two years for optimal flavor.
- Tabasco sauce: three to four years for optimal flavor.
- Honey, salt, sugar: undefined.
For safety reasons, it is probably best to discard any bags that fall outside their “optimal flavor” (unless this is a survival situation). However, in spite of everything, always check the packaging first and check the contents for any strange color, texture or odor before consuming it. If something feels wrong, it’s better to play it safe than apologize and throw it away. Of course, if you really don’t want to waste it, you can turn these bags into tiny ice packs for minor wounds and bruises. You can find out more at the link below.
Expiry date of packages with seasoning | Blog about Outdoor Herbivores via Atlas Obscura