Can You Guess Your Food's Shelf Life?

Do You Know How Long Your Food Will Keep?

July 11, 2008

After a massive trip to the grocery store last night, I spent an hour trying to rearrange my fridge so everything would fit. Unfortunately, I discovered many surprises along the way — namely, food items that were way past their prime.

In light of that, I thought I would put together a quiz testing your shelf life knowledge. Can you guess the lifespan of the following products?

Source

28 Comments

cravinsugar 4 years 44 weeks

Hey Yum or Party, Can you freeze cheese? With the economy as it is, I shop and cook and freeze everything that will last 3-4 weeks for my dinners, but then i have barely used bags of shredded cheese (that won't last until the next time I cook) that i bought on sale and don't want to throw away...

cravinsugar 4 years 44 weeks

cmill38 4 years 44 weeks

wow i got alot of these wrong...that's scary!

cravinsugar 4 years 44 weeks

foor = food

cravinsugar 4 years 44 weeks

foor = food

cravinsugar 4 years 44 weeks

Hey Amberhoney, you should thaw your fish on the lowest shelf of your fridge...you risk bacterial growth/foor borne illness by letting it thaw at room temp

AmberHoney 4 years 44 weeks

I guess I didn't read it correctly, cause when it said frozen I thought frozen - not after you cooked it. Anyway I'd debate some of the answers: Twinkies, wrong - there was a guy on Nightline whose had his 5 years and it's just as soft; wouldn't eat it but it's still soft. I don't eat Twinkies so it really doesn't matter.I'm thawing some fish right now on the counter. :)

AmberHoney 4 years 44 weeks

jennjennnbubba 4 years 45 weeks

I was hoping to find salad dressing on here....

Babycakes1234 4 years 45 weeks

Only 4 right. I erred on the side of conservative, although I got Twinkies wrong too. I've been trying not to freeze anything I don't have to as most things just are not all that good after they've been frozen. Especially meat, chicken, etc...

mominator 4 years 45 weeks

I got 6/11 right (55%). Thank goodness I haven't gotten sick from keeping my frozen foods for longer than I should.

RadishSalad 4 years 45 weeks

Wow! I did horribly! :(

RadishSalad 4 years 45 weeks

Wow! I did horribly! :(

apinkchicklet 4 years 45 weeks

I'm amazed I'm at the top, it's nice for once though. :P I like to know how long I can safely keep foods, so I'm always looking that info up. Luckily a few things I consume were on this quiz. I got the frozen meat questions wrong because I don't buy or freeze meat.

POPSUGAR Food 4 years 45 weeks

Lovely_1, your turkey should still be fine. :) Cravinsugar — there are lots of factors, so it just depends. I would still guess 2-5 days, but that's assuming that it's been stored properly (both in your house and at the supermarket before). I can always tell by the smell.

POPSUGAR Food 4 years 45 weeks

misslilad 4 years 45 weeks

well considering that i am a vegetarian, i don't feel badly about missing the meat questions

cravinsugar 4 years 45 weeks

haha so, how long does milk last if you don't even open it until 2 days after the sell by date?

yellowshoe 4 years 45 weeks

ACK! Only 4 correct... hahahaha That was no good for me! Most I guessed more time than was correct, but I get so worried about all food I don't keep it even close to the actual shelf-lives

nancita 4 years 45 weeks

Wow, what an informative quiz! I only got four right, but fortunately, I erred on the side of shorter shelf life, so it was a nice surprise.

lisabarn 4 years 45 weeks

5/111? I am going to die of food poisoning....

cageyme 4 years 45 weeks

So much for the urban legend that twinkies are durable enough to survive nuclear fallout.I think the freezer times that you have in your quiz for the meats is only true if you repackage it with freezer-specific wrapper or you don't mind freezer burn.I did really badly on this quiz. But that explains why I wind up putting so much produce on the compost heap.

cageyme 4 years 45 weeks

So much for the urban legend that twinkies are durable enough to survive nuclear fallout. I think the freezer times that you have in your quiz for the meats is only true if you repackage it with freezer-specific wrapper or you don't mind freezer burn. I did really badly on this quiz. But that explains why I wind up putting so much produce on the compost heap.