I'll admit it, I'm a 'code date phobe' - scour stores for most recent dates, pour out milk day of expiration. I'm quick to toss and over zealously clean out pantries (mine and others I love!)
My obsession is humored here with most products having "open code dates" (industry lingo for best by dates). Many even have production dates too!
Ignore the creepy fact that our milk has a 7 - yes, SEVEN - month shelf life!
At odds with my quest for products with the longest remaining shelf life is the fact that many of our 'pantry essentials' require a trip to the USA to procure....
Many others are available here, but so silly expensive it's hard to think of them as consumables - so once again we opt to hand carry in....
Yes, each bag of brown sugar & bottle of maple syrup carried in saves us enough to cover a semester of college.....
OK, maybe exaggerating - but literally - which powdered sugar do you think cost more? The tiny imported from Germany one on the left OR the GIANT Wal-Mart bag on the right?!
Yup - Germany box about 2x the price!
We do get some importation relief thanks to generous care packages and the once annual International Women's Club (IWCK) fair - the American booth sells Betty Crocker and Skippy....
That said, the real challenge lies in optimizing our bordering on hoarding inventory of American perishables
We burn through tons of boxed mixes.....but suddenly are in a position of 'use em or lose em' with a dozen pouches of brownie mix
And I was appalled to see that 2 of my boxes from last year IWCK fair were past code when I bought them (rookie move assuming all goods in top condition there)
They quickly hit the trash (but to be fair, I've never liked chocolate cake anyhow - these were part of my 3 months in frenzy of buy what I can)
As a former professional "inventory manager" for Pottery Barn and the Gap, this lack of panty management professionalism is embarrassing
My Ritz crackers taste totally stale - but I'm holding firm that they are good for another 2 days.....
(and frankly the kids get such a thrill out of their old favorites they haven't seemed to notice
the "left open too long taste")
And given Xavier's more than enthusiastic toppings of Parmesan cheese, we've stockpiled several large tubes. I was shocked to see that my unopened Costco size tube expired June 25!
A year ago this would have hit the trash before you can say 'sorry, butter noodles tonight'. But given I'm 4 months away from procuring it's replacement, and half of our kids calories come from noodles, we are in a pinch. I smelled it and served it with a smile. So far no problem.
Some may call is progress (restoring some balance to my code date obsession), others may call it degrading standards. Regardless - it's making me itch for Excel spreadsheets from my inventory management days past & long for the days of regular purchase cycles.
Here's to catching what catch can and having a hell of a weekend!
Nesquick chocolate milk powder cost us $17 in 2007 in Kyiv. Yep... ridiculous. Also, speaking of milk the store down the street sold bagged milk. BAGGED milk. Yay a short comment from me! :) sorry if it's kind of creepy that I don't know you and I'm essentially blog stalking you by the way. I really miss Ukraine
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