What John said.
I used to drive by a TJMaxx fairly often and would pop in to check the kitchen stuff from time to time. I got a 16-inch square end-grain cutting board that’s 2.5 inches thick, selling there for something like $20 and at BBB selling around $150 (numbers very approximate, still ingesting a.m. caffeine and this was probably 25 years ago). I’ve gotten the odd utility knife or skillet there that seemed similarly underpriced.
I think back then most of these kinds of deals were something like an overstock situation, because a lot of the time they didn’t carry, e.g., wooden cutting boards at all, and certainly I never saw another heavy end-grain in there again.
I wonder how long one can actually freeze things. I know the US gov’t says frozen meats should be eaten within “4-12 months”, and, very strangely to me, that bacon should be eaten within “1 month” of freezing it. These guidelines seem nuts to me. But in line with my comment above, maybe they’re for the person whose freezer doesn’t do a good job staying very cold.
I’ve eaten bacon that’s been in there over a year, and also beef standing rib roasts over 5 years (several times), a couple of chickens pushing 6, and one turkey that had been frozen over 5 years. All were just as good as if I’d only had them frozen 2 weeks.
Edit to add:
I’m not sure. As long as there’s no critters in it, most white rices, like Bomba, should be shelf-stable pretty much forever.
Brown rice seems to get a “rancid butter” smell after too long, though. I’m guessing the bran has a fair bit of oil.
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I think the only thing more dangerous than arguing with someone about food safety is arguing with someone about politics.
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I don’t think the rice discussion is about safety (“stale”) and it doesn’t seem to be a very argumentative discussion to me. Less argumentative than my comment here to you!
Anyone freeze butter before? Does it thaw pretty much the same as it was before the freeze? Do you just zip lock the butter box to keep flavors being altered?
It is only a $8 pound box of butter but I hate to just throw stuff out.
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We’ve used some pretty old Basmati my mom had stocked a long, long time ago, to no detriment (actually aged Basmati is more desirable than new Basmati, so there’s that).
Pretty easy to check rice. Smell, rinse, cook, taste.
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Yes, all the time. With or without ziplock.
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I freeze it ALL the time, as-is in its box and wrapping. No change in texture, IMO.
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I think foods held at zero degrees F or lower will last indefinitely. Actually, that’s what all the sites I’ve checked say. They merely say the quality degrades because of air in and moisture out. Who among us hasn’t pitched freezer-burned frozen veggies that got lost in the back? I’ve used vacuum-sealed (so no freezer burn) steaks that were 4 years old without any noticeable change.
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Same. Buy in bulk when it’s on sale and freeze.
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I like the packaging so I’ve never opened them
No argument here. Just experience with rice that smelled a bit old and tasted stale once cooked. Now, if it smells at all stale, it gets chucked, best before date be damned.
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Yup… butter always goes from the grocery bag straight into the freezer.
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Always.
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A stick at least will be parked in the butter jar next to the stove.
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Live and learn.
Thank you all!
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That, too. And I usually leave it on the counter.
That & rendered bacon fat.
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I almost always freeze butter, in the original bix, and it seems as good as fresh to me, but I mostly use previously frozen butter, and mostly in baking.
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Frozen butter on a stick sounds really good.
#NOT
