Today I happened across an article on the BBC website about the thriving trade in out-of-date foods in Britain:

A)    The sell-by and best-before dates are only general indicators.  It's not like the food turns into poison a week after the date printed on the label.

B)    We waste a terrible amount of food.  Without these second chance retailers, the food they sell would otherwise be sent to the dump.  Here in the States at least, food banks do not take past-date foods as a safety (and CYA) precaution.

C)    Save a ton of money!

For a long time, I was prejudiced against the outlet stores.  Let's be honest; they are dismal places to shop.  The aisles are narrow, the organization is chaotic, the lighting is poor, and there's always a baby crying.  But hey, that's how they keep prices down.

After I started shopping at the discount store, I also started comparing my receipts.  Week by week, my receipts for the discount store were about half the cost of the equivalent groceries at Safeway.  Considering the amount you spend on food per month, you can't afford NOT to save 50% on your groceries, regardless of your income.  Leaving money on the table, I thought at the time, was just ridiculous.

Then things started to go wrong.  In hindsight, the phrase that haunts me is "Penny wise, pound foolish."

The first problem was a package of bacon.  (This was before I went vegetarian, obviously.)  I opened it the day after I bought it.  Two days later (three days after purchase) I opened it to pull out a slice, and the smell was… horrific.  Absolutely rotten.  There was no questioning whether or not it was edible.  I threw it straight into the trash.

How old does bacon have to be, if it goes rotten three days after you open it?  I've had bacon open before for up to a week without any problems.  I resolved not to buy any more meats there.

A month later, I noticed a moth.  Then another.  Soon I was practically besieged by little fluttering moths.  Being a knitter, I feared the worst.  I was relieved to learn that they were "pantry moths," and they didn't want my wool - they were after my grains.

I spent an entire Saturday cleaning out my pantry, sorting my foods, throwing away anything that had been infested, and putting the rest into secure containers.  I spent about $30 on food storage containers, threw away about $50 in infested foodstuffs, and cursed the day I started shopping at the discount grocery store.  

Judging by the volume of infestation and moth damage, it all started with the package of Abuelita cocoa tablets I bought at the discount store.  Either that, or the bag of popcorn kernels, which I also bought at the discount store.  I then remembered having seen little moths fluttering around the store, but I didn't think anything about it at the time.

Now I know: moths at the grocery store: bad.  And past-date dry goods have sat around long enough to potentially harbor pantry moth infestations.  Those dates on the packages?  They're not the end of the world but… you can't avoid the fact that fresher food is fresher.