Oldest thing in the food cupboard

[Prudie]

So I cleaned out my food cupboard today because it heaved of garlic. In the haul that went in the bin were 9 Schwartz spice bottles all out of date (which reminded me of a funny Michael McIntyre sketch) but the chives and a box of Oxo ran out in 2001. Do you think you've got something that old in your cupboard?

[craft1948]

lol Prudie....................no. I tend to empty and clean my cupboards every 3 months.

[lady-janine]

my sil has got loads of things in her cupboards priced with £.s.p. she will not let me clear them out as "they might come in useful".

[Mamyalynne]

My daughter came on Friday for a girls night in, brought Singapore noodles and asked if I had Soy Sauce - off I toddle to return with a bottle 7 years out of date.

[mrs_overall]

The oldest thing in my cupboard is currently Mr O who is hunting for ingredients to make a risotto.

An elderly relative of mine died last year. We found a trunk containing blue bags of sugar she had been hoarding since the war!

[lady-janine]

ah bless.

[Ann]

When my father in law went into a care home in 2002 we cleared out his pantry to give up his house and found a Christmas Pudding dated Dec 1973 - he had kept it for sentimental reasons as mum in law died in August that year and she must have bought it at Christmas. Quite sad really.

[Robinia]

lol ...I love Michael's 'herbs and spices' routine....I usually sort mine out about every 3 years :o)

oops, just checked and I've found some cinnamon sticks- Dec 2001

:o)

[Prudie]

Ah mamya my soy sauce only ran out in 2009. Boxy may come along and tell me they were all probably still ok :-)

[excelsior-1]

a tub of cod liver oil tablets that my grandmother gave me a month before she passed away ............ in 1999

[ummmm]

No...I have my spice rack hanging from one of those pole thingy's next to the cooker. Because it's on view I tend to pay attention to what's in it.

[Prudie]

Oh Ann that is bittersweet, don't we all have an old Christmas pudding?
Every 3 moths craft, I'm impressed (and a bit ashamed)

[boxtops]

LOL prudie, I probably will :-)

[Prudie]

teehee months (although moths may be more appropriate)

[boxtops]

Not food, but I've still got a pair of shoes I bought before we went decimal, that was 41 years ago....

[Mosaic]

Found a pot of vicks rub dated 1996 - it still works.
it wasn't in the food cupboard.....

[Robinia]

My Vick's only 2009...years left in it yet.

[vodkancoke]

I clean my cupboards out once a month. I am a waster when it comes to food and I will throw anything out that is nearing it's use-by date. It's a really bad habit and I can't seem to get out of it! :( In saying all that, during my last cupboard clean I did find a bottle of ranch dressing, unopened, dated 2011. It got binned too.

[shaneystar2]

Loads probably .I don't look too closely at the back of the pantry .
I remember clearing out my Mums stuff after she died in 1995 and found about ten packets of Robin Starch .God knows how old they were .Pre war by the look of them ! I think she was waiting for mangles to come back into fashion :)

[rowanwitch]

When I sorted Redmans freezer there was a packet of Brussels sprouts dated 1997

[FredPuli43]

There are still food flavourings and colourings here which were my mother's. She died at 93. They are not artificial either; cochineal made with real cochis etc! They must date back a long way because I remember her using such things 60 or so years ago and surely they were long superseded by artificial ones . And I found, and threw away, a small bottle of 'Olive oil B.P'. Now, when was the last time that olive oil was only bought at chemist's and labelled as a medicine (B.P. =British Pharmacopoeia)?

Yes, I do know what cochineal, a red dye, was really made from, and very odd that was!

But frozen sprouts from 1997? That's 14 Christmases ago !