Should You Eat Food after the Expiration Date?

Today’s question to get your morning rolling is, Should you eat food after the expiration date?

This is an argument that my wife and I often get into when the food in the refrigerator goes past the date marked on the package. My wife’s automatic reaction is to look at the date and throw out anything if the date has passed. I, on the other hand, will smell and look at it and if it appears to still be good, go ahead and consume it.

This, of course, is met with and lecture that she will not have any sympathy for me when I come down with food poisoning and need to be rushed to the hospital. I can’t say I’m much better as I give her the lecture that it’s a waste of good money to throw out food just because the date on the package has expired and the food is still obviously good.

I know I’m not the only one that feels this way. Although I don’t go out of my way to be as extreme as this guy, it shows that people throw away a lot of food that is still edible. What is your take? Is it worth the risk to save and not waste the food, or is it better to play it safe and not wind up getting sick and ending up in the doctor’s office due to spoiled food?

Please share your own experiences on this topic as a wide variety of views and thoughts are helpful to everyone. If there is one thing that I have learned about personal finances from all of you is that there are always exceptions to the rule and differing circumstances can mean completely different solutions. If you have a blog and you have written about this topic in the past, feel free to link to your writing (although a short summary would be helpful). If you have recently read a good article on this topic, please links and share in the comments.

Jeffrey Strain

Jeffrey strain is a freelance author, his work has appeared at The Street.com and seekingalpha.com. In addition to having authored thousands of articles, Jeffrey is a former resident of Japan, former owner of Savingadvice.com and a professional digital nomad.