The short report, shelf stable milk, just one year over suggested use by date, was still good for me.

The longer story.
If you put food away for a rainy or TEOFWAWKI day, you need to be sure that you rotate it out. That means you need to eat and drink it. Any reputable site will tell you to be sure you can stand the taste of the food or drink way before an event occurs. You must also be able to digest it. MRE’s are notorious for plugging your up (constipation). You really shouldn’t plan on eating them exclusively for a week or two, unless you have stored fiber and take it daily.

Another thing is rotating your food supplies out. By eating your emergency long term storage food, you will have non “expired” or less expired food and drink. While the MRE’s and powdered milk you bought in 2007 was way less expensive than the ones of today, they will do you no good if they are inedible, have lost their nutrition et al.

Sometimes you will not be able to consume your food by the ‘best by’ or ‘expired’ date. You have a couple of options at this point. You can throw it out, give it to someone who claims they don’t care or trust those dates or test the food yourself.

Checking this unopened case of MRE’s at https://mremountain.com/blogs/news/how-to-read-mres-date-of-packing-best-by-dates-and-freshness reveals the fresh check (Time / Temperature) indicator showing this box has gone bad (Center dot is darker than outer ring). The date packed reveals it was made the 241st day (August 29th) of 2007. Way past time to replace this.

Testing food past the approved date is not recommended. If you were going to do this, it would be best done when you are healthy and a crisis event is not occurring. That way if you need medical help (get sick) you can visit a medical facility. If the food or drink only makes you feel bad while things are stable, that is better than trying to survive and thrive after a hurricane has destroyed your home and you are trying to clean up and recover.

A while back I wanted to test out shelf stable milk so I purchased one container. I drank it by itself and while it was different than refrigerated milk it was about the same as farm fresh milk. It just doesn’t taste like Braum’s milk or even the “Farm Fresh” but in the refrigerated section of the grocery store. I haven’t had true fresh milk in so long I can’t compare them.

I had no side effects or adverse reactions. I then made meals with it. The food tasted and cooked fine. Since all went well, I purchased some more for testing.

Side note: I am not healthy internally. I have had reflux and GURD my entire life, literally my entire life and in 2020 had a large section of my intestines removed due to constant infections. As a result, I really do have to watch what I eat and drink so testing of long-term food like MRE’s, freeze dried and even everyday fresh food is a necessity for me.

The second box I repeated by drinking and cooking with six weeks past the ‘best used by’ date. No problems or taste issues. This was July of 2022.

The 3rd box I let go, until March 30th 2024 (one year and one week past “best use by” date), I opened it and drank some.

The taste was the same. I used some for cooking (a frittata if you care), no issue there. I continued to consume the milk over the next couple of days as a drink and I have experienced more gas than normal however, no other problems as of this writing (April 3rd).

While I am strongly not suggesting you consume expired long-term food. I am willing to pass along my personal experience with it just in case you are put in a position of needing to know one person’s experience. Actually, two peoples experience. My wife has participated in this too with no side effects and she has had more gut surgically removed than me.

I had several more containers that were out of date. These were 2% instead of whole milk. I drank one with the same expiration date, no issues.

There was one with a December 2023 expiration was more yellow in color and smelled funny so I tossed it.

I am drinking the last one with a March 2023 best use by date at the time this article is published.

The evening after the 1st cup (April 22, 2024) I had some gas. Yesterday (April 23rd 2024) I had my 2nd class. This time I mixed it 50/50 with Braum’s 2% and ended up with a little rumble in my stomach before bed and after waking up. It did not keep me up or upset my bowels so…

I will leave the decisions to you as for what to do with food that is past it’s Best Buy date. I know my daughters and my sister pitch items right away. More power to them.

Until we meet again, keep your booger hook off the bang switch until on target and ready to fire.