UKC

Needing a dehydrated meal to take with me this weekend and found a mountain house chilli con Carne lurking at the back if the cupboard - best before 5th April 2017. Putting aside inevitable comments about them being rank anyway, what do the cognoscenti think? Mistake to gamble on it, or go for it, what's the worst that could happen...? (easy opening for some UKC comedy there )

In reply to hpil:


Should easily be ok.

I've been looking at getting army rations.

And after watching a few ytube clips,the guy doing the tasting was tucking into food from 2011. And before.and surviving

Whilst I remember; our British rations are good ,but not a patch on the Michelin standard Spanish army rations.

In reply to hpil:

Best before, not use by.

Enjoy it!

In reply to hpil:

Fine - it’s a best before not a use by so quality not safety.

In reply to hpil:

"Best before" doesn't mean "sell by" or "eat by". You'll be fine.

In reply to hpil:

I have eaten stuff that’s two years past it’s “best before” date, I suffered no ill effects and am still here...

In reply to hpil:

More thinking about whether it's going to taste reasonable / be edible, rather than die & get dead / hoy it all back up again...

In reply to hpil:

It will be completely edible if packaging is intact and sealed.

In reply to hpil:

Be careful. I have experience of a slightly out of date packet of Mountain House Chilli con Carne going rancid. I know of others that have experienced the same thing with beef.

I ate mine and it went straight through.........

In reply to hpil:

It's way past the date that Best Before dates are removed from non perishable food. , it's responsible for a huge waste of perfectly good food.

In reply to hpil:

It amazes me how many people don't understand the difference between sell by, best before and use by dates.

Also how few people are willing to use taste and smell to decide if food is still safe for consumption, but instead just rely on labels stuck to packets.

In reply to GForce1:


I hope you sent the pack back to them so they can investigate that batch.
Their site says:- -
"Mountain house products last up to 25 years .
(but have been tested up to 42 years and have been fine) as long as the food is stored in the correct temperature conditions."

In reply to hpil:


As I mentioned earlier, their site says:-
"Mountain house products last up to 25 years (but have been tested up to 42 years and have been fine) as long as the food is stored in the correct temperature conditions."

Unless you know that it has not been stored in the appropriate conditions, it should be ok.

In reply to Dark-Cloud:

My record is 13 years out of date, with dehydrated meal packs found in the huge Autana tepui cave, having been left there 15 years earlier when a film project had to leave and never returned. A couple of the pack contents turned out to have turned to dust, but the ones that looked ok when opened seemed ok to eat and didn't cause any bad reaction.

Wasn't beef though; just veggie.

In reply to Jenny C:



To be fair in this particular case by the time you are looking at the rancid mess you have just heated up you have been slogging through mud and sideways rain on a remote hill hours away from the local londis, so its a little too late. Completely agree on the stuff in the fridge though.

In reply to Jim C:

Ah, yes - if all else fails, read the restrictions! Have emailed mtn house, but there's no packet damage and it's been stored as per their website so should be good to trot. Well, not bottom trot (hopefully)....

In reply to hpil:

well, i'm back after a cracking weekend in the hills and can report said chilli was consumed with gusto and no ill effects. Thanks all.