Matthew wrote:

I learned my lesson also growing up. MY MOTHER was the type to keep food
for weeks after expiration date. Here words were always oh it is still good
even though the date was months out.
I got food poisoning so many times growing up and eating at her house that
it got to the point when we ate there I demanded to see the box or cans that
she cooked and if they were out of date more than a couple days.

Oh my god, Matthew, I feel your pain!! My mother was the same way!

I didn't actually get food poisoning as a kid, so your mother must have
been worse. But my mom's a pack rat, can't throw anything out, and that
includes food. We often had moldy food in the fridge or cabinets, sour
milk, etc. She didn't feed this to us at least! It would just sit in
there for months.

Even when I was visiting her a few months ago to help her move, there
was a bunch of old stuff in her fridge. My sister had the unenviable job
of cleaning it out. Every time she came across something out of date, we
all had to hear the details: "DECEMBER 2001, Mom???" and so forth.

The absolute worst episode I've ever had with my mother's inability to
throw away bad food happened only two years ago. But first: GROSSNESS
WARNING. This really could turn your stomach.
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OK, you've been warned. I was hungry, and my mother offered me some
raisins. They were in a little tiny box, a single serving's amount. So
I ate it, thinking that the worst thing that could happen to raisins
was mold, and I'd be able to taste that. No mold. However, the consistency
was a bit grainy. I thought maybe there was sugar on it or something.
But then I looked at a few of them in my hand, and noticed that the
little grains were *black*. Not sugar.

And then I realized that the box of raisins had been kept in a cabinet
of dry foods that was overrun with some sort of grain moth infestation
or other small flying insect. And then it dawned on me... I was eating
BUG POOP!!! EWWWWWWWW!!!! Bleccccccchhh!!

I have never since accepted anything from my mother unless it's in a
sealed package and I'm opening it for the very first time!

Joyce