laconic1

Recently I've been trying to cook more and use of some of the various staples and condiments I have around, instead of just eating prepackaged crap. I've noticed most of the stuff is a ways past the Best By or Expiration dates printed on the packaging. For example the flour I'm using had an expiration of March 10 2009, the Crisco expired last February. I have a packet of yeast that I have not used yet that says faster rising if used by November 2006. I always end up eating eggs a month or two after their expiration date. So far I haven't got sick yet from eating this stuff, but I'm wondering how much of a time window is there for food from the expiration date to the time it can really do some harm? I get rid of milk when it gets lumpy, and cheese when it dries up and gets hard, and vegetables when they start growing substantial roots, but other than that I haven't noticed any side effects of keeping food too long.