Okay, I admit that I’m not the best of “home makers”, but I just don’t get the expiration dates on food. Tonight I went to empty a small refrigerator that we keep sauces, jams, mustards, pickles, and various things we cook with. I ended up tipping at least half of them in the bin because they were well past their expiration dates.

Mind you, most of these are hot sauces from various countries, which I don’t think even a nuclear blast could radiate, or they are drenched in sugar, like my favourite marmalades, or pickles, like Branston’s. The rest are hot mustards and sauces drenched in vinegar. For example, why would blue Stilton dressing go bad — it’s moldy cheese and vinegar anyway?

I’m usually not into conspiracy theories, but I just don’t get why many of these items have expiration dates so soon. I kind of think it is planned obsolescence, e.g., if we throw them all out, we will buy more. Unfortunately, many of the things I threw out are from countries that I can not easily buy them from again without visiting. And don’t even get me started on how difficult it is to find the expiration date with 11 languages on the label!

It reminds me of the days when I used to wear hosiery to work. It never failed, as soon as you put them on, you had a runner. Of course, they have built heart valves that will last a lifetime, but in this and many things, they build in planned obsolescence!

I’ll get off my soap-box now, but I couldn’t help but hum this song to myself as I did my apparently much needed fridge cleaning: