most food items now display expiration date. If you just don't want to burden your brain overthinking this, just discard by that date. But in reality, depending on item, some are good indefinitely, some up to 1 yr beyond date, some only 6 mo. For items w/o date, like spices, I write the opening date on the label and discard one year after opening date. Has truly simplified my decision making in this respect and I have learned about what our family favors and consumes actively vs. what gets bought and generally discarded after infrequent use.

go to Stilltasty.com for life spans of just about everything, including condiments.

If you have a compost heap, many expired foods can be recycled, rather than simply trashed.
Here's the first thing that popped up when I searched your question on Google:

http://www.thekitchn.com/how-long-can-you-keep-opened-condiments-tips-from-the-kitchn-45971

& here's the link to their source:

http://www.stilltasty.com/

I do compost. And thanks for the link.

agmss, all I can do is empathize. I have a top refrigerator shelf right now that I need to clean. I know there's part of a jar of homemade salsa, at least three kinds of mustard, a jar of homemade apple jelly, another one of tomato marmalade, yet another with apple butter. 4 or 5 jars of various pickles, more jars of olives. Some of those jars have half a dozen pickled peppers or whatever in them that I should have just gotten rid of.

At least I have chickens, they eat anything I toss to them, so they "recycle" it into eggs and save a bit on my chicken feed bill. Things I'm uncomfortable feeding to them get composted but I keep thinking there should be some simple way, not involving spread sheets and check lists, to keep track of stuff.

Annie

Annie -

Like you I grow and preserve a lot of food - though not in such ambitious abundance as you.

One thing I have learned for my one person household is that I need to make smaller sized bags, jars, containers of food. I am getting better about this when I am dealing with garden produce.

Freezing 1-2 cup jars of pesto means in the spring I end up with a bunch of 3/4 full jars. Wasting a lot of expensive nuts, cheese and oil. Now I go for 1/4-1/2 cups.

I need to do more reportioning of food I buy and cook.

I tossed out so much - pickles, chutneys, jellies, applesauces etc...

My fridge is pretty tidy right now. Hopefully I can keep better track of things. Next up - washing all the dusty dishes and finally my freezers. I am coming to hate my chest freezer. Impossible to organize.

I had Guinea fowl but the wildlife got them. Sad because I enjoyed them despite their racket. I hope to build a more secure chickenhouse next year.

You need a non foodie, non cook friend. I went to tj's today with such, and I bought all sorts of things, spent around a hundred and she, who had never heard of tj's, but was enthralled and looking forward to going back, bought a bag of frozen brussel sprouts and a high priced, tiny, carton of shelf stable, whipped cream. We both are cooking for one or so.

I totally agree about the best by date - but there is a grey area where I am not sure if I should or shouldn't eat. My fridge and pantry gradually fill with such things and I have no place to put my groceries. I still have some questionable items that I was unable to persuade myself to toss - canned condensed milk, a few cans of soups and a jar of two year old homemade kim chi.

Another fan of Still Tasty, but with home food storage (which is enough food for at least a year) I also keep good inventory lists and food storage lists from different "experts" like USDA and Universities. Especially Utah State who does testing for the LDS Church, who take home food storage to another level. I even keep a list of foods that have an indefinite (or nearly indefinite) storage life - but I don't plan on storing them indefinitely - we are good at rotating our home food storage.

I remember friends checking their elderly mother's refrigerator and finding all kinds of out-of-date items and cleaned the refrigerator and freezer for her and restocked it with new items - but she claimed they were just fine to eat and thought it was so much waste. The next time they checked, MOM had scratched all the use-by dates off the new containers (LOL).

There are so many things to consider with proper food storage.... What temperature do you keep your refrigerator? Colder than 40°F will mean food will last longer, while it won't at 40°F and warmer. Do you leave said food out of the refrigerator for long periods of time while in use, or do you get in and get out and refrigerate it quickly again. Milk will sour faster if you leave it sit out at room temperature while the family all takes turns getting their cereal for breakfast at different times than if you get it out, use it, and replace - AS WELL AS store it in the coldest part of the refrigerator (which isn't the door).

The colder you keep shelved foods below room temperature (which is considered 70°F - and what storage charts are based on), the longer it will keep - even as much as double the storage life at optimal storage temperatures of 40° to 60°F. The opposite is also true, the warmer the storage temperature above 70°F, the shorter the storage life. That's why food storage is often kept in cool basements, not hot attics and garages. When our Army Officer son-in-law was stationed in the Middle East on one of his three tours there, he sent me a storage chart for MRE (Meals Ready To Eat). MRE's stored at 60°F will store for 130 months. While storage at 120°F is a short one month.

-Grainlady

And I agree I need to shop with someone who needs two condiments for all things.

In cleaning I realize I had two paprikas, aleppo, urfa, kim chi pepper, cayenne crushed and powdered, habanero and mexican chili mix. And that is just dry red peppers. Sigh.

I was taught at an early age "When in doubt, throw it out." But getting back to your original question, most condiments have an expiration date on their label, but I don't know if it means the stuff will go bad or just lose it's flavor. I buy Gray's Pepper Sauce by the case (24 bottles) and the last of the most recent purchase (January 2014) say they expired in November 2014. Still hot, still tasty, and no bugs.

Grainlady! I am glad you weighed in...

My kichen area runs cool. It is on the north side of my small house. I think my fridge temp is ok - my milk seems to last beyond the sell by date.

I do not have a basement - I have an above ground root cellar on my wistful someday wish list. Somewhere after a chicken house and green house.

I keep bulk items in jars or sealed buckets on my porch during the cold months. With the exception of flour I seem to be pretty good at rotating bulk items. Spices are on a shelf in the coldest spot in the house.

Amanda, you have no idea how much I needed this post. It shamed me into bailing out the frig. which is a job I detest because I HATE throwing out food. I had an enormous jar of fire and ice pickles I had made probably 4 years ago by now that was down to the bottom and I hadn't used it because of that AND it was taking up a huge amount of space. I also got rid of some other items (all in jars, that's my biggest problem). I had made a big jar of pickled eggplant, didn't care for it but hated to throw it out. Also a huge jar of salsa DH had picked up at Sam's. Stuff like that. Now I will start out the new year clean.

Recently i posted questioning about cornstarch. I was trying a new recipe and wanting nothing like old ingredients ruining the cake. For peace of mind I spent $1 for fresh and it was worth it. But after reading it became apparent there was a better than 80% chance old was OK. SO.... I think it becomes a matter of efficient use of $ vs efficient use of brainpower (making inventory lists, writing dates, checking storage temps, ad infinitum). The answer lies in the middle.

I also think these judgements need to be made with a lot of intelligence. What is likely to go "wrong" with some foods? If ti contains fat, it will get rancid...if it's smoked it will spoil even faster. Frozen bacon won't be good for more than 3 months, crackers, even if they are unopened get rancid and an off taste. Crackers like rye crisp that are fat free last a very long time.
Canned tomatoes can go off because the tin can become degraded, jarred pickles seem to last a lifetime. Spices lose their flavor, but if they haven't turned dark and still have a a good smell, I'll use them and taste my food>
I found a jar of jam I made in the back of my jam stash, unopened. I thought why not? I sure wasn't going to throw away the jar and the ring, so I opened it, looks just like it did when I made it, smells fine, tastes good....and I am half way through the jar. I repeat....what's to go wrong? no mold, because it was fruit with lots of sugar and some lemon juice, I wasn't worried about botulism, no fat so no rancidity...
But crackers that are even a month beyond sell b y date, even if unopened are squirrel food, breakfast dry cereal won't keep, cookies....eww! Crutons....ick.
But most pickles and condiments will keep a good long time....and liquors....they keep forever. I have a bottle of Poir that is easily 20 years old. I drag it out to season the pastry cream for a pear tart.....at least every 2 years!

See, there's my problem. I am not going to take inventory or make a list or write dates on everything. Even if I were inclined, I guarantee Elery wouldn't, so there'd be an open jar of sambal malah or something and I wouldn't know how long it was there. I do write the dates I can things on the lid, so I can use the oldest first and periodically go through the pantry and toss anything that is more than a couple of years old. Pickles are still good to eat in three years, but they'll be soft so you know we aren't going to eat them. The chickens or pigs get a feast occasionally, LOL.

My biggest problem is that Elery will open a jar of pickles or mustard, etc. It'll get pushed to the back of the fridge and the top shelf is over my head so I don't see it. Then he'll open another. Then another. Soon I have 3 or 4 of the same thing, all opened and I never know how long until it starts getting fuzzy.

Annie

Same here but I have no Ellery to blame. Lol. My dog has no interest in the fridge besides cheese and yogurt.

I keep a tidy fridge. Definitely in need of a wipe down after Thanksgiving and this holiday week. (something sticky on one of the glass shelves)

The new up-right freezer helped with some organizing last spring. Bulk spices have a nice home on the freezer door shelves.

We have simplified our condiment needs. I no longer buy odd things to try. But a few gifts of hot sauces and jams are always present and get tossed because they are not on our daily 'want' list. Though anything blueberry i do like.

I'm in a good habit to date the top when i open something. I became very organized when we moved. This kitchen is much smaller but more efficient it turns out.

DH does put things away funny. I could not find the 4 big bags of mexican dried peppers when i made my tamale sauce, so i bought more...then found the peppers in the freezer with the seafood. And found many things i knew i had but had gone missing...even bought a big horseradish root knowing i had a half dozen in the freezer from the garden. (under the seafood with the peppers...) He tends to stuff things in without thinking.

About twice a year, I try to evaluate some condiments to see what I can work on using up. I also like fridge bins. I have one for jams. The kids understand that they are not to open a new jar unless there is room in that bin. If they want jam, they know to look in the bin (DH is a bit more troublesome). I try to store leftovers in the same part of the fridge so if someone is hungry, they know where to look. About once a week when planning on what to cook, I try to look for outliers that I can incorporate into the meal, things like salsa that can be added to a soup or burritos, half a can of coconut milk to be added to other things, odds and end vegetables to add to fried rice, or whatever. I have also tried assigning homes for certain things, like mustards and pickles and olives all together in one spot. Someday I hope to get a label maker to help people remember where things go. I also really need to get a white board or blackboard of the kitchen to right down the things that need to be used up quickly. Maybe someday.

I bought a couple plastic baskets from the dollar store and keep my condiments in them in the frig. It can easily be pulled out and looked through for the mustard, sesame oil, etc. The same thing in the pantry, the soy sauce, mustards, balsamic vinegar is in it.

I don't worry too much about the best before date. Even yogurt and sour cream can last well beyond the printed date.