Growing up in a household with two parents who lived through the Great Depression I’ve alway tried to have a store of food in case and emergency situation arises. Some canned food like soups, fruit, chili etc..... comes with an expiration date. I often find myself using up the stored food as I near the expiration date and have thrown some away in the past.

What do you all think? How long past the expiration date is canned soup, fruit, chili etc..... good for? Are expiration dates a marketing ploy to get people to throw out perfectly good food? Does the food last months or years beyond the expiration date?

I have a couple of cans that expired in 2015 in my basement. Are they still good? I will open them later this month to check them out but probably won’t eat them.

What say you? What are your experiences with canned food past the expiration date?