I ate my last ever bowl of Toffee Frosties this weekend. Kellogg's stopped production of this fine cereal two years ago, but I stockpiled a number of boxes so that I could savour the taste for as long as possible. Sorry, but new Chocolate Frosties are so very inferior. However, yesterday I decided I really ought to finish off my final box of the toffee stuff before the contents became too out of date. 'Best before 1 June 2002'. I wondered if I'd left it too late to enjoy them but no, they still tasted crisp and delicious to the last spoonful. Phew.
And then I decided I should trawl through the rest of the food in my cupboard to see if there was anything else hiding in there that was well past its sell-by date. And there was. Here are my five worst offenders. I wonder if there's anything older lurking in your kitchen?
5) 100 Twinings Earl Grey teabags(best before end Feb 2002): I thought I really liked Earl Grey teabags, but it seems I'm not getting through my box of top quality bergamot as quickly as I thought. I still have more than half of these bags to get through - I could be still brewing them in 2006 at this rate.
4) 1 pint UHT milk(best before 8 Feb 2002): This is was my emergency pint of milk, just in case I ever ran out. I never used it, as you can see. When I bought it I must've still been thinking Suffolk (nearest shop selling milk a 10 minute drive away) rather than London (five shops selling milk less than 10 minutes walk away).
3) Rowntree's Lemon Jelly(best before end Sep 2001): Mmmm, I like lemon jelly (and Lemon Jelly - when are they going to release something new, eh?). Let me just do a quick taste test and see how this citric gelatinous slab tastes 28 months on... mmmm, still very mmmm.
2) Bird's Instant custard(best before end Mar 2001): Have you noticed how instant anything (instant custard, instant gravy, instant coffee, instant tea, especially instant tea) never tastes even half as good as the real thing. I've noticed, and that's why this jar is still virtually full.
1) Bird's Chocolate & Caramel flavour Trifle(best before end Aug 1996): Blimey, just how long has this been sitting in the back of my cupboard? Since last century, I'm afraid. Four packets of sugar packed in a cardboard box, very nice. By now you're probably sitting there thinking that my larder is stocked with nothing more than processed carbohydrate, and maybe that's part true, but surely it's a good sign that all this sugary stuff has been sitting there uneaten. Until today. I quite fancy making up the trifle now, maybe even using up that pint of UHT milk while I'm at it. On second thoughts, maybe I'll pop out and buy some real milk instead, because I can.
