The potatoes went untasted in a UK prepper's experiment with three cans of food years beyond their best-before dates. The other two held bright orange custard and rice pudding with the texture of scrambled eggs.
Here's what to know
In a post on Reddit's r/UKPreppers community, the original poster described opening rice pudding, custard, and canned potatoes that had been stored in a cupboard away from heat and light. None of the containers showed signs of damage.
The poster ate just a spoonful of custard, which tasted somewhat like custard despite its bright orange color. They stopped eating the rice pudding after a small taste, noting an unexpected texture and a slightly odd smell.
"I am not touching that no matter how hungry I was!" the poster wrote of the potatoes.
One commenter asked about the dates on the cans and shared their personal experience with outdated baked beans, noting, "I have some baked beans best before date of June 2024. Taste exactly the same. So maybe some foods do better than others?"
Another Reddit user, referencing an earlier post, listed dates in March and September of 2017 and August of 2020, without matching them to individual products. The original poster's own recollection put the cans six or seven years beyond their best-before dates.
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More background
The poster reported no excess gas when opening the potatoes and no smell from their unappetizing contents. The tins' labels were old and dusty.
The thread drew a warning from a commenter who identified themselves as a retired veterinarian. They pointed to botulism, describing it as a "rare but life-threatening type of food poisoning," and shared the NHS's information on the condition. Their caution applied even to tasting a small amount of questionable canned food.
Another commenter replied, supporting the initial warning and adding, "Botulism doesn't have a taste or smell I believe. It's wiped out entire families, etc... Please be careful."
The thread does not establish what caused the food to deteriorate or whether any of the cans contained a dangerous contaminant.
What can be done?
For households keeping emergency food supplies, one commenter suggested, "Another great reason to only stock things you eat routinely."
The commenter could not tell whether the pictured potatoes looked normal; they had never eaten potatoes from a can.
Keeping familiar foods makes it easier to recognize unexpected changes, rather than assuming an undamaged container can remain in an emergency reserve indefinitely.
The retired veterinarian advised against using a taste test to assess questionable contents. They listed odd smells and discoloration, along with cans that were swollen or rusty or released gas or bubbles when opened, as warning signs.
"What I have learnt is don't do that again, and cheap or dear tins are maybe not safe years after bb dates," the OP shared.
Where can I learn more?
For anyone storing food for emergencies, the old cans offer a cautionary example. These stories cover canned food warning signs, building and managing a household food reserve, and UK preppers' focus on daily self-sufficiency.
• A creator opens bulging, rusted food cans, warning that apparently intact ones can also sicken people.
• A prepper adds an $11 case of chili weekly, favoring canned food over MREs.
• In the UK, preppers seek a shift from doomsday stockpiles toward daily self-sufficiency.
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