Who Needs Expiration Dates?

Who Needs Expiration Dates?

That pizza I’ve been making? I’ve got a little secret to share, one that may shock and amaze you.

The yeast I’m using is old. Way, way, way old. I bought it years ago, when I was baking bread regularly, but for the last few years my yeasty needs have been infrequent, to say the least. I love baking bread, but if I bake it, I eat it. Bit by bit, I’ll work my way through a loaf in a single day. This is not good. So, for the most part, I’ve restrained myself, making only occasional forays into challah, whole wheat fig & pecan bread, and whole wheat hamburger buns. But you know what? Every single yeast-based post on this blog has used the same package of SAF Instant yeast.

It expired in 2005.

For this I say, God bless my freezer. That one little package, bought not long after its manufacturing date of September 2003, has lived on my freezer door for all this time. It takes up so little space, I hardly even know it’s there. But when I get the hankering to bake something bread-like, it does the trick. If its ancient bones are creaking, it sure isn’t complaining. And as long as my dough keeps rising, I say, “Expiration dates be damned.”

What’s hiding in your freezer (or pantry) that’s technically past its prime, but still serving your needs?