Does Boxed Mac And Cheese Actually Expire?

Those expiry dates on the back of food packaging are meant to be helpful. Yet they can sometimes prove pesky when they force your hand to throw away food that looks perfectly fine. While some foods really have been sitting on the shelf for too long — like green potatoes, which should not be eaten – several others are likely fine to consume even after they've passed their "best by" date. Whether you're prepping emergency food for a hurricane or just happen to come across an old package in the pantry, it's nice to be able to trust the food and not have to worry about any adverse effects it may have post-consumption. How about that delicious-looking mac and cheese? The package looks a little faded and the expiry date was last year. Can it still be eaten?

The good news is that most expiry dates on packaged food are actually an indication of when the food is in its prime. That's when companies want customers to consume their product, but the reality is that lots of food is fine to eat past its sell-by date. Many food products — even those that feature expiry dates — are not required by U.S. law to publish such a date on their packaging. The same goes for boxed mac and cheese, which is generally fine to eat even up to a year past its expiry date ... provided the packaging is intact. If you're ever in doubt, do a smell check on the food and toss it if something feels off.

Canned foods that are years and sometimes even decades past their expiry date have been found to look and smell like their un-expired counterparts. Food scientists have also found that many retained most of their original nutritional value. Packaged foods like boxed mac and cheese need to be stored with a little care, but they can hold up to a year or two past their expiry date.

When using an expired box of mac and cheese, pay special attention to the cheese flavoring. That's more likely to spoil than the dehydrated pasta. People also have different sensitivities to funky food smells, so if you're ever in doubt about whether food has spoiled, it's better to just trash it. You may notice that the intensity of the cheese flavor has dulled in an older box, but that's because some of the volatile compounds have degraded — not necessarily gone bad. However, if the flavoring powder has changed color or clumped up too much, or the uncooked pasta feels moist, discard the package.

One of the best combinations of long-shelf-life food you can keep in your pantry is dry pasta and canned soup. Both will remain fit to eat for a long time and you can even use canned soup to upgrade boxed mac and cheese into a decadent, creamy treat. For a durable pour to pair with your "aged" mac and cheese, reach for a bottle of wine, since boxed wine has a much shorter shelf life.