Cait, thought to be from the U.K., rifled through her grandma’s storage cupboard, pulling bottles, sauces and packets out to check the dates on them.
While some went off in a relatively recent 2021, she found dates stretching as far back as 2008, and even 2001.
In a trio of clips shared to her TikTok account, @caitjox, Cait explained: “My grandma’s cupboard can basically be considered a biohazard. I must emphasize she doesn’t eat this food. This is just like food storage.”
Cait rifled through and found some brown sauce which went off in 2013, chopped tomatoes from 2014, an unopened jar of Nutella from 2016, “disgusting” couscous from 2018 and some Lotus Biscoff spread from 2021.
“Then we found some peanut butter that was opened in 2016. Dread to think what’s inside that,” she said.
“I don’t know why she kept it in her cupboard,” Cait added.
The first clip, shared in June, amassed more than 335,000 views, and can be seen here, and she soon followed it up with a part two, which can be viewed here.
Seen more than 1 million times, she claimed it “gets worse.” Cait filmed a tin can, saying: “We found this spaghetti Bolognese that went off in 2008. And did you see that packaging you can tell how old it is.”
She later added: “I can’t believe she had a date as old as 2008 in that cupboard.”
In this haul she finds an opened packet of corn flour which has a best before date of 2010.
She narrates the finds, saying: “We found eight trifle sponges that went off in 2012. That’s 10 years old. We found this golden syrup that went off in October 2015.”
While there are also jars and sauces from 2013, and 2016. In the third installment, which can be seen here, Cait found a tin of mashed potato powder.
She said: “We found Smash original that is best before 2001. And yes I’m gonna say best before, not gone off.”
Chickpeas from 2014, another mashed potato packet from 2010 in “really old packaging,” and yet another instant mash powder from 2014 were also uncovered.
In the cereal cupboard a box of oats and a packet of cornflakes were both seen to have a best before year of 2019.
Newsweek reached out to Cait for comment.
Numerous people commented on the clips, as Mummy Sindel wrote: “I was screaming OPEN IT at my phone.”
Billie commented: “Me and my cousins used to play the game of ‘find the most out of date food in grandmas cupboard.’”
Livvy observed: “That spag bol is older than my sister.”
Sage admitted: “I was born three days before that first can, uhm yeah great.”
Sarah Hyde648 wrote: “I daren’t look in my mom’s cupboards.”
Charlief2323 replied: “My grandma’s cupboard has things with a best before date of 1974.”
Steph joked: “My mom would literally be like it’s still good! Put in the freezer.”
While Liam Rose added: “We did the same to my nans when she passed. 16 years out of date I believe was the highest.”
The U.K.’s Food Standards Agency explained the difference between best before and use by labels, with the former relating to “food quality,” and the latter “food safety.”
Going into more detail, they said: “A use-by date on food is about safety. This is the most important date to remember. You can eat food until and on the use-by date but not after. You will see use-by dates on food that goes off quickly, such as meat products or ready-to-eat salads.
“The best before date, sometimes shown as BBE (best before end), is about quality and not safety. The food will be safe to eat after this date but may not be at its best. Its flavor and texture might not be as good.”
Recently, a retailer in the U.K., Marks and Spencer (M&S), announced it was removing best before dates from a range of fresh produce.
A press release published on Sunday confirmed the step was taken in a bid to reduce food waste.
They said: “Best before dates will be removed from the labeling of over 300 fruit and vegetable products—85 percent of M&S’ produce offering—including commonly wasted items apples, potatoes and broccoli. Dates will be replaced with a new code which M&S store colleagues will use to ensure freshness and quality is maintained.”
