Eggs are good for up to 5 weeks past the date stamped on the carton. Canned foods last forever. (So if you want to donate that year-old tuna to the local food pantry, don’t feel guilty about it.) Dairy products are good for at least a week past their stamped date, if they stay refrigerated.

Meats are another story. Anything perpetually frozen remains safe, but who knows how good it will taste?

Here’s a quick checklist of other products: 

• STOCKS
• RELATED ARTICLES
• ALSO BY...

SEARCH:

Quote, Unquote: Biased Credit Rating Agencies?
Airlines: People Won't Fly, So We'll Raise Fees
Trading Radar: GDP Highlights a Thin Week
California Oversteps with HDTV Regulations
Goldman, Beaten But Unbowed

New Moon Madness
Furloughs, Flu Throw Families Into Flux
Go Green and Invest Ethically
The Gall in Your Credit Card's Fine Print
Consumers Permanently Changed By Recession, And That's Okay!

1. Beer: It’s a taste thing. According to Consumerist, many bottles of beer are imprinted with a coded expiration date that -- since it looks like hieroglyphics to the average consumer -- will make it hard to steer clear of the stale stuff. The code works like so: "Letters from A-M represent the month of the year. The next 4 digits are the day and year the beer was first brewed, and the last 2 letters are the state code where it was brewed."

So that bottle of Sam Adams (SAM) that says A0699MA? You might want to avoid it.

2. Soda: Bottlers play the sell-by game -- soda doesn't go bad, it just starts to taste bad. The same goes for tobacco.

3. Condoms: Short answer: Don’t play with fire. Condoms lose their elasticity as they age, and are therefore much more likely to break.

4. Prescription Drugs: It’s not completely cut and dried, but, according to the folks at Harvard Medical School, "the expiration date doesn't really indicate a point at which the medication is no longer effective or has become unsafe to use... [In fact,] much of the original potency still remains even a decade after the expiration date. Placing a medication in a cool place, such as a refrigerator, will help a drug remain potent for many years."

Harvard. What do they know?

5. Batteries, disposable cameras: Anyone who's tried to use a flashlight that's been in storage for a year or 2 knows firsthand that batteries dry up and stop working. The same goes for that camera you left in the glove-box "just in case."

6. Vitamins: Best to pay attention. They tend to remain stable for 4 or 5 years, according to the FDA -- but variables such as packaging, storage temperature, and capsule composition can affect their stability. Determine on a case-by-case basis.

I could go on forever. Here’s a laundry list compiled by the folks at Real Simple.

Happy tossing! 

What’s the oldest product in your home? What's your policy for using things after their sell-by date? Weigh in on The Exchange.