So I went to the grocery store tonight

[Terabith]

where there is a deeply confusing set of things that they have a lot of versus none of.  Supply chain issues are weird.  It made a little more sense when I remembered tomorrow is Valentine's Day, but still.  Weird.  

Oddly, if you want avocados, there were a zillion.  Cat food or litter....shelves are 2020 toilet paper aisle bare.

But anyway, after my grocery store run, I was putting things away, and I knocked some stuff over in my under the kitchen sink putting away of fantastik, and while righting things, I saw a container of Deep Woods Off.  Being trash day tomorrow and cleaning out the fridge and stuff, I said, "Terabith, nobody in our house has done anything remotely in the woods since at least 2017.  I'm going to throw out this half empty container of Deep Woods Off.  Huh.  I wonder exactly what year it dates from?"  

Y'all, it dated from 1998.  

It predates the millennium.  That was the year we got married.  

This is more impressive, given that we have moved in that time, from Denver, to Texas and then to Virginia.  There were a total of seven apartment/ house moves that this Deep Woods Off had to navigate.  

There's no way that happened.  I cannot fathom doing that.  Like maybe we bought it in 2016 or even 2012 and it was super old on the shelves then?  Surely?  

Of course, less than five years ago, we found a box of saltines that was dated 2009.  And my husband ate them.  He said they tasted like "pantry."  So I tried a bite.  He was very right.  

I also found a container of half and half in the fridge tonight that dated from June of 2021.  

So.....maybe?  I mean, Deep Woods Off could have gotten shoved in some "bathroom supplies stuff" and made several moves unquestioningly?  

[Catwoman]

Maybe it was there when you moved in and you never noticed it when you were loading up the cabinet?

 

[Shoeless]

2 minutes ago, Terabith said:

where there is a deeply confusing set of things that they have a lot of versus none of.  Supply chain issues are weird.  It made a little more sense when I remembered tomorrow is Valentine's Day, but still.  Weird.  

Oddly, if you want avocados, there were a zillion.  Cat food or litter....shelves are 2020 toilet paper aisle bare.

But anyway, after my grocery store run, I was putting things away, and I knocked some stuff over in my under the kitchen sink putting away of fantastik, and while righting things, I saw a container of Deep Woods Off.  Being trash day tomorrow and cleaning out the fridge and stuff, I said, "Terabith, nobody in our house has done anything remotely in the woods since at least 2017.  I'm going to throw out this half empty container of Deep Woods Off.  Huh.  I wonder exactly what year it dates from?"  

Y'all, it dated from 1998.  

It predates the millennium.  That was the year we got married.  

This is more impressive, given that we have moved in that time, from Denver, to Texas and then to Virginia.  There were a total of seven apartment/ house moves that this Deep Woods Off had to navigate.  

There's no way that happened.  I cannot fathom doing that.  Like maybe we bought it in 2016 or even 2012 and it was super old on the shelves then?  Surely?  

Of course, less than five years ago, we found a box of saltines that was dated 2009.  And my husband ate them.  He said they tasted like "pantry."  So I tried a bite.  He was very right.  

I also found a container of half and half in the fridge tonight that dated from June of 2021.  

So.....maybe?  I mean, Deep Woods Off could have gotten shoved in some "bathroom supplies stuff" and made several moves unquestioningly?  

My dad still has spices that my stepmother bought the first time they lived in Illinois. They've moved from Illinois to NYC back to Illinois. Easily 20 years old, and they've made it past a girlfriend and 2 other wives (stepmother died 10 years ago).  🤷‍♀️

[Terabith]

1 minute ago, MissLemon said:

My dad still has spices that my stepmother bought the first time they lived in Illinois. They've moved from Illinois to NYC back to Illinois. Easily 20 years old, and they've made it past a girlfriend and 2 other wives (stepmother died 10 years ago).  🤷‍♀️

I have deliberately sorted and thrown out spices within the last 3-5 years.  

[marbel]

I can absolutely imagine that happening. Pretty sure my husband has boxes of unknown contents that have moved 3 times or more since we married in 1995. 

Probably that includes at least one box of important computer cables that are sure to be needed any day now. 

Edited February 14, 2022 by marbel

[prairiewindmomma]

Yikes. I think it’s entirely plausible it made all of the moves.

When my relative was just a handful of years older than I am now, I offered to help her clean out her freezer. There was a vintage Tupperware box that was dated with a date 23 years prior. That freezer container had gone through five significant moves. The container was mostly ice crystals and some unknown flaky dust like petrified thing. 
 

That memory spurs me to spring clean through every cabinet, my fridges, and my freezer yearly. 

[Ethel Mertz]

50 minutes ago, Terabith said:

where there is a deeply confusing set of things that they have a lot of versus none of.  Supply chain issues are weird.  It made a little more sense when I remembered tomorrow is Valentine's Day, but still.  Weird.  

Oddly, if you want avocados, there were a zillion.  Cat food or litter....shelves are 2020 toilet paper aisle bare.

Also, if you’re in the US … Super Bowl. 

[Terabith]

7 minutes ago, Ethel Mertz said:

Also, if you’re in the US … Super Bowl. 

Yeah, I was weirdly aware of that one and took that into account.  I had totally forgotten about Valentine's.  

[Ottakee]

Yep.  Last year we helped my mom clean her freezer and she offered my kids the apple turnovers she didn't want.   Checked the date and they were from 1996.  She said, "that's not that old" ....until my  24 year old daughter pointed out they expired before she was born 

[Faith-manor]

I totally get that. Mark recently discovered he still has some textbooks from college in a box upstairs. He graduated in 1987! 

1.9.8.7. He moved from college in Ohio back to Florida for three months, then to his first career job which was in Indiana, from an apartment in Indiana to the house we would share. From there, we moved to Oregon, and then to Michigan, moving into temporary housing first so this box went into storage, then to the first Michigan house we bought, and then finally to here. I told him if that box makes it to Bama, I am moving to Tahiti until the box is gone! 😁

[happi duck]

The cat food shortage is a problem with our will-only-eat-one-flavor kitty!

[BakersDozen]

1 hour ago, Terabith said:

I have deliberately sorted and thrown out spices within the last 3-5 years.

That is one thing I did in 2020 - tossed the spices I purchased in the late 90s. Oy...

 

[Terabith]

34 minutes ago, Faith-manor said:

I totally get that. Mark recently discovered he still has some textbooks from college in a box upstairs. He graduated in 1987! 

1.9.8.7. He moved from college in Ohio back to Florida for three months, then to his first career job which was in Indiana, from an apartment in Indiana to the house we would share. From there, we moved to Oregon, and then to Michigan, moving into temporary housing first so this box went into storage, then to the first Michigan house we bought, and then finally to here. I told him if that box makes it to Bama, I am moving to Tahiti until the box is gone! 😁

Books and toys are a whole different ball of wax.  I have a bunch of my old childhood books and toys that my kids used and that I hope will be used again.  Those are known entities.  

The cat food shortage is becoming an issue for us for my poor cat with her mouth filled with ulcers where eating is excruciating for her.  Take away preferred flavors?  It's a problem. 

[Garga]

I finally got around to checking the date on the fire extinguisher that’s in our kitchen.

1989.

I hadn’t even graduated high school yet in 1989. I’m 49 years old now. Apparently, my husband brought this fire extinguisher to the marriage as his dowry.

 

[vonfirmath]

I just threw out garlic powder with a date of 2014 on it.

[scholastica]

When my daughter helped my mom clean out her vanity last year, she found some ointment that had expired in 1991. My parents moved from their old house into the “new” house in 1997. They moved expired ointment from one house to the other. Doesn’t everyone clean out as they’re packing?? 

[prairiewindmomma]

I have a couple of spices I never fully use up, but spices degrade pretty significantly with time. I don’t have a problem keeping those going.

Does anyone else go through tons of spices? I actually use up some < 1 oz spice jars about every 6 weeks…I bulk refill the containers. 

My rotation issues lie elsewhere.

[Catwoman]

1 hour ago, Garga said:

I finally got around to checking the date on the fire extinguisher that’s in our kitchen.

1989.

I hadn’t even graduated high school yet in 1989. I’m 49 years old now. Apparently, my husband brought this fire extinguisher to the marriage as his dowry.

 

Ooh! He was quite the catch! 😉 

I'll bet none of the other guys you dated came with their own fire extinguisher. I know mine didn't.

I feel cheated and somewhat bitter.

[Catwoman]

1 hour ago, scholastica said:

When my daughter helped my mom clean out her vanity last year, she found some ointment that had expired in 1991. My parents moved from their old house into the “new” house in 1997. They moved expired ointment from one house to the other. Doesn’t everyone clean out as they’re packing?? 

Sometimes I think you start out with good intentions, but then you realize that you only have a few days left before you move, and everything from the kitchen just gets desperately hurled into boxes with the promise that they will be sorted at the new house. And then you get to the new house and you want to get the kitchen set up in a hurry so you can at least eat like humans while you're unpacking everything else, so all of the kitchen stuff gets shoved into the pantry and random cabinets with the promise that it will be sorted out as soon as you finish unpacking all of your other stuff. And then... well... yeah... those spices from 1996 are still in there...

 

[Kassia]

3 hours ago, Faith-manor said:

I totally get that. Mark recently discovered he still has some textbooks from college in a box upstairs. He graduated in 1987! 

 

My DH graduated from college in 1986 and still has college textbooks but they are books of subjects that don't change - physics, chemistry, calculus, even computer stuff.  He really struggles with getting rid of things and is just now working hard at doing so because our house is stuffed and we would like to move.  

[SHP]

3 hours ago, prairiewindmomma said:

I have a couple of spices I never fully use up, but spices degrade pretty significantly with time. I don’t have a problem keeping those going.

Does anyone else go through tons of spices? I actually use up some < 1 oz spice jars about every 6 weeks…I bulk refill the containers. 

My rotation issues lie elsewhere.

I do! My husband is salt free and doesn't use sugar for things like oatmeal. I buy some salt free spice blends and I make my own. I have found most people don't use spices like I do, I have spice blends for every occasion and have the view that life is too short for boring food.

My mom has a warped perception of what spices are, she thinks everything except salt is "spicy" and serves horribly bland food so I keep my father supplied with blends he can add to his food.

Speaking of which, I need to see my dealer, it has been a record breaking 6 months and I have more than a few empty jars.

 

How do you store your spices?

After years of torturing myself and going though various home and kitchen stores and being dismayed at the options, I finally found these. I have two, one 60 and one 30. The 30 holds all my spice blends and the 60 holds most of my individual spices. Watch for sales if you like them and be aware that there is a cheap knock off on Amazon that uses smaller jars, avoid that one, the lids don't close!

 https://www.amazon.com/AllSpice-Wooden-Spice-Jars-Cherry/dp/B00NO3QLKS/ref=asc_df_B00NO3QLKS/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=193124474144&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=16888632853423400400&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9023221&hvtargid=pla-307619423515&psc=1

[Laura Corin]

24 minutes ago, SHP said:

I do! My husband is salt free and doesn't use sugar for things like oatmeal. I buy some salt free spice blends and I make my own. I have found most people don't use spices like I do, I have spice blends for every occasion and have the view that life is too short for boring food.

My mom has a warped perception of what spices are, she thinks everything except salt is "spicy" and serves horribly bland food so I keep my father supplied with blends he can add to his food.

Speaking of which, I need to see my dealer, it has been a record breaking 6 months and I have more than a few empty jars.

 

How do you store your spices?

After years of torturing myself and going though various home and kitchen stores and being dismayed at the options, I finally found these. I have two, one 60 and one 30. The 30 holds all my spice blends and the 60 holds most of my individual spices. Watch for sales if you like them and be aware that there is a cheap knock off on Amazon that uses smaller jars, avoid that one, the lids don't close!

 https://www.amazon.com/AllSpice-Wooden-Spice-Jars-Cherry/dp/B00NO3QLKS/ref=asc_df_B00NO3QLKS/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=193124474144&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=16888632853423400400&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9023221&hvtargid=pla-307619423515&psc=1

Love your spice racks! We have three plastic baskets labelled A-C, D-N and P-Z. This is the nearest I have come to being able to find spices in 30 years of marriage. And yes, they turn over fast.

[Faith-manor]

For those of you needing cat food, is it possible to order online from Tractor Supply or PetsMart? I know it would be expensive, but maybe a way to make it through. Our TSC is well stocked because for pet food their primary customers are farm accounts/bulk buying. The bulk of pet owners here shop at Wal-Mart. If willing to buy a case, our TSC manager is willing to order flavors and blends they do not normally keep on the shelf.

Just a thought.

[Acadie]

Dd's placenta has been in the deep freeze for almost 16 years, every one of which was supposed to be the year we finally planted a tree with the placenta to nourish the roots. 

I just put three of these racks on the inside of my pantry door for my spices--I love seeing everything clearly and having them alphabetized. The racks are great quality, not at all expensive and come in sets of two, so the extra 4th rack holds backup toiletries inside a closet door upstairs. (PS--it's just the racks, doesn't include bottles)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07SZBSXHZ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Edited February 14, 2022 by Acadie

[Pam in CT]

Books don't expire, and they fit efficiently onto shelves and fade to "decorating strategy," so, to my mind that's a different category.  And to pick up a novel I underlined and annotated when 20 yo in college... well, truly that's a gift.  It's like sitting down in a cafe and having a loooooong deep conversation with my younger self. 

[[ puffy heart ]]

 

Deep Woods Off = more where my personal struggles like, LOL.  Maybe 15 years ago our perfectly-ghastly windowless underground airless basement flooded to 8+ inches, and it took us days to get all the water out, by which point the [embarrassing number of] still-unpacked boxed from our move [an embarrassing number of years I will not name] years prior.  So I had to spend [an embarrassing number I will not name] hours going through each and every one of them, because although MOST of them were filled with [...] bottles of shampoo and unopened boxes of kleenex and, I kid you not, SCOTCH TAPE, well-aged... every so often there I found my husband's grandmother's Shabbat candles in there, or some other such thing.  It was ghastly.

I got through those, but their progeny has proliferated in the subsequent years and I have no idea what's down there; I'm sure it's very bad.  We call it the Scary Basement now, and announce our departures thereto so the other can prepare a search party in the event we don't return, as in, "Honey I'm headed to the Scary Basement to look for a needlenose plier..."

[vonfirmath]

6 hours ago, Laura Corin said:

Love your spice racks! We have three plastic baskets labelled A-C, D-N and P-Z. This is the nearest I have come to being able to find spices in 30 years of marriage. And yes, they turn over fast.

Genius!

[prairiewindmomma]

7 hours ago, SHP said:

How do you store your spices?

 

I store mine in a drawer, flat on their sides. The refills are in a cabinet. I am in a tiny kitchen, so my options are few….no real wall space and the cabinets won’t hold up to something being attached to them. (We are saving for a remodel.

[Elizabeth86]

1 hour ago, Acadie said:

Dd's placenta has been in the deep freeze for almost 16 years, every one of which was supposed to be the year we finally planted a tree with the placenta to nourish the roots. 

I just put three of these racks on the inside of my pantry door for my spices--I love seeing everything clearly and having them alphabetized. The racks are great quality, not at all expensive and come in sets of two, so the extra 4th rack holds backup toiletries inside a closet door upstairs. 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07SZBSXHZ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

That's funny about the placenta. I have a bag of breast milk from each baby in the freezer. I swear I'm going to send it off to make into jewelry some day. Even though I’ll never wear it because I hate jewelry. 😂

[Lady Florida.]

13 hours ago, Terabith said:

where there is a deeply confusing set of things that they have a lot of versus none of.  Supply chain issues are weird.  It made a little more sense when I remembered tomorrow is Valentine's Day, but still.  Weird.  

Oddly, if you want avocados, there were a zillion.  Cat food or litter....shelves are 2020 toilet paper aisle bare.

 

As someone with 2 cats we've dealt with the food and litter shortage for a while now. 

Last week I was at the store and saltines were out - all brands including store brand. There were plenty of other crackers, just not saltines. I was scratching my head over that one then it hit me. We had a freeze the week before. Floridians were making soup while the cold weather lasted! We needed crackers for our soup and cleared out the shelves lol.

[Laura Corin]

46 minutes ago, vonfirmath said:

Genius!

The result of a cross trip to at pound store for baskets, and dire warnings of retribution to anyone in the family who dared to misfile.

[Ethel Mertz]

2 hours ago, Faith-manor said:

For those of you needing cat food, is it possible to order online from Tractor Supply or PetsMart? I know it would be expensive, but maybe a way to make it through. Our TSC is well stocked because for pet food their primary customers are farm accounts/bulk buying. The bulk of pet owners here shop at Wal-Mart. If willing to buy a case, our TSC manager is willing to order flavors and blends they do not normally keep on the shelf.

Just a thought.

We’ve had success ordering cat food from Chewy’s.

[goldberry]

Now my spices seem sadly disorganized after seeing all the nice spice organizers...

Deep Woods Off is something I could see myself carting around through moves.  I recently cleaned out spices and some of them were over 10 years old easily.  I also hang on too long to makeup and skincare items.

[theelfqueen]

12 hours ago, prairiewindmomma said:

I have a couple of spices I never fully use up, but spices degrade pretty significantly with time. I don’t have a problem keeping those going.

Does anyone else go through tons of spices? I actually use up some < 1 oz spice jars about every 6 weeks…I bulk refill the containers. 

My rotation issues lie elsewhere.

There is a spice shop here in town where I can buy in bulk or buy a tiny quantity of something I only need a bit of. 

[Terabith]

1 hour ago, Ethel Mertz said:

We’ve had success ordering cat food from Chewy’s.

I've tried ordering from Chewy's and PetSmart, but they've also been out of the variety our cats like.