Is This Still Okay To Eat? Food Expiration Dates, Explained

PLUS: The best way to dry clean clothes at home, make your showers more productive, and more. PLUS: The best way to dry clean clothes at home, make your showers more productive, and more. June 30, 2022 [View Online]( TOGETHER WITH [Wren]( Good morning! The “sell by” date on your egg carton came and went last week, but does that mean you should throw them out? Questions like these can be surprisingly complex, but in Today’s Good Thing, I’ll tell you what you need to know about food expiration dates in order to make a safe call. And in a new Your One Good Thing, Patricia is sharing a laundry tip that can speed up the drying process and reduce wrinkling. Find out what her simple secret is below. Jillee TODAY'S GOOD THING Is This Still Okay To Eat? Food Expiration Dates, Explained [Photos of vinegar, beef, eggs, and carrots.]( Some foods are fine to eat long past their marked date, but others can pose a health risk! I'm sure we’ve all stood in front of our open fridge at some point wondering whether a particular food was still safe to eat. It seems like a simple question, but encountering “Sell By”, “Use By” and “Best If Used By” dates on various packages can make it frustratingly complex. So what do those dates have to do with food safety? You might be surprised to learn that those dates don’t really indicate anything about food safety. In the US, manufacturers aren’t required to put any particular dates on food packaging—the decision is left up to them. So the question of whether a particular food in your fridge is safe to eat is a bit more complicated than it might seem. In order to help you make sense of it all, I’ve put together a guide to food expiration dates that will walk you through the most important things to know. In addition to explanations of the types of dates you might encounter on food packages, I'll tell you which 9 specific foods you should never eat past their expiration date. You’ll also learn about 8 foods that are generally safe to eat well past their marked date, provided they’ve been stored correctly (and don’t worry, I’ve got food storage tips for you too!) So follow the link below and get your expiration date questions answered once and for all. [Is This Still Okay To Eat? Food Expiration Dates, Explained ➜]( Related • [7 Things You Should Clear Out Of Your Fridge]( • [Do You Know Which Foods You Should Be Washing?]( ⚡️QUICK TIPS⚡️ • Find out everything you need to know to remove cat urine stains and odor, and how to avoid making them worse. [Read more ➜]( • Good sofas don't come cheap, but you can protect your investment by avoiding these 14 sofa-ruining habits. [Read more ➜]( • Stop relying on that flimsy tab to keep your cereal boxes closed and use this genius box folding hack instead. [Read more ➜]( WHY DIDN’T I THINK OF THAT? Give Yourself Something To Read In The Shower [A photo of an article taped to a shower door.]( The “porcelain throne” isn’t the only spot in your bathroom where you can catch up on your reading. If you have a glass shower enclosure like I do, or even just a glass shower door, this clever and creative tip will help you make the most of it. Give yourself some reading material during your next shower by taking an article you’ve been wanting to read and taping it to the outside of the glass. This can be an easy way to use your shower time to get a head start on a productive day, or else to finally read that article your friend has been pestering you to read. Or tape up some song lyrics and start your day with some shower karaoke—there’s no wrong way to use this tip! TOGETHER WITH WREN Ready To Do Your Part For The Planet? Start Here We have a duty to protect our environment, but in a world driven by convenience, it’s often easier said than done. Whether you shop for sustainable products, put your recycling out every week, make an effort to drive less, or all of the above, it can be hard to tell if what you’re doing is making an impact. Luckily, I now know about Wren! [Wren]( offers a monthly subscription that helps you calculate the impact your lifestyle has on the environment, then offsets that impact by supporting projects that plant trees, protect rainforests, and remove CO2 from the air. And unlike remembering to take your reusable grocery bags to the store, using Wren couldn’t be easier. Just head to [wren.co/OGT](, fill out a quick survey, register for an account, and you can start making a difference immediately! They’ll even plant 10 extra trees in your name just for signing up. [Plant 10 Trees Today With Wren ➜]( [Plant 10 Trees Today With Wren ➜]( Supporting our sponsors makes it possible for me to continue sharing the tips and tricks that make your life easier! [Check out Wren]( to protect the environment by supporting projects you care about. - Thank you! SWAP THAT 🔄 FOR THIS “Dry Clean” Your Clothes At Home [Photos of the process of dry cleaning your clothes.]( This DIY take on dry cleaning is a great way to refresh clothes you can’t or don’t want to wash. Dry cleaning uses special chemicals and very high heat, so it's not exactly a process you can replicate at home. However, home dry cleaning products like Dryel can be useful for freshening clothes that are meant to be dry cleaned or require special care. And this Dryel-inspired DIY offers the same benefits for less money! Here's how to dry clean at home: Add 1 cup of warm water, 1 teaspoon of borax, 1 teaspoon of oxygen bleach, and 3 drops of lavender essential oil to a small bowl, then stir well. Soak a clean washcloth in the solution, then squeeze it lightly so that it's saturated, but not dripping wet. For the next step, you'll need a zippered pillow protector or something similar. (The bag helps trap steam, so a mesh bag isn't an ideal choice, but if that's the only bag you have to work with, go ahead and use it!) Toss the saturated cloth into the bag along with the clothing item you want to clean, then zip it closed. Place the bag in your dryer and run it for 20-30 minutes, then promptly remove the item and hang it up to prevent wrinkling. Your clothes will look and smell markedly fresher while retaining their color and shape! [See the full tutorial ➜]( JILLEE'S PICK Waxed Canvas [A photo of a waxed canvas bag.]( I've been very drawn to the look of waxed canvas lately. It has a very natural appearance and texture, but feels minimalist and sleek at the same time. I even bought Dave a nice waxed canvas barbecue apron for Father's Day, which looks great and is practical too. So when I found an Etsy store called [bayanhippo]( that specializes in waxed canvas bags, I had a hard time resisting the temptation to buy one of each! I eventually decided to get one of the shop’s bestsellers—the [Waxed Weekender Canvas Tote Bag]( in Charcoal Black. Not only does the bag look great in person, but its size makes it perfect for short getaways or hauling around a bunch of stuff. I also thought the price was very reasonable for such a stylish, roomy, and well-constructed bag. I love a good Etsy find! YOUR ONE GOOD THING For Better Drying, Shake It Out Patricia S. has a great tip about drying laundry: "One tip I'd like to share with you is to shake out the wet laundry from the washing machine before putting it in the dryer. It helps to dry the laundry faster and greatly reduces wrinkles." Thanks for sharing, Patricia! In my experience, this is one of those tips that seems like it shouldn't make as much of a difference as it does. You'd think that tumbling around the dryer would be enough to "shake" the clothes out, right? But modern washing machines spin laundry at very high speeds, which compresses your clothes against the sides of the wash drum. And because they get compressed so forcefully, wet clothes can take a while to loosen up and dry properly if you toss them right in the dryer. But by taking an extra minute to shake your wet laundry out, you can skip that part of the drying process and help your clothes dry faster. And like Patricia says, it helps cut down on wrinkles too! Have a great tip or trick of your own? [Share YOUR “one good thing” here]( for a chance to see it featured in a future newsletter! A FEW MORE THINGS... A Small Step With A Big Impact: Small actions add up, and Wren makes it quick and easy to do your part for the environment by supporting climate projects that deliver real results. Sign up now and they’ll plant 10 trees in your name just for getting started! [Start making a difference with Wren today ➜](* Popular Baby Names: [According to the Social Security Administration](, in 2021 the most popular name for boys was Liam, followed by Noah and Oliver. For girls, it was Olivia, followed by Emma and Charlotte. (The only way that either list changed from 2020 to 2021 was that Charlotte bumped Ava out of 3rd place.) Troublesome Rubble: Today is [Asteroid Day](, a global awareness campaign about the risk of asteroid impacts that promotes action to protect us from future impacts. It is observed on June 30 to mark the date of the [Tunguska event]( in 1908, the largest asteroid impact in recorded history that leveled 830 square miles of forest in Siberia. 🤔 Wordle: [Solve today's 5-letter word](. *Sponsored by Wren. What did you think of today's email? [Not good]( | [Just okay]( | [Loved it!]( 🏠[Visit the By Jillee Shop]( 🤗 [Join OGT Free]( Let's connect! 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