History Main / WayPastTheExpirationDate

* In ''LightNovel/AccelWorld'', the heroes stop by Sky Raker's home in Brain Burst a place that she hasn't visited in two years. [[YearInsideHourOutside Since one second in the real world is equal to 1,000 seconds in Brain Burst]], Sky Raker warns the others that the food is two millennia out of date.

* ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' has Soldier, who by the time of the Pyromania update was left homeless (kicked out by his MonsterRoommate, the comically IneptMage Merasmus) and reduced to being a [[CrazyHomelessPeople deranged, violent hobo]]. Where he previously survived on a diet of fast food ribs, army surplus soup, and stolen heart medication, he ends up eating out of old cans of ''expired'' army surplus soup. The game takes place in 1968, so for the soup to be army surplus (and therefore not from what would be considered current, Vietnam-era stock) it must have been canned during the ''Korean War'' at the earliest, and therefore is a minimum of 15 years past its canning date. The game [[PlayedForLaughs uses this for comedy at Soldier's expense]], mostly to mock his moronic and jingoistic ways.

** When Lincoln and his ten sisters visit their mom's Aunt Ruth, she feeds them pudding from old canisters that she keeps at her house. When Lori (the oldest of the eleven kids) questions what year the pudding was even made, Lisa (the second youngest but also [[ChildProdigy the most intelligent]] of the eleven kids) notices that one of the canisters has an American flag with only 48 stars on it -- from that, it can be deduced that the pudding was made sometime between February 14th of 1912 (when Arizona became an official state) and January 3rd of 1959 (when Alaska became an official state). Assuming the episode took place in 2016 (the year it aired), the pudding that Ruth was feeding to Lincoln and his sisters could've been anywhere from 58 to '''104'''-years-old.

* In ''Literature/SoLongAndThanksForAllTheFish'', Arthur returns to his home after years in space and eats "the three least green furry things" in the fridge for breakfast.

A comedy trope, in which a character buys, sells, or consumes food products that expired a comically long time ago, years, decades, or even [[UpToEleven centuries]] in the past. It may have [[ItCameFromTheFridge come from the fridge]]. For the horrible consequences that usually follow, see TheFoodPoisoningIncident, though some people avoid food poisoning incidents by employing UnconventionalFoodUsage and using it for non-eating purposes. Contrast IndestructibleEdible and InexplicablyPreservedDungeonMeat.

* In ''LightNovel/AccelWorld'', the heroes stop by Sky Raker's home in Brain Burst a place that she hasn't visited in two years. [[YearInsideHourOutside Since one second in the real world is equal to 1,000 seconds in Brain Burst]], Sky Raker warns the others that [[UpToEleven the food is two millennia out of date]].

** In "Trash-O-Madness", Rocko finds in his fridge a mysterious tub that's so old it's covered with dust, and when he blows off the dust it reads "[[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII Buy War Bonds.]]" ([[UpToEleven Rocko is a young adult and the series takes place in the early 1990s.]]) All that's left in the tub is a large green moldy blob that Spunky decides is an excellent chew toy.

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* ''WebComic/AwkwardZombie''

[[quoteright:349:[[Webcomic/{{xkcd}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/xkcd_yogurt.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:349:"When it was packaged, was civilization using the Gregorian or Julian calendar?"]]

** In "The Procrastinators", Gumball finds an old chocolate bar in the sofa. Darwin says it’s so bad that it must’ve turned into cheese chocolate. Gumball forces it down and [[VomitIndiscretionShot throws it back up on Darwin]].

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'', Arnold makes himself some cereal, then pours in the milk, which is rotten. Grandpa Phil quips that either the milk’s gone bad or they’ve found a new way to package cottage cheese.

** In the special "Wrath of the Spider Queen", after Billy tells Jeff off for spilling his chocolate milk carton, he picks it up from the ground and drinks it. Immediately getting a taste of disgust, Billy reads the expiration date as listed from January 21, 1974... and [[CloudCuckoolander continues drinking it anyway]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'' special "Wrath of the Spider Queen", after Billy tells Jeff off for spilling his chocolate milk carton, he picks it up from the ground and drinks it. Immediately getting a taste of disgust, Billy reads the expiration date as listed from January 21, 1974... and [[CloudCuckoolander continues drinking it anyway]].

* In the episode of ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' that introduced the H.I.V.E., one of the things the Titans complain about after they reclaim their tower from the villains is that they threw away all the blue furry food in the refrigerator.
* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGO'' has Cyborg and Beast Boy have a staring contest to determine who gets the last slice of a pizza. Cyborg wins and tries to eat the slice, only to discover that it's extremely moldy and rotten. It's only when they exit the restaurant that they realize that 30 years have passed while they were staring at the slice.

* During the Russo-Ukrainian war in 2022, there were multiple reports of Russian army rations that expired in ''2015''.

* Hal from ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'' makes the mistake of eating canned food donated to the family and requires a trip to the ER when Lois checks the can and discovers [[IAteWhat the "olives" he was eating were actually peaches]].

** All Pre-War Food in ''VideoGame/Fallout3'' and ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' is this, since it's aged more than 200 years. No horrible consequences, however, because it was hyper-processed crap made of artificial preservatives, sterilized by intense radiation. Unless you count consuming trace amounts of radioactive isotopes to be horrible consequences.

** In "The Man Who Grew Too Much", when Lunchlady Doris reveals to Lisa that the vegetables she uses are genetically modified to stay fresh, she tells her not to ask how old the Jell-O is. There are two trays of gelatin cut into letters to promote the final episode of ''Series/{{MASH}}'' in 1983 and the Atlanta Olympics in 1996; the episode aired in 2014, so the trays would've respectively been around 31 and 18 years old.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'' episode "Tag Yer Ed", the Eds prepare to pour milk on their bowl of Chunky Puffs cereal. The milk has evidently expired and comes out as a thick, solid slab.

-->'''Pascal''': Jesus, Buckman! This stuff's been on the Stingray since ''Korea''! This can expired in ''1966''!\\

* The punchline of the ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'' short "Characters From Yonder Website" is that Homestar and the gang are hallucinating being in an "unbelievably soothing children's program" after drinking some Smarty Juice, which expired in 2007. Strong Sad ends up deciding to drink some as well, and joins them in an Easter Egg.

* In the [[http://www.savestatecomic.com/comic/experience/ November 4 2014 page]] of ''Webcomic/{{Savestate}}'' Kade finds a carton of orange juice in the mansion he and his sister inherited with a listed expiration date of 122010, unfortunately he's so groggy that he thinks the "EXP" stands for ExperiencePoints.

* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'', when Darwin and Gumball buy a bunch of near-expired food sold for a discount. The ''instant'' [[CriticalExistenceFailure it reaches its expiration date]], the food not only becomes inedible but is destroyed completely in seconds: the eggs hatch into chicken, meat is devoured by maggots, and a canned rat ''[[BackFromTheDead spontaneously comes back to life]]'' and runs away.

** Another episode has Nicole cleaning out the boys' room, which includes some food. She asks them what was in a glass she found and is told it's milk. When she turns the whole thing over, it slowly slides out as one piece, with Gumball [[VerbalBackspace amending]] that it's a glass of cheese. Then it finally dislodges from the cup, crashes straight through the floor, and practically caves in Richard's head. Gumball amends it's a glass of stone.

* In the episode of ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'', "Trash-O-Madness", Rocko finds in his fridge a mysterious tub that's so old it's covered with dust, and when he blows off the dust it reads "[[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII Buy War Bonds.]]" ([[UpToEleven Rocko is a young adult and the series takes place in the early 1990s.]]) All that's left in the tub is a large green moldy blob that Spunky decides is an excellent chew toy.