# Expired Pancake Mix



## prepmama

I have several (just add water) Hungry Jack pouches that expired 6 months ago. They seem fine but I'm seeing conflicting info online about expired baking mixes. Anyone eaten them way past expiration? I was thinking about just making them now and freezing. Input?


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## Country Living

I either freeze or vacuum seal (in a jar) most of my dry mixes. The only thing that should expire would be the baking powder and you can toss some in when you mix a batch of pancakes.


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## oldasrocks

Ate some old mix for breakfast. It was just fine. Think the date was 08.


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## VUnder

When it's been ten years or som maybe then I may start to worry a little, but I'd be so hungry it would be good anyway. Heck if you hungry enough, won't even take time to cook it...


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## readytogo

Like Country Living stated, baking powder looses its reaction power as it gets old so as long as the pancakes rises is ok, or just add more, if by any chance you don`t have baking powder it can be made by mixing .
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon corn starch (optional)
Preparation:
Mix the baking soda and cream of tartar together until well combined. Use immediately. 
Yield: One tablespoon of baking powder. 
Hope this helps you some.


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## prepmama

Thanks everyone. I normally don't worry about dates but I read something about "deadly" mold spores in baking mixes.


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## tsrwivey

Flour will go bad, that's why whole grains are recommended for long term storage. The mixes are probably just fine since its only 6 months, but you can smell it & tell if its gone bad. It tastes bad too but I don't know that it would hurt you. 

I opened a box of Life cereal the other day that expired in 2011, it smelled bad & it tasted bad.


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## cnsper

I have some gov't emergency ration biscuits that were canned in 1963. We opened one and it was just fine. I have enough for over 5k biscuits still..


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## weedygarden

prepmama said:


> Thanks everyone. I normally don't worry about dates but I read something about "deadly" mold spores in baking mixes.


A few years ago I read about expiration dates. Ultimately companies are *required* to put expiration dates of food and drugs. When it comes to medicines, they put a date that is sooner because they may want to change the look of their packaging. It is pure marketing to keep things changing and looking new.

http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/pancake.asp This says that while you can get mold spores in pancake mixes and the like, the warning is overblown. The age of the mix has no bearing on this. It is more about what has happened to the mix and how it has been handled.

An unopened package that has been in your basement or pantry shelf will be fine. That inner package that is sealed tight is important. Even if it has been opened on your pantry shelf it should be good. If it were to have gotten wet, that would change it. Then throw it out.

There are people who would not eat anything past the date, and there are people who will eat stuff way, way past the date. My guess is that if we were starving, we would not be AS concerned.

I also read that thing about deadly mold spores in baking mixes, but I can tell you that I personally have used mixes that were 5 years old and I never got sick.

The army deals with millions of dollars of medication and a few years ago they did research to determine that many (but not all) meds have an expiration date that just doesn't mean anything.

http://www.health.harvard.edu/fhg/updates/update1103a.shtml



> So the expiration date doesn't really indicate a point at which the medication is no longer effective or has become unsafe to use. Medical authorities state expired drugs are safe to take, even those that expired years ago. A rare exception to this may be tetracycline, but the report on this is controversial among researchers. It's true the effectiveness of a drug may decrease over time, but much of the original potency still remains even a decade after the expiration date. Excluding nitroglycerin, insulin, and liquid antibiotics, most medications are as long-lasting as the ones tested by the military. Placing a medication in a cool place, such as a refrigerator, will help a drug remain potent for many years.


Relative to refrigeration, it is a good idea to keep vitamins in the fridge.


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## tsrwivey

I happened to find a box of Hungry Jack light & fluffy complete (just add water) pancake mix that expired in March of 2012 so I did what any good prepper would do, I fed it to my family. The pancakes were perfectly fine, all I had to do was add a teaspoon of baking soda (for half the box). We are all still alive two days later . 

I also found some Skippy Natural peanut butter that expired in January 2012. It tastes, smells & looks fine. Both items were stored in a dark closet in a climate controlled room.


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## weedygarden

tsrwivey said:


> I happened to find a box of Hungry Jack light & fluffy complete (just add water) pancake mix that expired in March of 2012 so *I did what any good prepper would do*, I fed it to my family. The pancakes were perfectly fine, all I had to do was add a teaspoon of baking soda (for half the box). We are all still alive two days later .


Thanks! I sure got a good laugh about this!



tsrwivey said:


> I also found some Skippy Natural peanut butter that expired in January 2012. It tastes, smells & looks fine. Both items were stored in a dark closet in a climate controlled room.


I have some from 2010 in the basement and I think about it frequently. I know it might be bad, but then again, it might not be.


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## NaeKid

tsrwivey said:


> I also found some Skippy Natural peanut butter that expired in January 2012. It tastes, smells & looks fine. Both items were stored in a dark closet in a climate controlled room.





weedygarden said:


> I have some from 2010 in the basement and I think about it frequently. I know it might be bad, but then again, it might not be.


Probably just fine ...

If not - make the jar into peanut butter cookies and no-one will be the wiser :teehee:


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## JayJay

I have a 5 gallon bucket of pancake mix I vacuum sealed in mason jars. It is over 5 years old and even if flat, will fill my tummy covered in homemade syrup--yep, made and canned in mason jars.


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## Dakine

for any kind of dry goods like that I use my FoodSaver vacuum sealer, I double seal the edges to!

it's a different storage style for sure because you can't neatly and orderly stack and label it, and if you just toss in 10 packages into plastic tote bin you're going to waste huge amounts of space. 

it's all got to be thought out and factored and then take action! 

and don't let the perfect plan tomorrow prevent you from taking action on the good/best plan available today! let tomorrow worry about tomorrow, we all have plenty to keep us busy today and that's what we need to do!


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## ClemKadiddlehopper

JayJay said:


> I have a 5 gallon bucket of pancake mix I vacuum sealed in mason jars. It is over 5 years old and* even if flat*, will fill my tummy covered in homemade syrup--yep, made and canned in mason jars.


It will in all probability be flat because the BPowder will have denatured for lack of a better term. Test a batch and if they are flat, add fresh BP to the next batch. If you are making your mix from scratch don't add BP. Add it as you use it. Keep salt, cream of tartar and Bsoda in separate packets in the pancake bucket so you can make fresh BP when you need it. Zip locks with a straw included will keep them just fine.

The danger of having to add extra BP is that it can give your pancakes a bitter salty taste if there is too much. Pretty small potatoes in the scheme of things. As you say, if all else fails, eat them flat and rubbery. Food is food.

I had a 5 lb bag of Aunt Jemimah mix that I carted around the world. After five ocean moves and living in warm cupboards, I finally opened it up at its original destination ,Canada, 10 years later. It looked the same but tasted like something that hits the fan a lot. Talk about barfy. On the same note, I also carted 10 gallons of homemade vanilla extract around the world and now 18 years later I am on my last quart of it. It just got better and better. I almost hate using it as it is so well aged. I did start another 10 gallons two years ago so all is not yet lost.


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## oldasrocks

ClemKadiddlehopper said:


> On the same note, I also carted 10 gallons of homemade vanilla extract around the world and now 18 years later I am on my last quart of it. It just got better and better. I almost hate using it as it is so well aged. I did start another 10 gallons two years ago so all is not yet lost.


10 gallons! Do you drink the stuff or what?????


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## ClemKadiddlehopper

Think 10 gallons over 18 years. I do a lot of baking and I do not limit myself to a tsp of vanilla in a recipe. Think more like a tablespoon and sometimes more if its something like caramel yams.

Something I learned pretty quickly when we moved to other countries. Their deserts tend to be very basic and sugary with not much if any spice.

In Venezuela, quesillo, a version of creme caramel is very popular. They also like short bread type cookies dipped in dark chocolate. Good, but the same every where and no vanilla. Their cakes suck. I remade the cookies using a snickerdoodle recipe with extra vanilla. They went nuts over it. Then I got really aggressive and rolled out the rhubarb cake when I found a stash of rhubarb, very rare, at a market. Wow but I could have bribed half the country with that one. I traded cake and cookies for spanish lessons, I was no longer ignored at the butcher and could get my utility bills paid in only one day instead of two. 

I got escorts into and out of some pretty god awful barrios to see the sights and traded cakes for art and other things. Wouldn't try that these days, period, but back then it was still extremely sketchy and expats were dumped in those places naked and in deep dooddoo after a mugging in the good areas. Me, I got there through the "gotta have the cake every one is bragging about route". Great experiences. 

In Cairo, the favourite desert is a really bland nothing added rice pudding. Spruce it up with the spices and lots of vanilla and again, I became very popular. Couldn't find rhubarb there but I did very well with caramel yams, and a vanilla dosed carrot pie. I served that one up at a buffet at the Mexican embassy because Joe whose horse I exercised and a friend I met out in the desert, turned out to be the Mexican and British ambassadors. They had some pie I made for the locals and Joe wanted it for his party. Found out at the party who he really was when I was chatting with him and some other expats wanted to know how I knew the Mexican ambassador. Then Andy showed up and I found out who he really was.

Indonesia is big on bread with bread stores every where. They make some mighty fine bread and desert breads so nothing to improve there, but the old standby of rhubarb cake again turned out to be a fine barter item. The trick is to offer a piece to one street vendor while checking out the baskets and then wait for the rush. One cake doesn't go far, but when you return the next week, they want that cake so bad that I could actually get something for only a hundred times the local price instead of a thousand times. Blondies get gouged where ever they go in the world.

Vanilla, don't leave home without it.


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