What "Best By" Really Means — An Old Butcher Goes Through 14 Foods in His Pantry

What the date on food really means: best by date meaning, how long white rice, dry pasta, honey, canned food, baking powder, coffee and chocolate really last, and the 4 foods that go bad in months because of the oil inside. A bag of rice, a box of pasta, a jar of crystallized honey, all in the garbage because of a little stamp that was never about your safety. Don't forget to download Enzo's FREE BOOK (link in the cards / end screen). I'm Enzo. I was born in Bari in 1952, and for 41 years my wife Carmela and I ran a butcher shop in Newark, New Jersey. Carmela has written every food dollar in a green notebook since 1971. In this video I go through our cupboard and tell you what the date on 14 everyday foods really means: the 10 that keep long past the date if you store them right, and the 4 that go bad in months, quietly. No "lasts forever" nonsense. What the USDA and the universities actually say. WHAT YOU'LL LEARN • What "Best if Used By" really means, and the one food where the date is about safety (infant formula) • How long white rice, dry pasta, sugar, salt and vinegar really keep, and what "kept properly" means • Why crystallized honey is not spoiled, how to fix it, and why babies under one never get honey • The two clocks of canned food, and why where you keep the cans matters more than the date • The 1-minute test for old baking powder and baking soda • Coffee's two lives, and why white "bloom" on chocolate is not mold • Brown rice, whole wheat flour and walnuts: why they go rancid and where to keep them • Olive oil: why the big bottle was not cheaper this week, and where it should never live CHAPTERS 0:00 Trailer 0:23 The date you were afraid of 2:44 #1 White rice 4:35 #2 Dry pasta (and the pen that died) 6:17 #3 Honey 8:06 #4 Salt 8:59 #5 Sugar 10:23 #6 White vinegar 11:24 #7 Cans: the two clocks 13:24 #8 Baking powder and baking soda: the test 15:20 #9 Coffee 16:39 #10 Dark chocolate 18:16 #11 Brown rice: the honest part begins 19:25 #12 Whole wheat flour 20:33 #13 Walnuts 22:33 #14 Olive oil: the big bottle trap 24:26 Why this works, and your homework Prices are rounded and were checked the week this video was made (October 2026). They change from store to store and town to town, so tell me yours in the comments. SOURCES I USED: USDA FSIS Food Product Dating (dates are not federally required except for infant formula; "Best if Used By" is about quality; about 30% of the food supply is lost or wasted at the retail and consumer levels); USDA FSIS Shelf-Stable Food Safety (rice and dried pasta about 2 years; store cans below 85°F, not above the stove, under the sink or in a damp garage; deep-dent rule); USA Rice Federation (milled white rice keeps almost indefinitely; brown rice about 6 months); Penn State Extension (honey, whole wheat flour, baking powder and baking soda tests); Ohio State University Extension HYG-5401 (honey, sugar, olive oil, chocolate, whole wheat flour, nuts); NDSU Extension FN579 Food Storage Guide (pasta, sugar, honey, baking powder, coffee, nuts, oils, whole wheat flour); CDC (no honey before age 1); University of Wisconsin–Madison Food Science (chocolate bloom is not mold). Tell me in the comments what town you are in and what a two-pound bag of white rice costs at your store this week. Carmela is waiting with the notebook and the pencil. — The Enzo Family — Also visit Enzo's Kitchen and Enzo's Home Tricks (links in the cards and end screen). Next week: Enzo takes me to a big warehouse store. The 11 things an old butcher buys there, and the 5 he walks right past. Spend a little, eat like a king. #frugalliving #foodwaste #enzosmethod