This blog is a question to all the readers out there: do expiration dates on food really matter?

Now, I’m not talking about the obvious foods, like milk. I would never drink milk a day past the “sell by” date, no matter how much my mother yelled at me, “That’s just when the stores can’t sell it anymore!” Suuuuuure it is.

I’m talking about things that don’t really sour. Like lettuce. I bought a huge box of organic lettuce from a certain grocery store. (Why did I tell you it’s organic? Because I believe that’s the only kind that comes in a box. I had never seen it before I began at my current job, so I’m spreading the knowledge.) It’s huge. So huge that after eating huge salads for a week at lunchtime, there is barely a dent in it. My co-worker said, “You’re OK, it doesn’t expire until the 13th.” What? Lettuce expires? I just thought it got wilty, at which point I won’t eat it anymore.

I was raised not to be wasteful, and frankly, I’m pretty lazy, so I don’t want to run to the grocery store every other day to buy fresh produce. But I’m not sure I can handle the looks of disgust when I put the same lettuce I used this week into a bowl next week.

Won’t someone help me?

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