I typically clean out my pantry once per year.
And when I clean out the pantry, I donate all the nonperishable items to a local organization.
At times, a local charity will leave a plastic bag on my door and ask that we fill it with nonperishable goods. So, I am always giving away food because it’s the right thing to do especially if I won’t use the items right away. Well, it has been 2 years since I cleaned out my pantry, but recently, I received one of those plastic bags which forced me to pull some items out. While I was finding canned goods to place into the bags, I came across a jar of honey that I had purchased from a farmer’s market over 2 years ago. Of course, because it was a local vendor, there was no expiration date on the container. In fact, there was no label on the jar, so I wasn’t even sure what farm this honey came from. The honey still looked good, but I wasn’t sure if honey would expire after a while. So, after I packed the bag for the charity, I did a quick search to determine the expiration date of honey. Turns out, as long as honey is stored properly it will never go bad and is safe to use. However, over time, the honey will change colors or may crystallize but as long as it is in a clean air-tight glass container away from a heat source, then the honey could potentially last forever. This means that honey has no shelf life which is good to know. I would’ve hated it if I had to toss out the bottle that I found in my pantry.