Shelf-life of foods

[aokec]

Hey guys

I found all kinds of random crap in our chest freezer (trying to clean up). including:

Factory frozen shrimp, chicken strips, pizza,

I found this site:

http://whatscookingamerica.net/Information/FreezerChart.htm

But it seems to be for food that's frozen from cooked state.

Just wondering if I'm supposed to trash most of what's in the freezer.

Any good reliable guidelines?

[No Frills]

Factory frozen pizzas, chicken strips and shrimp sometimes have best before dates even though they dont require one. Its usually a little more than a year from production.

[appleb]

I'd imagine much of the frozen food is still safe to eat, however you'll throw them out anyway because they've lost a lot of moisture and flavour (freezer burn).

[gh05t]

Once it hasn't been thawed and still tightly sealed,I usually use most frozen foods like what you listed. The taste may change a bit as in the shrimp but often it's one of freezer burn and not one of expiration. I make sure to consume it within a short space of time after cooking though.

Most things I find are good past it's expiration date especially if it is unopened. I imagine the expiration dates are mandatory and legal/liability requirements and manufacturers seem quite prudent in their configurations/calculations.

[samkat]

I have often eaten many foods after the expiration date. In fact, I use that date as a eaten 'best before date'.

However, I did see a TV show where there did an expose on a popular grocery store in the USA where they would repackage the items in the meat counter as pass them off as fresher than they were under a hidden camera.
Does make you wonder.