There’s a best before date, use by date, and, expiry date. Dry pasta will have a best before. Companies have this so that they can guarantee that if storage conditions are ideal, the pasta will look, taste, and cook the same as if it was fresh out of the packet. Past this date, it might get brittle, but it wouldn’t affect the food safety of the product. edit: Past the best before means that it may not have the same qualities as when before it’s best before date, but it’s likely still edible, provided the food isn’t stored in non ideal conditions (very wet or humid, stored in the heat/sun, etc.). After the date, you make the call. I probably wouldn’t eat certain foods after a certain date, though.

Extra info for those who are interested:

Best before will be things like rehydrated pasta, your meats, dairy, perishables… Though admittedly, I have eaten yogurt and hummus 4 months past the date. I lived by myself at the time and they lived in the back of the fridge.

Expiry would be things like baby formula, medication, anything that has a higher risk to health, whether it means it’s for a high risk population, or if it’s got an important role.

Edit: I’d like to add the bolded above, but also… Well, I forgot after adding the bolded stuff, so I’ll come back if I remember.

Environmental health officer, aka health inspector.

Most people don’t know who we are, but we play a huge role in the background on education and prevention for public health issues like food safety, communicable diseases (gastro, outbreaks, pandemic, tattooing, beauty parlours, mosquitoes, rodents, flu, covid, etc.), health of the environment (soil, air, water),… We are a jack of all trades kind of profession.

I gotcha. Thanks for the explanation, that makes sense now. I hope at least most of your home is as it was when you left it. Let us know how you go. Fingers crossed for you!

100% will! Or those who leave the kitchen sponge in the sink still full of yesterday’s cold water.

I will, thanks! Or someone who leaves only one sheet of kitchen paper on the roll when they could have just changed the entire roll (new ones in the cupboard above) and left the single sheet on top of the new one.

Not a chance! 😂

If the specialist says the canned goods are okay, it may be worth giving them a good wash with warm, soapy water before opening. The can opener blade will bring the stuff on the outside of the can to touch the food inside.

This is all assuming that there has been some level of smoke and/or heat penetration. I have seen some bad places, so without knowing what you’re going back to, I always err on the side of caution!

If your house is sealed, great! There may or may not be some small openings to allow the house to breathe a bit. I know I do in Australia. I don’t know your set up for central air, but I’ve got central heating and both central AC and split system. All have openings outside, so depending on what filters you have in place or wind direction blowing particulates and ash around, ask how best to flush/clean it without contaminating your house insides.

Water pressure - sinks, taps, tubs, showers. Let it run a few minutes before using. It may have been turned off or may have dropped while you were gone.

You may also have a boil water notice placed on the area. Buy bottled water before you go home. If you have electricity, have a kettle.

Do you have electricity and/or gas? Gas may be shut off temporarily for safety reasons. I imagine authorities would have checked before letting people go back to their homes, but just be vigilent of gas smells in and around your home.

Bring what flashlight, and emergency things you have. You may or may not have disruptions while things get back to normal.

Wear mask (and gloves if it’s thick) when cleaning. The soot/ash will have settled everywhere, so depending in what authorities have recommended, you’ll still want to protect yourself when you’re washing the outside of your house. Maybe keep an eye on the weather forecast and pick the sides of the house on the days carefully until good AQ is consistent. Spray affected surfaces down before scrubbing to keep the airborne-able stuff from flying around, and easier to manage.

Keep an eye on utilities and government websites to stay updated on everything. They know your area better than I do, so I can only speak generally about things.

There are too many acronyms in your response (NAS? UPS?), haha but I get the gist of it. If you’re unsure about the freezer food, I’d throw it. It’s not worth getting sick over on top of everything else you have to manage right now. Health services might be overwhelmed, shops may not have the medication you need, and who knows what the road is like if it’s bad enough to need an ambulance.

I’m typing stuff as I remember them (wrote the other reply when still groggy after nap), so I may have more through the week, if you’d like me to keep responding!

First of all, I’m sorry that you’ve had to go through this. It is devastating overall, and especially to your own mental health. I’ve lived in wildfire zones, and it is scary coming up to summer every year.

I do secondary impact assessments, so I look at things outside of structural. More things that look at public health concerns: Mould, food, smoke damage (to food, limited air assessment), septic systems.

How long has it been since power was out?

• All perishables will likely have to go

Heat and smoke damage:

• Some pantry foods will have to go as well, even the canned goods. Excessive heat can affect the integrity of the packaging, and smoke could have penetrated non-vacuum sealed items as well.
• Smoke and ash are hazardous to your health. Who knows what else other than wood smoke might have gotten around (plastics, etc.). Definitely wear a well fitted mask when you go in to the house for the first time, or follow guidance of the authorities.

Will clothes, bedding, mattress be salvageable?

• Depends on how smoke-affected they are. This part, I am not 100% sure on, as it would be case by case. If you have insurance, I’d just go with insurance claims. Trying to wash all the particulate matter might not be great for your laundry machine, either. You also can’t wash a mattress. Unsure how well a commercial vacuum will handle smoke and ash.

Are there things that 100% should be discarded?

• All food in fridges, freezers
• Clothing, bedding, etc. that may have been left outside, I’d get rid of.

Can the house just be cleaned and aired out?

• This is something that the sanitarian (I think that’s what we’re called in the US) and air quality specialists can advise you. The AQ specialist can test the air to see if the house requires further remediation works, or if airing out is fine.

And is there anything specific structurally inside and outside I should look out for that might not be obvious?

• Sorry, I can’t help with this one, but are you on septic or community sewer?
• For septic, you’ll want a sanitarian and/or plumber to assess any damage. I’d ask the sanitarian if they’re going to be out anyway to look at the rest of the place, and you won’t have a plumber telling you that you need to fix/replace things that don’t needing fixing or replacing. You’ll not want sewage anywhere except where it’s supposed to go. Plastic tanks and water tanks melt easy - you don’t want it in your drinking water.

Things to keep in mind:

• Anything with a fan/condenser may need a proper clean, like fridges, freezers, kitchen exhaust canopies, portable and central AC and heaters, microwave, etc. Not only could it push the particulates around, but they could be accumulating particulates and could be a fire risk.
• Clean all surfaces including walls, ceilings, floors.

I haven’t been called out to do SIA’s in a while, but these are the things that have come to mind. I’ll give it a think over the week and get back to you.

Postcards and coins from travelling.

No, I don’t mind if someone got there before me. That actually never crossed my mind!

I always thought of it this way: because the top is always exposed to air, it starts to go rancid and harden before anything else below it does. The more you dig, the more butter is exposed to air. I do not go through a tub very fast on my own.

Also, skimming layers makes it easier to spread, especially on soft breads and buns.

Thank you for your support! It was only mildly annoying for someone to dig their knife in like they were stabbing it and wedging out a piece.

Haha, that’s great! There’s definitely a way to stack dishes to make it efficient, I agree. I admit, I’m not great, so I won’t make a post about me mildly infuriating myself and others, lol.

Aww, thanks for the support! I really did toss up the idea of deleting the post within the first hour. It really was just what I thought would be a fun, light-hearted post, but there’s some pretty serious comments on here.

Most definitely this. I share butter with others, there’s no problem. 1/10 on my “infuriating” scale, it’s not like I can’t close the lid and have it on my mind for the rest of the day. I’ve got way more important things to do!

Thank you. I’m not a stickler for a lot of things, and this butter thing was 1/10 on my “infuriating” scale, so it’s pretty mild. This just got way more attention than I expected and didn’t expect people to question my mental status based on a single photo/post, haha.

Thank you! Though I still think I will hesitate posting here again.

Like I said in another comment, I thought I’d share something I thought could be relatable to some people. I thought it was pretty innocent and I didn’t realise I would ruffle so many feathers. :(

This is how I took this butter/margarine thing - it’s just a mild irritation, and thought I’d share something I thought could be relatable to some people. I didn’t realise I would ruffle so many feathers. Perhaps I have read the room wrong and I shouldn’t have posted here?

☠️

Nope. It’s just mildly infuriating, not something I’d lose sleep over. If it started to mould because of bread crumbs in it, then I’d be more annoyed because of food wastage.

I’ve always been one to just skim off the top. I’ve seen worse a few weeks back with a lot of bread crumbs mixed in, but didn’t think to take a photo.