Welcome, everyone, to Midday Magazine for this Thursday, July 18th, 2024.
Have your host, James here with you.
We're joined right now by our friend, Jackie Carantini.
Jackie, joining us from UW-Madison Extension Wood County,
she is the human development and relationships educator over there.
Jackie, you know it is always good to see you.
Thank you for being here. Good to see you in the studio.
You too.
You brought a friend with you today.
I did. So we had the pleasure.
Earlier this year of hiring a community health worker,
it is a new grant for Extension.
We're actually looking federally at our,
do we get better efforts if we combine community health workers with
Extension? So to build off the work that we're already doing,
the relationships that we already have in the communities and expand that.
So really kind of this pilot to see, you know, does it work better?
We have a lot of, we are very heavy in community health workers in
Central Wisconsin.
We have some great partners, whether it's the health departments,
I know ADRC has some, lots with Marshall Clinic.
So it's not that we don't have them already,
but this is looking at, you know,
can you piggyback on the work that Extension is doing?
And then being able to see, you know, can we dig deeper?
Yeah. And build those connections.
I think one of the great things that I've learned about Extension over the years
is how you guys cover certain areas so well and also gray areas that don't
always get covered in communities that you guys see and look out for.
And I think that that's going to only help us do that.
Yeah, absolutely.
So my friend today is,
Kazooa, I thought like Kazooa introduced herself.
And like I said, she joined us in April.
And I'll let her tell a little bit about herself and what we hope to do.
Yeah. Thank you for being here, Kazooa.
Thank you for having me.
So my name is Kazooa Tao.
A little bit about me.
I have been in education for 19 years.
And, you know, it was one of those times that I feel like I could make a bigger impact
for the Monk community.
And so being a bilingual community health worker,
I'm here to help bridge the gap in Wood County between the Monk community and the community
as a whole.
So and that's with anything from healthcare to just like the daily needs that our community
has.
Anything to be the bridge for hoping to close that gap and hoping to just bring us all
together.
I certainly don't want to make any light of any of the work that's been done on this
front over the years because there's a lot of great work and a lot of great people that
have done a lot to build that bridge and make that stronger.
But if I can, this is long overdue in our community.
And we've needed something like this, not just here in Central Wisconsin, but really
throughout the state.
It is great to see extension doing, you know, putting in good work like this to have
you with us.
It can only lead to better and greater things in a stronger community, a well more connected
and community of community.
Correct.
And we're hoping that starting at Wood County, how it goes, and then hoping to bring it
to the state.
So, you know, it's like you said, it's something that's really needed and I think at this
time.
It's very cool.
I look forward to getting to know you more, talking more and everything.
Thank you so much for joining us today.
Thank you for having me.
I'm just going to turn our mics off now and just let Jackie run the show because that's
what I do.
It's easily one of the best half an hours I have in my work week every week because
Jackie comes in here and runs game.
I say that lovingly and jokingly a little bit Jackie, but it's in part because you always
bring in topics that I know, and I'm saying this specifically hearing from listeners, hey,
I heard you with Jackie the other day, it really was helpful.
I've mentioned before about the breathing exercise and how many people, that was what, a
year or two ago.
I still have people telling me how much they appreciate that segment.
I myself appreciated it and still keep up that breathing exercise.
You cover areas that don't always get covered and today we're going to be talking about one
that's been coming up a lot for you guys.
Yeah, absolutely.
So I think let's do kind of a little preset of where I think this is coming from.
We've had a lot of calls in the last couple of weeks regarding expiration dates and you
might see it as different because some say best buy, some say use buy and some actually
say expiration date.
So let's start off with all of those are best quality, right?
So it doesn't mean there is nothing in that food that tells the food, you know, as soon
as this date comes, whoop, I'm done, right?
That's not how it works.
It's just that those are suggested best quality dates.
So let's start off with that.
Most things are good past that.
So we do have a chart available and I've been sharing it.
We just put it on our website, but just letting people know because again, and I'm
not quite, you know, positive as to why we're getting these calls, but I have a couple
of ideas.
So one, I think folks, you know, food prices have gone up, cost of living has gone up.
So people are trying to reduce the amount of food waste.
So they don't want to throw stuff away.
So before, oh, it's expired, you just toss it.
Now it's like, okay, even if it's, you know, $1.30 can of beans, I'm still going to be
like, ah, that's still food that I'm tossing away.
Excuse me.
So I think that's first.
People are really trying to be a little more for gold.
They're really paying more attention to what they have and trying to reduce the amount
of food waste.
Two, we are still, we're still cycling through food that was sitting in freighters during
COVID, right?
So I don't know if any of you have noticed, but you know, you go to the store and I just
experienced this last weekend, I bought some peanut butter and I got home and I put it
in something and I literally went to lick the spoon as I threw it in the sink and I'm
like, oh, no, not good, right?
I looked at the date, the date was still good, but it was not good.
Um, so what is that?
Where is that coming from?
So all of these things that we talk about, so even those best by dates, those used by
dates, it, it also comes with caveat and that caveat is, is if it's capped in a cool,
dry spot and not exposed to extreme temperatures.
So extreme hot, extreme cold can significantly shorten that.
So and what we are told, again, don't quote me because I don't know for sure, um, but what
we are told is that during COVID, yeah, our food supply got stuck, right?
And so things that were coming from other places was stuck in, you know, shipping containers
and it was halted and you might say, well, Jackie, that was two years ago, we're still
cycling through because there was such a backup that stuff was then put into, um, you
know, uh, storage units and things like that, uh, warehouses and we're still kind of cycling
through.
Does that mean that that grocery store is bad or you should not chop there anymore?
Absolutely not.
This literally where, you know, on my hope is, I had said at the beginning of the year,
my hope was by summer, we'd have a cycle through, we're still cycling through it.
So I was still focused, you know, just think about it, you know, test it, pay attention.
But no, that, yeah, that might happen.
So that's even on things that haven't even, they're not even past their expiration date.
But that's part, that's also one of the reasons I think we're seeing more of this.
The context is noted.
It's very appreciated too.
And I, I think that we can all stem a little bit from that, uh, when it comes to this
topic and have some understanding, some grace when it comes to this topic.
Yeah.
And I think, again, it's one of those words, you know, it probably was always there.
But now I think for some of those reasons, I think the other thing because we are also,
you know, food costs are up, cost of living is still up really high.
People are looking for other sources of food.
So they are utilizing food pantries, uh, programs like we have the stock box program.
And then when they get those, you know, and I'm not saying that food pantries give out
expired food because most of them don't, but occasionally it's something does come
through there.
And it might have that date out and you're like, Oh, is this still good?
It says, you know, it expired last, you know, March of 2023, well, that's over a year
old.
You know, I need to toss that.
Nope.
Not necessarily.
Right.
So let's start with that.
So canned goods, um, so fruits and vegetables, um, are good two years past their expiration
date.
So I'm going to say that again.
Two years.
I catch myself on this one all the time because that seems like it's really long.
And I, you and I have talked, I do a lot of food preservation home, and so this is commercially
canned things.
Let me start off with that.
Um, but people always ask like, well, you know, my grandmother died and she didn't
can for three years before she died and she's been dead 10 years, but we're selling our
house and we found all the stuff in the basement, right?
Is it still safe?
Well, maybe, right?
Because the, you know, the rule for that is, is that again, if it was kept in a cold,
dry spot, not exposed to extreme temperatures, and you followed research-based evidence-based
recipes and properly, you know, preserved it, it's going definitely, right?
But how do you know, and you don't know?
So again, same kind of thing.
So I always tell folks, you know, that one to two years, even on home canned stuff, you're
going to get the best quality.
And I've done experience experiments over the years with, because I do tomatoes every
year, just straight up tomatoes.
Um, and I, you know, I have like five year tomatoes, and so I can show people like, okay,
look at year one, look at year five, right?
Doesn't mean they're not safe.
No.
Do they change color?
Yes.
Do they change consistency?
Yes.
You know, they, they get less quality as the time goes on.
So that happens with commercially canned stuff too.
So that's where it's, that's what we want you to, you know, to look at and think about.
But so I think canned items are the biggest one that folks ask.
So this also is, is beans, this is other, um, anything that comes, uh, pre-packaged, um,
so this would be canned, this would be glass, um, all of that kind of stuff.
Yeah.
Most of it.
Again.
Um, is good.
Big, bakery mixes is another big one.
I, I know actually my mom and I just went through a, I'm not an argument because there's
no arguing with her.
Uh, but there they say that would love, I say it would love, um, but it was one of those
things where we are both kind of questioning like, oh, I'm not sure because the date we
couldn't read.
Oh.
And that was part of it.
Uh, and, and she's like, I don't know how long I've had this blueberry mix and it was
that kind of thing.
So I know this is one of those ones that comes up too.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
So, and this one has been, um, in the news a little bit in the last couple of years
too because there have been some different things that are growing inside those mixes.
Um, if you think about it, you know, things that are, uh, high flour content moisture can
get in there and so there can be mold growth and you don't necessarily, and all of these
things you don't necessarily see it.
Um, so sealed, unopened, six months past the expiration, um, if you do use it, you know,
we do encourage you to, you know, use some kind of clip, twist tie, tie, tie to try to
keep that moisture out of it, um, because if, if everybody at some point in their life,
you know, you do get moisture, you do get bugs.
There's different things that come in there, um, and so yeah, definitely need to, to
watch it.
But that goes for things like cake mixes, muffin mixes, cookie mixes, pancake mixes, things
like best quick that all falls under that category.
And like I said, this is, there have been some breaks out, breakouts in the last couple
of years of things where people kept like those pre-made mixes like a best quick for
too long.
And there were some health concerns that came from it.
So definitely one of those that, yeah, that's, that's not an indefinite one, that is
one.
It's because of the content of what's in it, it is at a little bit higher risk.
So you will notice that, yeah, it is a shorter time period on that one.
So yeah, definitely kind of going over some of the other ones that have been coming up
for you.
I imagine, uh, there's everything from dry potatoes and flavored rice or pasta, uh, cereals,
crackers, these kind of things.
What about those, Jackie?
Yep.
So, um, rice pasta, that is at six month time frame two, um, and for the same reason, because
of the what it's made of, moisture can get in there.
And so it, depending, I remember I said in the beginning, cold rise, where we want all
of this stuff.
So we're not keeping it in our car.
We're not putting it in the porch, you know, um, I know we've had extreme temperatures
in the last couple of weeks, uh, which is great, right?
But if your house was 110 and you had it sitting out, most of our cupboards do stay quite a
bit cooler.
Um, and if you've not, you know, really paid attention to it, literally go to your cupboard,
open, you know, like a lower cupboard and put your hand in, it's going to be cooler
than the room.
Um, so typically it does stay a little bit cooler, but yeah, try to minimize any kind of exposure,
um, because that does up the ante on that.
Um, you mentioned things like, uh, cereal crackers, chips, um, again, that is more on that,
um, uh, if it's dried, then that goes up to two years.
Um, but like I said, if it's something that's kind of a, a pre-done one, so let's like take,
um, maybe, uh, pasta, like you can get like a stuffed, it's, it's dried, but stuffed,
um, regularly or something like that.
Yeah, those, those would be in that six month range.
But if it's just a dried box of ziti, um, then generally that's in that two year mark.
But again, just kind of pay attention to it, try to keep things in that cool, dried spot
and where it's at, um, most of your condiments, so you're catch up, you're mustard, um,
mayonnaise, salad dressing, things like that.
Um, this is two years past that date.
So I do get this question a lot, especially like salad dressings, people will buy,
this is the kind of stuff we buy when it's on sale, right?
So, oh, pigly wiggly has, you know, three for this.
So, you know, if you buy quantities of three, those seems to be the sales we see lately,
right? You have to buy five, you have to buy three.
Is that way? Yeah.
And it has a really good deal.
But if you're only one or two people and you don't have a big family,
you're not using three bottles of salad dressing, you know, in, in the month.
So this is, again, definitely one of those that it goes for up to two years past the date.
Once this is unopened, once you open it, then you, you know, do need to put it in the
refrigerator, um, and then you, it does get shortened.
So, um, keep that in mind.
We're speaking with Jackie Carantini Human Development and Relationships
Educator with UW-Madison Extension.
And Jackie, what about, uh, food stored in the refrigerator or freezer, uh, a little more
of that topic? I haven't been getting any questions about that.
What can we talk about with there?
Yeah, absolutely. Um, so you want to take a guess on the,
the biggest one that people keep for too long.
I'm guessing if there anything like my father meat, uh, yeah, yeah.
Is it meat? Okay, um, and it's specifically lunch meat.
So lunch meat actually has a very short in life.
It's processed, super high, um, but because it's sliced and it's handled,
and we're cutting it up, um, it generally is like less than a week.
It's three to five days once something is open.
And again, most people don't go through, um, you know, that,
lunch meat can be frozen.
So if you're again, you know, smaller family,
and you don't think you're going to cycle through it, um, you can still get a bigger
package and then put it into smaller freezer safe bags and put it in the freezer,
and to almost like single serving size uses.
So again, lunch meat's not cheap right now.
It's, it's super expensive.
So I'm not saying don't get it, but we don't want to be throwing away, you know,
a six dollar package of meat, um, because we didn't get to it.
I think the other thing I tell folks too is think about what are other ways you can use it.
So, you know, if it's, you know, sliced ham, can you throw it in an omelette?
Can you make some scallop potatoes? Can you?
You know, so even if you don't want to have a sandwich every day,
what are some other ways you could use it?
Or like I said, you can still throw it in the freezer and then use it for one of those
other items later.
So kind of think that route, but yeah, that lunch meat is one of those that a lot of folks,
I bet most people are like, oh, yeah, I don't do that, right?
It's a lot longer past that.
So that's probably the biggest of one.
Those are some really helpful notes about that.
Yeah, I think that's, that's one of those.
Other meat generally, once you get it, so once you get home, it is that three to five days.
Once you cook it, it can be frozen and so that does extend it a little bit,
but that's one of the things I tell people too.
If you don't think you're going to use it, again,
divide it up into smaller sizes.
I know we personally get our beef from a butcher.
We buy a cow and I had over the years, I've had to go down to smaller sizes.
So I get my hamburger now in one pound packages.
And so that is a lot easier to be able to use because otherwise, even with left-dilfers,
they were getting thrown away and we weren't using them fast enough.
So things that you can do to kind of think ahead of time of, yeah, okay,
it's still cheaper to buy a bulk package of five pounds of meat,
but divide it out into what you want, freeze it, and then pull it out when you need it.
So think about the size that you want.
One of the things that you can do is actually add, believe it or not, we still have butchers
at our grocery stores. I just, someone just told me they were at Sam's Club,
and they said it was cheaper if they bought the huge thing.
And they asked the butcher right there, could you divide this out into smaller pieces for me?
And they did. So, you know, I encourage you to ask your meat department,
even, you know, I've heard people say, you know, like,
Amazon sale or ask them if they could cut it for them right there,
or can you slice this up, or can you do, you know, put it into different portions.
So that is, I won't say everywhere, but most places, if you ask, they will do it for you,
then you don't have to worry about it. Because again, we don't, especially with ground meat,
so hamburgers, sauces, just things like that. It has a higher risk because it's already
been chopped up and ground up. And so there's the chance that bacteria from the air could have gotten
in there. So that does have that shorter life. And so the, the less you, times you handle it and
reduce it, you're also reducing that. So that's, you know, kind of out there. Eggs generally,
so there's two kinds of eggs. If you get your own eggs, if you yourself, or if you get them
fresh from a farmer or a farmer's market, they are unwashed. What does that mean, James?
It means that they are susceptible to, no, no, no, I don't, I'm a city boy. I don't know,
I don't know Jackie. It's the opposite. So that's why I asked it. Because if you've never had a farm
fresh egg, you probably wouldn't know this. I probably, I think the first time I saw it as I was
traveling overseas because as a kid, we didn't, we had chickens, but we didn't eat eggs. We sold them.
But, and the eggs were all sitting out. And I'm like, oh my gosh, why is are these eggs not
refrigerated? And so, you know, did a little digging. And yeah, many countries, eggs are just
sitting out. They're not refrigerated because they actually naturally come with a membrane around
them that protects them. And, but in the United States, we wash them and we remove the membrane,
so their life cycle is a lot shorter. So generally, it's, it's two weeks. So you want to try to use
your eggs within two weeks. But if you do have farm fresh eggs and they are not washed, it still
has that protective membrane around the outside. And so they last a lot longer. That's pretty cool.
Wow. Wow. It is, it's kind of neat. So, you know, a lot of other things, I think most of your
dairy products, so milks and cheeses, it is, you know, milks is five days past that date.
Again, you're going to know, smell it. With these, it's a little bit, I wouldn't say easier,
but it is a little easier to tell. Yeah, it, it kind of gets it. And I've had some people say,
you know, in the last year, like they feel like, you know, some of their milks are different things,
like go bad faster. And it's again, it might be transit, it might be our weather, like you don't
know where something was before it got to you when it left the, the factory or the processing plant.
Yep. But we've had some issues with transit. So, um, and extreme temperatures. And you know,
just some strange stuff. So again, all of these dates are that best quality. It could be shorter,
it could be longer. Um, with canned goods, let's finish with that. Um, you know, obvious signs.
So things like dense bulging, toss it immediately, right? Um, that is a sign that something could
be wrong with it. Um, small dent, like somebody dropped the can on the inside on the rim,
that's not a big deal. But, but a larger dent or if there's any bulging, that's a sign of that
bacteria growth on the inside. Toss it. Don't even try it. Don't smell it. Things like, um,
Ecoli, they don't have a smell. They don't, um, they're not going to change. You're not going to
necessarily see it. Um, or botulism. You don't see it. Botulism spores are out in the yard.
They're everywhere, but they need certain environments. They need to be, you know, no oxygen,
and they need to be in that lovely, little enclosed space to grow. Um, but that's when that can
expands because they grow when they build pressure. So you will see it. So those are things that,
and I always say, you know, that old phrase you've probably heard before, when it out, toss it out,
one end out, toss it out, folks. And I know I started off with we're frugal and we want to stretch
our food dollar and that $1.30 can of green beans, you know, really is important. It is, but it's
not worth your life, right? And it's not even worth you trying and dipping your finger in because
people have died from just dipping their finger into a can of green beans. Um, so I'm not saying
don't eat green beans, but just really pay attention to what you have and know that it's,
it's not worth it. You're worth more than $1.39, you know, and, and, uh, you, you, uh, you are that
much more informed and that much better prepared on this. Thanks to Jackie. Jackie, if people do have
follow questions and want to know more about this and just reach out to you as their way to do that.
Yeah, absolutely. So give our office a call. It's a 715-421-8437. I'll say that one more time.
715-421-8437. Um, the chart I am referring to is called safe and healthy food product
eating. Um, we can share a copy with you. I, I have one on the inside of, side of my refrigerator,
um, cause it is helpful and we don't always remember it. Appreciate the time. Thank you,
Jackie. Uh, Kazooah, thank you very much for joining us. I appreciate the time. We'll have more,
uh, midday magazine for you tomorrow right here at WFHR.
