What happens if you eat expired garlic bread?

It’s a busy night full of sports practices and other after school activities and dinner needs to be made quickly. It will be the perfect night to make a pasta dish for dinner and garlic bread adds that extra flavorful crunch on the side. As you grab the frozen garlic bread from the freezer, you notice that it is past the expiration date. Can you still cook and eat it?

In general, frozen garlic bread is perfectly fine to use past the expiration date. Let’s deep dive into why it is ok to eat out of date garlic bread, signs it might make you sick, and how long frozen garlic bread is really good for eating.

Is it OK to eat out of date garlic bread?

According to Foodsafety.gov, foods kept frozen at a temperature of 0 degrees Fahrenheit can be kept indefinitely. This means that food like frozen garlic bread kept in your regular freezer will probably not last as long as the same food kept in a deep freezer.

If you are planning on eating your frozen garlic bread fairly quickly then it is perfectly fine to store it in your regular freezer attached to your refrigerator.

If you stock up on frozen garlic bread due to an awesome sale, then you may want to store it in a deep freezer to maximize the time that it will still be good. (Pro tip: having a chest freezer or upright deep freezer is a great investment to help lower your grocery bill by stocking up on good deals.)

If your garlic bread is kept in a regular freezer it will usually last at least 6 months. After 6 months you have a higher chance of it starting to form ice crystals and getting freezer burn.

You can still eat bread that has freezer burn but it may have a drier or harder texture than bread that does not have freezer burn. When food has freezer burn, it means the moisture from the food has been drawn to the edge and then frozen into ice crystals.

If you store your frozen garlic bread safely in a deep freezer, you can continue to enjoy it well past its expiration with no ill side effects.

Can you get sick from old garlic bread?

Typically speaking, it would be extremely rare to get sick from old garlic bread. The only way that you would get sick is if the garlic bread had not been properly stored.

If the garlic bread was left out and defrosted and then refrozen, it may have a higher chance of having developed yucky bacteria. This may cause an upset stomach, but no long-term health effects.

In 1989, the National Library of Medicine noted that 3 people became ill with botulism after consuming garlic bread that was made with a garlic in oil product. This was actually the second case of people getting sick from this type of garlic product, so the FDA changed their rules.

It is now required that all garlic in oil products have microbial inhibitors or acid agents added to the garlic to prevent this from happening again. So now, any garlic in oil product is highly unlikely to ever cause botulism poisoning.

Botulism is a very rare but deadly form of food poisoning. It is typically associated with low acid foods like garlic, honey, and corn syrups.

The bread itself is unlikely to make you sick, but if the product is mishandled or not cooked properly the butter used in frozen garlic bread could go rancid. You will know the butter is rancid if it has a very odd and unpleasant smell or taste.

If your garlic bread is the kind with frozen cheese on top, it is possible the cheese could spoil but this is only likely if the bread was fully defrosted and left out at room temperature for a long period of time.

When buying frozen garlic bread make sure that you store it right away in your regular freezer or deep freezer as soon as you get home. This will lessen the chance of the bread fully defrosting.

This is especially true in the middle of summer when your frozen foods may start to defrost in the car. Try shopping earlier in the morning or at night instead of transporting frozen foods in your car in the high heat of a summer day.

You can also use a cold bag or a cooler to transport your frozen foods if they will be in the car for a long period of time. We do this when we shop stores like Aldi that are more than 30 minutes away from our house.

How long is frozen garlic bread good for?

As long as frozen garlic bread is not contaminated or mishandled prior to coming into your home, it will last indefinitely when stored in a deep freezer.

If your garlic bread has been defrosted, it needs to be used right away. Once the garlic bread is cooked, you can then store it in an airtight plastic bag or Tupperware type of container. It will last another few days before it needs to be tossed.

If you put cooked garlic bread in the fridge, it will become very hard and not taste as good. It is best to store it in a container at room temperature. Even if you microwave or heat the garlic bread back up in the oven, it won’t have a soft center like when it was first cooked.

If you are making your own garlic bread at home and want to make a large batch, you can freeze homemade garlic bread in a regular freezer for 3-6 months.

Homemade garlic bread is an excellent way to use up bread of any shape and size before it starts to go stale or grow mold. Whenever we have leftover hamburger buns, hot dog buns, French bread, or really any type of bread, and I am not going to be able to use them right away, I toss them in the freezer.

Then when it is time for spaghetti night, I can pull just the right amount of frozen bread out of the freezer and make my own garlic bread. (Pro Tip: There are actually a ton of uses for frozen bread!)

What happens if you eat expired garlic bread?

The truth is that if you eat expired garlic bread, then most likely the bread doesn’t taste as good or is very dry. It is doubtful that expired garlic bread will make you sick, unless the bread was mishandled.

As a general rule of thumb, if the bread shows signs of mold or has a foul and rancid odor, it is best to toss it. It is more likely it spoiled due to bad food handling and less likely from being past the expiration date.

As with any food, proper food handling is so important. Frozen garlic bread typically comes in boxes of 8 to 12 pieces, but you don’t have to use the whole box at once.

We typically only use about 4 slices of garlic bread at a time, so we use a twist tie or a plastic freezer bag to store the unused portion. This is also a great way to avoid food waste and make that box of garlic bread last 2-3 times longer than using the whole box at once.

Garlic bread can also be pretty high in fat and calories, so if you are wanting to make it healthier you can not only limit portions, but you can top it with healthy vegetables!

My son is not a huge red sauce fan on pizza, so we use frozen garlic bread as the base to create easy pizza on a busy night. We can top each slice with chopped broccoli and cheese or go with diced tomatoes and mozzarella cheese. For more fun pizza night tips, check out “How to Save on Family Pizza Night“!

I prefer the fresh quality of making my own garlic bread, but it does not have the shelf life of the premade frozen kind. I typically grab a few boxes when it is BOGO (buy one get one free) or on a super sale. They do come in really handy for a rushed dinner.

Another fun version of garlic bread that you can make at home, is to skip the butter and use garlic hummus as your base and you can even top that with cheese before you put it in the oven. This is a great way to make a vegan friendly version of garlic bread!

Are you wondering now about your bag of sandwich bread? Check out “What happens if you eat expired bread?” for more information!