Trader Joe’s has all sorts of great food items available. One of them is their trademark cauliflower gnocchi, a crowd favorite and people pleaser. One of the best things about Trader Joe’s cauliflower gnocchi is the fact that it lasts a really long time… but does it actually last forever? Surely, it expires at some point, right?
Well, yes, it does. While it does have quite a long shelf life, Trader Joe’s cauliflower gnocchi is still food, and it will expire eventually. You can’t just keep it around for years and years and expect it to remain edible in the far future.
On top of that, proper storage is very important if you want to keep Trader Joe’s cauliflower gnocchi nice and tasty (not to mention safe to eat!) for a long period of time. Don’t worry, we’ll talk about everything you need to know about this here today.
Expiration Dates on Trader Joe’s Cauliflower Gnocchi Packages
Like any food item that you can buy from a store, there will be a date on Trader Joe’s cauliflower gnocchi that tells you when you should start considering disposal of the food product. But make sure you pay attention to the specifics: the date may say “best by” or “expiration date. It may just have a date with no text at all.
Contrary to popular belief, a “best by” date is not an expiration date. It is merely the manufacturer’s suggestion as to when the product will no longer be as tasty and desirable as possible. For instance, consider a bag of potato chips. A “best by” date may say 1/20/2023.
After this date, the chips may become stale and not very good. But they won’t actually be “expired”. A “best by” date is just an estimate of a food item’s quality, not its lifespan.
An “expiration date”, on the other hand, is an estimate of when food is no longer safe to eat at all.
Of course, these dates are just estimates. Depending on how food is stored and a variety of other factors, food items can remain palatable for a significant amount of time after an expiration date.
Ultimately, you as a consumer need to be aware and pay attention to your food before you eat it: there are often signs that it has gone bad.
How to Tell if Trader Joe’s Cauliflower Gnocchi Has Expired
While cauliflower is not the only ingredient in Trader Joe’s cauliflower gnocchi, it is the main one, so many of the signs that cauliflower has gone bad will work with this gnocchi too. First and foremost, cauliflower doesn’t really smell like anything. So if your cauliflower gnocchi smells ripe, sour, rank, or anything else like that, it’s bad for sure.
Naturally, it’s not all that unusual to discover mold on items like cauliflower gnocchi as well. Obviously, if you see anything that looks like mold or unnatural discoloration on the gnocchi, you should throw it away.
You’ll also want to look out for things like slimy texture, parts of the gnocchi that are unusually soft compared to normal, and things like that. These are all signs that the cauliflower has gone bad. That said, there are other ingredients in this product too.
However, as with most food, it’s fairly simple to tell that it is bad: if it looks wrong, smells wrong, or feels wrong, you shouldn’t eat it, just to be safe.
Storing Trader Joe’s Cauliflower Gnocchi to Prolong Its Shelf Life
If you keep cauliflower out at room temperature, you will find that it will likely only last about 2-4 days. However, you can extend its life with the power of your refrigerator, just like you can with many other food options. It’s as simple as keeping your cauliflower gnocchi in the refrigerator when you aren’t eating it.
It’s also best to make sure that you keep the food in a secure, sealed container to keep out excess air, as well as moisture. Air and moisture help food rot faster, so it is best to keep those things at bay if you can.
Of course, you can also consider your freezer if you plan on keeping your cauliflower gnocchi for an extremely long time.
You will want to get rid of all moisture in that case because freezing dry food with water present will cover them in ice crystals and most likely result in freezer burn.
If you’ve already opened the package, put your cauliflower gnocchi in an airtight container. It could last anywhere from 6-8 months.
If you put the cauliflower gnocchi in the refrigerator, it should last around 2-3 months if you sealed and contained it properly. Of course, if you never opened the package to begin with, this is of no concern.
Using Trader Joe’s Cauliflower Gnocchi After Its Expiration Date
As mentioned before, Trader Joe’s cauliflower gnocchi will expire one day, and it does have a date on the packaging to let you know when that time is.
However, like we said before, an expiration date is not an absolute guarantee that a food item is no longer edible on that date.
This is especially true if you store the food properly. Obviously, if you freeze your cauliflower gnocchi, it is going to last a lot longer than the listed expiration date.
You can use your cauliflower gnocchi just as you would if you had just bought it: as long as it looks and smells fine, it’s just like cooking it after any other period of time.
Final Thoughts
Trader Joe’s cauliflower gnocchi does expire eventually. However, you can extend its shelf life by storing it in the refrigerator or freezer, and with that, it can last several months past the listed expiration date.
Be sure to place the cauliflower gnocchi in an airtight container with as little air or moisture in it as possible when you store it in either the refrigerator or the freezer. Do this, and it will last as long as it can, about 2-3 months in the fridge and 6-8 months in the freezer.
Well, there you have it: whether or not Trader Joe’s cauliflower gnocchi expires, how to store it, and how you can tell when it is time to throw it away. Keep these things in mind!
