Storage and shelf life
Sealed, opened and dated: our exotic bags over time
Updated
How long do freeze dried exotic dog treats last? Sealed, each bag keeps until the best-by date printed on it, which we set 1 year from production. Once opened, our guidance is to use it within 30 days, kept cool, dry and well sealed. One rule covers all seven bags and each bag in the Exotic Collection Box.
What does the printed best-by date on our bags cover?
Every bag leaves us with a best-by date printed on it. We set that date 1 year out from production, so a sealed bag has a year from the day it was made, and the printed date marks where that year ends. This is our own rule for the whole range. No bag gets a special number of its own.
The date speaks for a bag that has not been opened, and for nothing else. We say nothing about a bag past its date, because we have nothing to say. To know where a given bag stands, read the date on the bag in your hand.
If you are shopping the range as a whole, the novel protein treats page lists every bag side by side, and each one follows this same dating.
What changes on the day you open a bag?
Opening a bag starts a second, shorter clock. Our guidance is to use an opened bag within 30 days and to keep it cool, dry and well sealed the whole time. The printed date stays on the bag, but once the seal is broken, the 30 days is the number we ask you to follow.
The listings put the practical part in their own words: close the bag after each use and store it somewhere cool and dry. The scallop listing adds one detail, which is to keep an opened bag out of sunlight. We are not going to dress the 30 days up with a lecture on why. It is the rule we use, and it is the rule we hand to you.
Is the window the same for octopus, shrimp, quail eggs and the rest?
Yes. The 1 year best-by and the 30 days once open apply to all seven bags, so there is no table of different numbers to learn. What differs is the wording each listing uses about storage, and whether the listing uses the words shelf stable:
- Baby octopus: shut it again every time you take a piece, store it somewhere cool and dry, and skip the fridge. The listing calls it shelf stable.
- Frog legs: seal it back up after each serving and store it cool and dry. The listing calls it shelf stable.
- Scallops: reseal an opened bag and keep it cool and dry, away from sunlight. The listing calls it shelf stable.
- Blue-lipped mussels: reseal after opening and keep the bag cool and dry, no refrigeration. The listing calls it shelf stable.
- Shrimp: an opened bag goes back to sealed, in a cool, dry spot. The listing does not use the words shelf stable.
- Quail eggs: reseal and keep them cool and dry. The listing does not use the words shelf stable.
- Captain's Catch: reseal and keep it cool and dry. The listing does not use the words shelf stable.
Shelf stable is a storage word that sits on four listings. It is not a date and it does not stretch one, which is why what shelf stable means for dog treats gets its own page.
How do you remember when a bag was opened?
Mark the day you opened it in a place your eyes land on the next time you reach for the bag. A strip of tape, a note on the pantry shelf, a reminder on your phone: use whatever you actually look at. Then reseal after every use, which is what each listing asks.
Think of the sticker a shop leaves in the corner of the windshield after an oil change. It is a date you can read at a glance, written down on the day it counted. An open bag works the same way.
What about the box, or two bags open at once?
Inside the Exotic Collection Box are four separate bags, one each of frog legs, baby octopus, scallops and quail eggs. Since each one carries its own seal and its own date, each starts its own 30 days on the day you open it. Opening one leaves the other three sealed and on their printed dates.
The same goes for two bags open at once from anywhere in the range. Each bag keeps its own 30 days. Quail eggs come in several counts, up to 288, and the 30 days applies to any of them. We give no advice on which count to buy.
For more on how the guides on this site fit together, the guides hub has the full list.
Questions
Is the best-by date the same as the production date?
No. The printed date is a best-by date, which we set 1 year after the bag was produced. Read it as the end of the year we give a sealed bag, not as the day the bag was made. For an opened bag, the number to follow is the 30 days.
Should an open bag go in the freezer to buy more time?
Our guidance is cool, dry and well sealed, and that is the only storage guidance we give. We have no freezer instruction, so we have no way to stretch the 30 days. The window stands as written for every bag in the range.
Does a big 288 count bag of quail eggs get longer than 30 days?
No. The 30 days applies to every bag and every count, from the smallest quail egg bag up to 288. We have one rule for opened bags, not a sliding scale by size. Splitting a large count is a storage question for the quail egg storage guide.
Does sharing a bag with a cat change the 30 days?
No. It is the same bag and the same window. Of our bags, we suggest only octopus, scallops, mussels and shrimp for cats, and only in small pieces. Ask your veterinarian before you offer a cat a piece.
Is there one date on the Exotic Collection Box?
No, there are four dates. Each of the four bags inside carries its own best-by date, and each starts its own 30 days when you open it. The box listing does not use the words shelf stable, though the octopus, frog legs and scallops listings do.
What should I do with an open bag past 30 days?
Our guidance is 30 days, and it stops there. We offer no view on a bag past it, so we have nothing to add. A useful habit is to plan the 30 days when you pick which bag to open next, and to write the opening day down.