Foolestroupe, you're basically on the same wavelength as I am.

I too regularly buy such food. The church I go to regularly gets a van-full of "day-old" bread and pastries from local bakeries (e.g., Great Harvest) and stores (e.g., Safeway), which we distribute to various agencies like Meals On Wheels and homeless shelters, with whatever is left over being made available to people who come to the church for a community supper, church, or a Narcotics Anonymous meeting.   I've often used some of the Great Harvest whole-wheat loaves a week or two after the "sell-by" date if it's been refrigerated or much, much longer if it's been frozen.   Not only does it taste good, but I've never found any ill effects. I also love buying cans and packages that are marked down for quick sale. The only ones where I'm a bit wary are vitamins (if really old) or things like aspirin.   

I've also been told by reliable sources that even high-quality restaurants will cut the mold off of a block of cheese and keep the rest rather than throw out the whole block because the outer portion gets moldy.

Yes, it's been my experience that ried foods - such as pasta, sugar tea bags will last for years if kept in a sealed container in a cool dry dark place.   If you can keep the mice and the mealy bugs away from them, they will last a long time and be safe.

Teas and coffee go stale, yes, but it won't hurt you if you drink stale tea (or coffee).

And yes, honey cannot 'go off' - it used to be used as a wound dressing from Roman times - some things cannot 'go off' as bacteria need moisture to breed - 'preserving' with salt, sugar, honey, drying has worked for centuries - it's only the frenzy of 'refrigeration' that has brainwashed people.

This is the kind of thing that concerns me where the overzealous caregivers are concerned. I can just see one or two of them throwing out this woman's honey, sugar, salt, etc., because it's "expired." (Sigh.)

As for canned goods, you can often tell if it's gone bad by looking for a 'swollen' lid or leakage around the seams.   And I've heard that some fruits and veggies, e.g., tomatoes, may present a risk (of botulism?) if kept too long, unless they are canned with a proper amount of ascorbic acid.   But, yes, the idea of canning is to preserve things for years.

Frozen foods may develop "freezer burn" if kept too long, but that's not really a health hazard. It's more a matter of them losing moisture, not tasting great, and losing some of their vitamin potency.

As for telling my client to put her foot down with the other caregivers, it's a bit more complicated than that. She does hate it when they waste her money, but she has some emotional ties to at least one of the throw-away-happy ones, and she also often doesn't know who threw what out.

I'm still hoping to be able to educate the caregivers at least to the point where they won't be throwing away sugar and honey, bread that's been in the fridge a week with no signs of spoilage, milk three days after it's bought, or perfectly good swiss cheese that has a "sell by" date a week ago.