I’m glad to see this post, PJ. I am of "a certain age", and growing up in the ‘50’s meant that I learned from my mother not to waste food, which had been taught to her as a child by her mother during the Great Depression. I’m astounded at the number of people who religiously follow a routine of discarding any foodstuff when it reaches the "best by" date stamped on the package. I’m sure that many don’t even realize that all of these "best by" dates themselves are a fairly new addition to American food products! I think companies started adding them to products sometime in the 1980’s.
As far as yeast is concerned, I’ve been baking yeast bread since I was a child, and I have many, many loaves, buns and braids under my belt. I have NEVER, and I mean, NEVER had any yeast fail! Maybe I’ve just been lucky, but it seems to me that much of the hype about "best by" dates is overrated. And not all of that yeast was kept in the freezer, either: my mother kept her yeast in an upper kitchen cabinet, where I know it stayed fairly warm. Since my marriage, and my golden anniversary is just around the corner, I’ve kept my yeast in the freezer, but I suspect even that isn’t strictly necessary.
I have been encouraged during the pandemic by seeing so many internet posts and blog posts giving advice on how to make the most of little. When we come to the other side of this terrible virus, I hope we all take away the lesson that we can indeed keep body and soul together with much less than we previously thought we needed. If we accomplish that goal, we will all be better off for it.

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