Eh, careful with the sell-by date thing. That's a 'best by' date, not a safety date - rice can go stale but it won't make you sick unless bugs get in. Sniff test is smart though.

Four years doing something the wrong way and one old guy fixes it in ten minutes. That's pretty typical honestly. Most of us learn from some hack who showed us the fast way instead of the right way and we just stick with it because it works good enough. Sal probably saved you a lot of wear on your swing gear and your back though. Not saying it's life changing but yeah, little stuff like that adds up over a career. You'll probably pass that tip to some new kid in twenty years.

Oh man, I love that! Now I'm picturing my morning coffee getting all broody during a thunderstorm or something.

@hannahm39 even small piles make some methane but you are right it still beats sending food to a landfill.

Don't you just hate when you find out something you believed wasn't true at all?