Does Gatorade Go Bad? (Everything To Know)

One of the most popular sports drinks on the market is Gatorade.

There is no question that Gatorade will help to hydrate athletes and those who are losing electrolytes due to the heat or hard work or even illness.

Gatorade is something that has been known as a great way to keep yourself safe from dehydration for many years.

However, although it may seem that Gatorade is always good, there is an expiration date on the bottle.

Do you need to take those dates seriously?

If you are a person who stockpiles things like Gatorade, you may be wondering how long your Gatorade is going to last.

Here are a few things to keep in mind to ensure that you are always consuming Gatorade that is still safe to drink.

Does Gatorade Go Bad?

Although it will take some time, Gatorade will go bad.

If you are not careful about how and when you consume your Gatorade, it will go bad, and it will taste horrible.

As we all know, sports drinks on the market are not made with too many natural ingredients.

For those who are looking to stay hydrated and increase performance, this is not an issue.

In addition, ingredients that are artificial like that tend to have a much longer shelf life.

However, this does not mean that Gatorade will last forever.

Most of the time, a Gatorade that is unopened and stored in a temperature-controlled environment is going to last for several years.

It will last longer than the expiration date says.

The brand uses the expiration date as their guarantee that the Gatorade will taste good up until that date.

If that date passes, there is still a chance that your Gatorade is going to taste good.

The company, however, does not necessarily stand by this.

For the most part, the date on a Gatorade label is about a year or so after it was produced.

Sometimes it could be longer, but that is what you see on average.

You will have plenty of time to consume Gatorade if you happen to purchase it in bulk.

Here are a few ways to tell if your Gatorade is still good and whether or not you should consume it.

How To Tell If Gatorade Has Gone Bad

One thing that is important to remember is that, as you get further from the expiration date of the Gatorade, the quality is going to start to decline.

You will notice that the Gatorade will not taste as good even if it hasn’t turned all that bad yet.

For those who drink Gatorade often, the taste will stand out as something that is not a smart choice to sip.

Sometimes, though, even when the taste is not as fresh, it doesn’t mean that Gatorade has gone bad; it has just lost its initial great taste.

However, these signs that we are about to discuss will let you know when your Gatorade has gone bad, and there is really no reason left to drink it.

1. Change Of Color

Chances are you know the color of the Gatorade you initially purchased.

If the one you are about to take a sip of has changed color in any way, chances are it has gone bad.

Coloration is a significant thing to look for.

Don’t expect the color to change from green to blue or red to orange.

Instead, try to look for some changes in the shade.

If you notice that something that was once dark in color is suddenly a lighter shade, this is a potential problem.

The same applies with a light-colored Gatorade that now appears cloudy or darker.

If you are a person who drinks quite a bit of Gatorade, chances are you know what the coloring looks like and whether or not it is safe to drink.

2. Sediment On Bottom

Take a good look at the bottom of the bottle of Gatorade.

See if you notice anything floating on the bottom.

Inspecting the bottom of the bottle is a good way to see if the ingredients have started to separate.

If you look at a fresh Gatorade, it is one blended substance.

When the sediment starts to collect on the bottom, the Gatorade is no longer good.

This should be easy to identify.

When you look at something like a bottle of tea, there is going to be sediment on the bottom because of the tea leaves and the ingredients.

However, with Gatorade, this is not the case, and you should assume that if sediment has settled at the bottom, something is wrong with the product.

3. Floating Particles

Now that you have inspected the bottom of the container of Gatorade, it’s a good idea to look at the substance and see if there is anything floating.

The floating particles typically happen when people open a Gatorade, drink part of it, and then do not store it in the fridge.

Most of the time, this is how bacteria can start to grow.

First, the liquid is contaminated by the person who drank from it.

Then the Gatorade is left in an environment where the bacteria can grow further.

This combination leads to potential floating particles of mold or bacteria.

Although you will want to avoid Gatorade that shows any of our signs of deterioration, it is most important that you avoid drinking anything with mold or bacterial growth.

The issue with this type of contamination is that you can set yourself up for some serious reactions and trouble with your body processing it.

In other words, the bacteria is a much bigger problem than simply a Gatorade that doesn’t taste fresh.

Luckily, these floating particles are easy to spot, and you won’t have to worry much about whether or not you can easily see them.

4. Smell

Gatorade has a sweet smell that will be appealing to most people.

If you open a jar of Gatorade and notice that the smell is off or rancid, then you should not drink it.

It is important to smell a good Gatorade from time to time, so you will notice the difference when you are inspecting for a bad Gatorade.

Overall, the smell test is easy to complete and one that you can rely on.

If, for instance, you left your Gatorade out but did not put it in the fridge, sometimes the smell is going to be the best way to tell if it is still good.

Gatorade that has gone bad is not smart to drink, so making sure you do these tests prior to consuming is a smart thing to do.

How Should Gatorade Be Stored?

The longer you want your Gatorade to last, the better attention you should pay to how you store your Gatorade.

Here are a few situations that you could find yourself in and how to handle the storage of the Gatorade.

1. Open Bottle

If you are cracking open a new bottle of Gatorade, you may soon realize that you won’t be able to finish the entire thing.

This is quite common, as many Gatorade bottles are larger than you may expect them to be.

The good news is that you can safely store an open bottle of Gatorade in the fridge for several days.

Some find that the open bottle will be good for months at a time.

It really depends on the original age of the Gatorade that you opened, the storage temperature in the fridge, and the bacteria that may have transferred into the Gatorade when you drank it.

An open Gatorade bottle that is stored in the fridge also tends to lose some of its freshness.

You will find that the taste is not nearly as good as it was when you first opened it.

This usually takes a few weeks to happen, so you have some time to finish the Gatorade that you started.

If you leave an open bottle on the counter in your house, that should really be consumed within 24–48 hours.

After this time period, you will notice that there are going to be issues with the quality of the Gatorade.

Keeping the Gatorade in an area where it is extremely hot will almost immediately disqualify you from drinking the rest of the bottle.

Even though the plastic on the outside of the bottle is going to protect the liquid inside, it is also sometimes going to help it hold in heat.

Heat and bacteria in a small, enclosed container create a recipe for bad food and drink.

2. New Single Bottle

If you grab a single bottle of Gatorade that you want to consume at a later date, the best place to store it is in a temperature-controlled pantry.

You can keep the Gatorade in your refrigerator, but there is really no need to do this until you plan on consuming it.

Prior to that, it is completely fine to keep it in your pantry where you keep the rest of your food products.

This should be a safe enough temperature that nothing will happen to the quality of your Gatorade before you get a chance to drink it.

Always store the Gatorade in a place where you can see it so that you can take it out to drink it before the expiration date.

If you purchase the Gatorade, you may as well try and use it before it goes bad.

3. Large Case Of Gatorade

When you purchase a large case of Gatorade, you will want to make sure that you store it in an appropriate place.

It is a shame to lose a Gatorade because it has gone bad, but to lose an entire case of Gatorade is a real waste.

Some people have the poor habit of storing the Gatorade somewhere like their garage.

If your garage is not temperature controlled and it can get hot in there, the case could potentially go bad before you get the chance to drink it all.

Try to keep the Gatorade indoors where it is never going to get too hot.

Although getting very cold is not technically bad for the Gatorade, it’s the up and down of the temperature and the expanding and contracting of the liquid that will make it go bad.

How Long Does Powdered Gatorade Last?

Powdered Gatorade is the granular form of the liquid Gatorade.

With powdered Gatorade, you will need to mix water with the powder and prepare the drink.

The good news about the powder is that it tends to last for quite some time, but once you mix the powder with the water, the product will only last for a few days.

If you have Gatorade powder that is a few months past its expiration date, chances are it is completely fine to use.

You may notice that the powdered Gatorade can start to get clumpy or its ingredients seem to look funny.

If this is the case, you may not want to use it.

With the powered Gatorade, one option you have is to mix it with water as usual and then see if it smells and looks as it should.

Once you make the powdered Gatorade into the liquid form, you will have to ensure that you store it in an airtight container.

Putting it in an open pitcher in the fridge is probably only going to give you a day or so with fresh-tasting Gatorade.

The powder is a great thing to purchase if you are limited in storage space.

If your pantry is full yet you want to drink a Gatorade every day, this is one of the smarter purchases to make.

In addition, some people will use powdered Gatorade to make a bit of a lighter-tasting Gatorade.

You may be able to get one powder to last you for quite some time.

Some will say that the taste between the two is different, but this really comes down to the way the Gatorade is prepared and not the initial formula.

For the most part, you are going to rarely come across Gatorade that has gone bad, but if you know the signs, you can save yourself the experience of drinking something that does not taste all that great.

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