Use by dates......how carefully do you stick to them ?

[fossyant]

My daughter won't eat anything out of date. We do as our frost free fridge keeps things really fresh. Smell, look and feel.

Our old conventional fridge wasn't anywhere near as good at keeping food fresh.

 

[Electric_Andy]

Tins, I don't even check. Meat, I smell everything and eat or bin accordingly. I will break off bits of mouldy bread and eat the rest, but don't do that if I'm feeding others.
Dates are very unreliable, especially from Lidl. Some things are fine over their date, and others are rotten the day before their expiry

 

[nogoodnamesleft]

I look at dates on products when I buy, both to select the longest date as that indicates fresher and will last longer.

But using stuff I ignore the dates, just look at food and use (I throw virtually nothing away).

 

[Profpointy]

I look at dates on products when I buy, both to select the longest date as that indicates fresher and will last longer.

But using stuff I ignore the dates, just look at food and use (I throw virtually nothing away).

As an aside, I used to buy St Stephanos Belgian beer, and I learnt to choose the oldest dated bottles as it improved over time like a fine wine

many cheeses improve with age too. And (red) meat is aged for up to month (for the good stuff), before sale, albeit it is less vulnerable to pathogens when kept on the carcass rather than cut up small

 

[N0bodyOfTheGoat]

Usually our "once opened use within x days" veggie food looks/smells weird by the time the day has come around. Normally we will "risk" eating veggie stuff a day or two past a use by date, if it looks/smells ok. And best before is just an advisory.

Recently we discovered that once you open a packet of semi-dried but soft apricots, you're supposed to refridgerate them and eat within a week, for years we simply resealed the pack in the cupboard and ate them over a number of weeks. We've had an open pack in the fridge just over a week now, we'll probably finish by this time next week.

The few meat/fish things I eat, I'm far more cautious about.

 

[MontyVeda]

It depends what it is. If it looks right and smells right I'll use it. Sometimes it gets used a day or two beyond its use-by date, sometimes it gets chucked a few days before. Having worked in a supermarket, I know that sometimes refrigerated products are 'out of chill' for a lot longer than the twenty minutes they're allowed.

 

[MichaelW2]

I recently got food poisoning from a supermarket spanish omlette, I think they are sterilized with gamma rays.
I didnt notice any break in the plastic. It was on the Usd By date exactly.
My mistake was not to heat it all up to very hot. Maybe it was toxin, not live bacteria.

I am generally more careful about not poisoning people.

 

[raleighnut]

I don't worry too much and I've always been alrigh............................................




Seriously though, Fish/seafood always in date. Chicken ditto, Lamb/Beef joints I can push about 5 days or so but minced or diced never, Pork chops/Loin steaks maybe a day beyond but no more.

 

[Mike Ayling]

If it is in a can and is not punctured or badly dented then from what I can see the dates are more a case of "might not taste quite as good" than anything that make you sick.

Yes cans from the Antarctic explorers huts were recovered and the contents were found to be edible.

 

[glasgowcyclist]

For those throwing away stale bread, may I point out that it is perfectly safe to eat. All that has happened is called starch retrogradation, where moisture evaporates and starch molecules recrystallize.

You can reverse this to an extent by various methods of reintroducing moisture via steam. The methods vary by what you're dealing with and what results you want.

In fact, stale bread it is perfect for the delicious dish called panzanella.

Or you use it for toast, breadcrumbs or croutons. I never throw out stale bread.

 

[presta]

Generally I stick to Use By dates fairly rigidly, BBE dates I'm not bothered about, but I can't think of any that I come anywhere close to anyway, as they usually last for years.

"once opened use within x days"

They're a lot harder to stick to than the date on the packet, especially when you live alone.

Living on my own its difficult to stick to the warnings eg yesterday I bought a bottle of mayo which says "once opened use within 4 weeks"....yeah, as though that's going to happen.

That's why I stopped buying mayonnaise.

If it is in a can and is not punctured or badly dented then from what I can see the dates are more a case of "might not taste quite as good" than anything that make you sick

That's a BBE date, not Use By.

I will break off bits of mouldy bread and eat the rest

I remember doing that as a kid, but the BBC made a programme with time lapse film of food rotting, with commentary from experts, and they were saying that some of the moulds that live on bread are absolutely deadly.

My mistake was not to heat it all up to very hot.

I once ate a pub chilli con carne that hadn't been fully reheated, then spent the night with my head down the toilet.

 

[Alex321]

For those throwing away stale bread, may I point out that it is perfectly safe to eat. All that has happened is called starch retrogradation, where moisture evaporates and starch molecules recrystallize.

You can reverse this to an extent by various methods of reintroducing moisture via steam. The methods vary by what you're dealing with and what results you want.

In fact, stale bread it is perfect for the delicious dish called panzanella.

Or you use it for toast, breadcrumbs or croutons. I never throw out stale bread.

I make my own bread (using a bread maker), but my wife mainly eats brought bread.

Hers normally goes mouldy before it is stale, while mine never really goes mouldy, and I rarely keep it long enough after making for it to be really stale.

I don't know what it is in the bought bread which encourages mould. Maybe higher moisture content, or higher sugar content, or something else entirely, but it means far too much of it gets chucked.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Yes cans from the Antarctic explorers huts were recovered and the contents were found to be edible.

Did they not test along side Pot Noodle, and found the latter inedible, even when just packaged?

 

[PaulSB]

Common sense, look, smell, taste. Yes, clearly very careful with fresh meat, fish and seafood however we tend to keep these things in the freezer or buy on the intended day of use.

Moulds on jam, marmalade etc get scraped off. I'll tolerate a bit round the end of a yoghurt pot for a couple of days.

Our local authority introduced food waste collection recently. Our waste is usually the size of a dog pooh bag......last week it was four chop bones. I've been gobsmacked by the amount of waste others generate. The noticeable thing is the young households create the waste, my generation hardly any. It's their world, I'll be gone before it completely burns. Look out of the window guys.

 

[Alex321]

Common sense, look, smell, taste. Yes, clearly very careful with fresh meat, fish and seafood however we tend to keep these things in the freezer or buy on the intended day of use.

I have twice in my life had food poisoning. Both times from seafood when eating out (once in London, once in Italy), so I am much more careful about seafood than most other things, particularly given nothing tasted or smelled odd on either of those occasions.

Moulds on jam, marmalade etc get scraped off. I'll tolerate a bit round the end of a yoghurt pot for a couple of days.

Yep. I do the same with jam or marmalde, just scoop out the bits with mold.

Our local authority introduced food waste collection recently. Our waste is usually the size of a dog pooh bag......last week it was four chop bones. I've been gobsmacked by the amount of waste others generate. The noticeable thing is the young households create the waste, my generation hardly any. It's their world, I'll be gone before it completely burns. Look out of the window guys.

Ours is a bit more than yours, but not very much, and the biggest component by volume is usually tea bags.

Any uncooked vegetable waste goes into our own compost bin.