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

[PaulSB]

@Alex321 it's the same in our house, anything that can be composted is hence our very low food waste. Saying that if we didn't compost our only waste would be peelings.

Tea bags? I compost. PG tips are biodegradable.

 

[Alex321]

@Alex321 it's the same in our house, anything that can be composted is hence our very low food waste. Saying that if we didn't compost our only waste would be peelings.

Tea bags? I compost. PG tips are biodegradable.

Yes, I know they are biodegradable, that is why they go in the food waste bin. AIUI, they don't compost quickly enough to be useful for home composting (That's what the boss says, and I'm not going to argue the point).

 

[PaulSB]

Yes, I know they are biodegradable, that is why they go in the food waste bin. AIUI, they don't compost quickly enough to be useful for home composting (That's what the boss says, and I'm not going to argue the point).

Yeah, sorry I meant they could go in the compost but then I run an allotment with three sizeable heaps. The bags have a good 12 months to breakdown

 

[Reynard]

I'm of the "poke it, smell it, look at it" brigade. If it hasn't developed language skills, it's usually fine. I buy a lot of food on yellow sticker, but if I know I'm not going to use it within a day or two, then into the freezer it goes. Or it's cooked, which then gives it a bit more leeway - like the bag of stir fry mix I bought this evening. With careful storage, dried goods (rice, pasta, pulses, flour, sugar, tea) keep for ages, and I've always got a good store of such. Canned stuff keeps well too, though dented stuff bought on YS gets priority in the usage rota.

Tired veg gets turned into soups, curries, pasta bakes and pakoras. If I've too much fruit, then crumbles, compotes (to have with my lunchtime yoghurt), and jams. Or jelly-based desserts - lovely in this hot weather.

I hate throwing away food, and cook accordingly by what wants using up. Which sometimes requires a bit of inventiveness. I'm also careful and don't have too many things open at once, especially now that it's just me and the cat.

My food caddy bin only has one small bag in there a week - about half the standard bag we got supplied with to line the little caddy in the kitchen. It's mainly tea bags and fruit & veg peelings, plus the odd scraping of cat food. I used to compost until we had a mega issue with rats a few years back, but I don't want to encourage them.

 

[MadMalx]

My mistake was not to heat it all up to very hot. Maybe it was toxin, not live

That’s the wrong way round. Once the toxins are formed they are (relatively) heat stable. Even fully reheated food can give you severe poisoning if the toxin are already there.

Having said that, i’ll eat anything if it looks/smells/tastes ok. Not as much as my brother who got into a ‘who will ear the oldest product’ competition in his work tearoom, which culminated in a year too-old carton of supermarket pudding (originally from the chiller cabinet). No-one died.

 

[SuperGalactian]

I am possibly past my best-before date, but not my use-by.

 

[Mike_P]

Re jams, Wilkin & Sons Tiptree conserves to date have had no use within stated.
Just a best before end date which on the one running low in fridge is Jun 2028.

Salad dressings can be found with use within 6 weeks on them rather than 4 - Lidls Deluxe ones for example

 

[Pblakeney]

Saying that if we didn't compost our only waste would be peelings.

Wash before peeling*, coat in oil, a dusting of salt, throw them in the air fryer. Tasty and no waste.

*The assumption being potato peelings.

 

[Reynard]

Re jams, Wilkin & Sons Tiptree conserves to date have had no use within stated.
Just a best before end date which on the one running low in fridge is Jun 2028.

Salad dressings can be found with use within 6 weeks on them rather than 4 - Lidls Deluxe ones for example

I recently cracked open a jar of marmalade I made six years ago (three fruit aka tangerine, lemon & lime) and there was absolutely nothing wrong with it.

As long as you use the right amount of preservative (sugar), make sure your jars are scrupulously clean, and seal while still very hot, there's never an issue. Sealing while very hot creates a vacuum in the jar while the preserve cools, which means you don't get spoilage. Also, store in a cool, dark place.

 

[Webbo2]

Mrs W found a can of Heinz tomato soup that a use by date of January 2024. The can was bulging and when she opened it the contents sort of burst out. As Mrs W has no sense of smell she couldn’t tell whether it smelt bad.

 

[Pat "5mph"]

Mrs W found a can of Heinz tomato soup that a use by date of January 2024. The can was bulging and when she opened it the contents sort of burst out. As Mrs W has no sense of smell she couldn’t tell whether it smelt bad.

Hopefully none of you eat it.
Bulging can means the food inside has fermented, gone off.
If the can was in perfect conditions the soup would still have been fine to eat, canned goods last for years if the can isn't bulging or dented.

 

[Webbo2]

Hopefully none of you eat it.
Bulging can means the food inside has fermented, gone off.
If the can was in perfect conditions the soup would still have been fine to eat, canned goods last for years if the can isn't bulging or dented.

No it went down the loo.

 

[SuperGalactian]

When I lived in Sweden, I once bought a can of the notorious Sur Strömming (fermented herring), which causes the natives much hilarity when foreigners try it. I put it in the fridge, meaning to try it tentatively when there were no witnesses around. It was some time before those conditions arose, and to my intense interest the can had become completely spherical. I did not attempt to open it. This was all 40 years ago, and disappointingly I simply can’t remember how I defused or disposed of the thing. It must have been quite epic. Maybe I placed it a few hundred metres away and shot it with a rifle.

 

[slowmotion]

I never push my luck with any fish or shellfish foods. With bacon, I'm fearless.

Your nose should tell you.

 

[mistyoptic]

I recently cracked open a jar of marmalade I made six years ago (three fruit aka tangerine, lemon & lime) and there was absolutely nothing wrong with it.

As long as you use the right amount of preservative (sugar), make sure your jars are scrupulously clean, and seal while still very hot, there's never an issue. Sealing while very hot creates a vacuum in the jar while the preserve cools, which means you don't get spoilage. Also, store in a cool, dark place.

Agreed. I’ve still got three jars of homemade marmalade from 2020. They’re perfectly ok. Very sad when they’re gone