Does anyone take any notice of these? I regularly eat stuff that's days or sometimes weeks past it 'Best Before' date. The only exception is fresh meat, I'm a bit more picky there. I bought some deli coleslaw last Tuesday. It was meant to be used by Friday. We had it last night with some smoked salmon and it was perfectly okay.
It was instilled into me as a little girl never to throw away food, because so many people are dying for want of a meal.
D x
I’m the same. I think food waste is scandalous. ‘Best before’ is merely a suggestion as to when food will start deteriorating but still be edible. I think some people lack common sense when it comes to food.
I grew up in a big family and stretching meals/storing/preserving is ingrained into me. Hubby however has a very different opinion and believes in use by and best before religiously. I find myself accidentally tearing labels or batch cooking and freezing rather than the horror of him throwing things away without checking them first. I wouldn’t mind so much but he usually does the bloody shopping and ignores my list merrily. If anyone is ever hungry feel free lol x
We try to make sure we buy stuff that's well before the BB date, but we do occasionally use stuff that past its date. After all, it's a "sell by" date. The store can legally sell it until then so presumably it must stay good for some time afterwards. Drugs are the exception. Those you should not use past expiry, or so I hear.
Yeah, there is "use by" and "sell by," which you can waltz right past, and "expiration date," which you probably should't. I go past the first two all the time (to the great consternation of my eldest, who is a little OCD about these things), but I have had food poisoning twice, and BADLY, both from bad mayonnaise. It was hellish, so I pay much more attention to expiration dates.
It really depends on the item. Eggs you can usually use up to a month past their date. If the yolks don't fall apart when you break them open, they're usually okay. But I've tried using fry mix a few months past it's expiration date, and the results were terrible. Virtually tasteless onion rings for example. We tend to leave canned goods in the back of the cupboard, forgetting they're there, and have found some 2 years past their best-used-by dates. We throw them out and buy new. (Yes, I feel guilty about it!)
If the bb date has expired I will assess the product. More often than not I will use it and have had no repercussions. If there is a doubt I discard it.
Normally our canned goods don't carry a BB date. If I were to find a jar or a slightly rusty tin out of date I would check to see if it has 'popped' or not. If not I use it.
..and I thought this was going to be food suggestions to eat before going out on a date. Damn, I was going to suggest pinto beans. haha
