Sell by dates, best before dates on food.

[lucy7]

Latest topic on the news this morning.

The government are trying to encourage us to cut down on food wastage.

My best way of disposing of food still in my fridge is to give it to my husband!;)

Seriously, I eat stuff that is way past its dates, I give it a sniff, if it doesnt make me faint, I eat it!

[Delta Whiskey]

The sell before dates are very conservative to prevent legal action being taken against the manufacturer. To me, the longer the sell by date the less likely I am to buy it given the amount of preservatives the product must contain. As Michael Pollan says in his book 'In Defense of Food' - Eat food, not to much, mainly plants.

[LondonRoad]

I never trust the best before dates on beer cans and bottles and always consume well in advance of the date. ;)

Sometimes I've had to finish a whole case of beer because the BB date is less than 3 months away.

Even then I've noticed some side effects the next morning. Think how worse it would be if I left them any longer. ;)

[Peter_]

I never trust the best before dates on beer cans and bottles and always consume well in advance of the date. ;)

Sometimes I've had to finish a whole case of beer because the BB date is less than 3 months away.

Even then I've noticed some side effects the next morning. Think how worse it would be if I left them any longer. ;)
I cannot fathom out why you would want to finish all that beer in such a short time:p::p::p:

[Chris]

Seriously, I eat stuff that is way past its dates, I give it a sniff, if it doesnt make me faint, I eat it!

:tu:

It took almost 10 years of marriage to educate my missus in the ways of the sell-by date (i.e. trust your nose and your tongue!) But we got there in the end. Yogurt, in particular, keeps a lot longer than the date on the pot suggests.

[Taf]

"Use By" is the only one I generally adhere to.... unless it's on cheese which "they" say gets better with age....

[lauzjp]

Working in a newsagents and a supermarket I try to encourage people who wrinkle their noses up at 'out of date' stuff to at least give it a go once. ;)

There's a website called 'approved food' where you can buy stuff at low prices that is sometimes considerably past its best before date!

[Woolly One]

There's a website called 'approved food' where you can buy stuff at low prices that is sometimes considerably past its best before date!

Here's the linky for you:)

http://www.approvedfood.co.uk/

[Pia]

I eat bread unless it's green, maybe toast it if it's gone hard :D

I don't like to eat eggs too far past their date as i never know what's gonna happen when i crack it open... I'd probably use them 3 or 4 days over the date though.

I've used jars and tins of stuff that's about 6m - 1 yr after their date :eek: I always use condiments and jar sauces after the date (once opened use within 2 weeks/28 days) i've had a bottle of mustard in the fridge for months and months which says this.

I think i've got a pot of black peppercorns that are about 5 years out of date :LOL:

[Woolly One]

This one sounds good -

http://www.approvedfood.co.uk/squid-brand---fish-sauce---26kg-container-3226-p.asp

:D

[Saaf_laandon_mo]

Latest topic on the news this morning.

The government are trying to encourage us to cut down on food wastage.

My best way of disposing of food still in my fridge is to give it to my husband!;)

Seriously, I eat stuff that is way past its dates, I give it a sniff, if it doesnt make me faint, I eat it!

I hate seeing food go to waste, especially when it's things I've bought on the BOGOF or 2 for reduced price offers. I use the same "If it doesn't look or smell bad, i'll eat it" criteria for nearly everything apart from milk. I can't stand the smell of milk that's gone off, it will make me gag straight away. So with that if its 3 or so days past the sell by date it's going in the sink.

[superbiatch]

I've just had year old picalilli on my ham sandwich which should have been eaten within 6 weeks - how long do I have left? :bigcry:

[Saaf_laandon_mo]

I've just had year old picalilli on my ham sandwich which should have been eaten within 6 weeks - how long to I have left? :bigcry:

I'm eating an out of date pot noodle as we speak..... I can't tell the difference.

[superbiatch]

I'm eating an out of date pot noodle as we speak..... I can't tell the difference.

I don't think I could with pot-noodle :D :sick:

[Saaf_laandon_mo]

I don't think I could with pot-noodle :D :sick:


lol, I was waiting for that. It's lamb hotpot flavour today, doesn't taste too bad either.

[NoKnowledge]

These threads are becoming like MoneySavingExpert ones - I'm not knocking it, just wanted to let that out.

I won't respond anymore about it.

[joglynne]

Reading this thread makes me realise what a lot of money pinchers we all are on the forum. :D

I sometimes watch in horror when I'm at one of my friends home. They regularly sort through the contents of their fridge and cupboards and pitch £s worth of anything that is within a day or two of reaching the eat by date. I often come home happily clutching a carrier bag full of goodies ranging from ready wrapped veg to bottles of beer.

If there was ever a foody version of Second Hand Rose I'd be her. :D

[Saaf_laandon_mo]

I regularly rotate the contents of my fridge so that the items approaching best before dates earliest are at the front. Most of our stuff that's in the fridge past its sell by date is because my missus just puts everything away without pulling the old stuff to the front.

[mentalis]

I regularly rotate the contents of my fridge so that the items approaching best before dates earliest are at the front.

Sounds like a supermarket.

I generally make a point to look at sell by dates when I buy stuff as I don't like to eat out of date stuff, but I hate to throw stuff I've paid for away as well.

[lauzjp]

double berry chocolate (http://www.approvedfood.co.uk/nestle---double-berry-white-chocolate---125g-3694-p.asp) 4 years out of date (http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=22129435&postcount=7), reportedly still yummy, but out of stock again! ;)

there is a similar site called foodbargins.com or something, not tried that one yet

---------- Post added at 13:03 ---------- Previous post was at 13:00 ----------

These threads are becoming like MoneySavingExpert ones - I'm not knocking it, just wanted to let that out.

I won't respond anymore about it.

and your point is? :dozey:

[Angua]

I eat bread unless it's green, maybe toast it if it's gone hard :D

I don't like to eat eggs too far past their date as i never know what's gonna happen when i crack it open... I'd probably use them 3 or 4 days over the date though.

I've used jars and tins of stuff that's about 6m - 1 yr after their date :eek: I always use condiments and jar sauces after the date (once opened use within 2 weeks/28 days) i've had a bottle of mustard in the fridge for months and months which says this.

I think i've got a pot of black peppercorns that are about 5 years out of date :LOL:
Eggs are easy to check for freshness. But only do this with the eggs you are going to use. Fill a bowl or wide tumbler with enough cold water to cover the egg, place the egg in the water. If it stands straight on the point dispose of carefully, if it tilts it is OK to use.

I am still using nutmegs with a use by of December 2003 :Yikes:

[Gary L]

I'm very fussy with food. if it so much as looks funny at me, I won't eat it :)

[Nugget]

The USDA (American I know) have a lot of useful fact sheets Here (http://www.fsis.usda.gov/fact_sheets/Safe_Food_Handling_Fact_Sheets/index.asp) on both preservation, dates and safe handling. I found this site when I was looking up the urban myth that defrosted food was "dangerous if re-frozen" What counts here is the unfrozen time though some foods the texture will become unpleasant if re-frozen.

Well, the texture and the bacteria that will be crawling all over it whilst it's not frozen ;)

[georgepomone]

When I was young in the Prehistoric Age:) there were no dates on any food. Nobody worried about it. You didn't really know how old food was. Anything that would go off was sold off cheaply to get rid of it the same day. Cakes etc. were sold quickly because tomorrow they would be stale. As kids we used to buy stale cakes. Now cakes can be months old. We don't really know how old they are.Funny old world.We take these dates as gospel even though they can cover months.
George.;)

[brundles]

For me, so long as the food hasn't reached the stage of walking out of the fridge itself I'll usually eat it (if it's around that long - I tend to run the fridge fairly low anyway!).

The only time I've ever been ill from food must have been 10 or 12 years ago when my then girlfriends mum managed to poison me along with herself and husband with badly cooked chicken (girlfriend was OK as she was vegetarian!) so I can't be doing that much wrong.

And george - your view sounds like it's right out of the e-mail my dad keeps sending round as if it's new about how brave and lucky we are to be alive because non of the health and safety stuff was around when we were growing up! :D

[Saaf_laandon_mo]

Women need a Best Before Married code on them... but I think that's a post for the moans thread!