Are you peeved off at supermarket use by dates?

Pretani

I used to be able to buy items from supermarkets with the confidence that they would last me a week, but over the last few years I'm getting peeved off that items seems to be brought in store at a later date, which reduces the self life. I now waste most of my time checking the use by date in store and shopping elsewhere to get items which are fresher. I've found through my experience that there tends to be one store which is worse than the others. We all can understand why the supermarkets would design such a strategy (GREED) , but in my opinion it's not fair and is pressurising the British public to change the way they shop, from the good-old-fashioned, once a week, to 2 or 3 times per week.

Any one else peeved off with the supermarket reducing the self life of the item?

Pink.

Hi Pretani,

As this is more of a shopping thread I've moved it over to the Shop but Don't Drop board where you should get more replies.

Pink

HariboJunkie

Can't say that I've noticed TBH.
I buy my meat from the butchers and just meal plan well and use my freezer so nothing has the chance to reach it's use by date.
Things like cheese have a long shelf life and I make my own yoghurt so that's not a problem either.
Most Use by dates are a safety guideline and common sense can be employed to decide if the food is, in fact, safe to eat.

redmerlot

Ive stopped buying fruit and veg from supermarkets. Its rock hard one day and mouldy the next !

I now have a veg box delivered every week and it really lasts.

keep_calm_and_carry_on

Yes!
I'm glad it's not just me. I have a healthy disregard for 'use by' dates usually, but last week I bought a hovis loaf, it went mouldy a few days BEFORE the use by date! I'd not even opened it. Thank goodness I looked before I made sandwiches.

nesssie1702

Hope you took the bread back to the shop you bought it in?

Some supermarkets are not good at rotating their stock and therefore the dates can appear "short"

Depending what you're buying though, it can be frozen if you're not using it straight away.

mysuni

i've noticed this too. I know that as people have said you can freeze but you then have to remember to defrost the meat or whatever in time to use it. i don't have the time or the inclination to be traipsing round the supermarket 3 times a week.

i also ignore use by dates but my husband is a real stickler and tends to just bin things based on date labels. :eek:

hollydays

My supermarkets meat is superbly fresh,Asda,but I would rarely buy meat from Morrisons because at my store it goes off too quick.

orangemonkey

I bought some mince meat from tesco last week, and it was rotten before the use by date! Had to bin it! gross. I bought some warburton fruit loaf too, and on the day it says sell by (the use by date is 2 days later), it was already rather hard. :S It doesnt help that warburton bread tends to expire really soon

K9ine

Bread dates are a bit of a minefield. Most bread had a number in brackets then a date, eg. (2) 06 Oct 2008. This indicates the manufacturers preferred sell by date and best before date. eg. in the example the preferred sell by date is 2 days before the 6th ie. the 4th. Some manufacturers are now printing sell by and best before dates so that the sell by date is more often complied with. Currently Warburtons is using an aggressive marketing campaign and is offering some of it's bread on sale or return terms.

DCFC79

redmerlot wrote: »

Ive stopped buying fruit and veg from supermarkets. Its rock hard one day and mouldy the next !

I now have a veg box delivered every week and it really lasts.

dont know where you buy your fruit and veg but the veg i buy from supermarkets lasts longer than the time you desribed