Check your cupboards!

angelatgraceland

Bargain_Rzl wrote:

Depends what you get to do with the waste, angel - when I was a student I worked p/t at the greengrocery concession in my local Kwiksave in York. Anything like that, we registered in a logbook and had the option to take it home. The same went for anything that was a bit funny at one end/on the outside, where the rest of the fruit/veg was perfectly edible.

I didn't half eat well that year!

(If I'd been an MSEer at the time, perhaps I'd have stayed there another year - but I wanted my weekends back )

well I did get to buy 4 bunches of banans for 20 p per bunch! (at the end of the day they were running out)So not all bad. Going to make black-saturns cobbler with them 2moro-got so many! I just hate waste. I do find that the dates on cold meat like ham are accurate but on fresh meat you can get away with another day or two especially on beef. Use your nose for sure. Only ever made one mistake(before my current job_and that was with suet mix. It ws out of date, looked ok but the fat in it as rancid and it was FOUL.

hermit-crab

angelatgraceland, where do you work? I knabbed a couple of packs of chicken tonight, sell by today and use by tomorrow. Can I freeze it?

Isn't this website great? We have experts like angel on hand to help us all. Thanks angel for sharing your expertise. It is appreciated so much.

angelatgraceland

Well you couldto make up 2 dishes use in a curry or whatever, using it up, let it go cold and then freeze it as a complete meal. When you defrost it, recook it though, never just warm it up. Otherwise, open it, make sure it smells good then freeze it. Personally, I only freeze fresher chicken as it deteriorates somewhat when frozen and unless you at least open the packs you wont be certain how good it is. In short, Id use it straightaway.

hermit-crab

Its a bit late to be cooking curry tonight to be honest. I hoped I could freeze it but since your post sugests only freezing fresher chicken, I won't, I'll bin it. It isn't worth the risk.

hermit-crab

Angel, You seem to know a lot about food safety. I'm being a nosey beggar here I know, but what are your qualifications?

I am asking only because I feel uncomfortable putting these perfectly good looking chicken breasts in the bin. :embarasse

joey-lou

Bargain_Rzl wrote:

Depends what you get to do with the waste, angel - when I was a student I worked p/t at the greengrocery concession in my local Kwiksave in York. Anything like that, we registered in a logbook and had the option to take it home. The same went for anything that was a bit funny at one end/on the outside, where the rest of the fruit/veg was perfectly edible.

I didn't half eat well that year!

(If I'd been an MSEer at the time, perhaps I'd have stayed there another year - but I wanted my weekends back )

That unfortunatley is a thing of the past anything not for resale has to be scanned as waste. we are not allowed to buy it at reduced price or take it home it just gets skipped.Its a sackable offense

Gers

I used a tin of Tesco Value tomatoes with a best before date of September 2001 :eek: :eek: on Monday night in a chilli con carne. No-one got poisoned and no-one died, in fact there was no discernable taste difference.

Use your senses (including that old favourite 'common sense') when it comes to food hygiene. If chicken is smelly then throw it out. Give it a wash and then try again but don't compromise on your health either.

angelatgraceland

My only qualifications are my food and hygeine course and common sense. I have frozen what appears to be ok chicken in the past, only to find that when I came to use it a few weeks down the line, its smelt funny once thawed, so that one is purely from experience. Im certainly no expert but I do spend a day a week tending the chilled department-as well as general date checking whiche nssures we never sell out of date goods( we arent allowed to, after all)I do consider myself informed, but at the end of the day, its up to the individual to use commonsense and smell. The advice previous posters gave on this is excellent. My point of the Op on date checking before the end of the month was so that we all use the items when they are in PEAK CONDITION, which is what the BBE date is realy about. I hope my postings have been useful.

Murtle

oh hermit-crab, I'd have suggested just cooking them plain, and freezing them then using them in a dish of your choice later.

fresh - Cooked - Frozen - defrost/heat - eat
fresh - Frozen - defrost - cooked - cooled - refrozen - defrost/heat - eat


Hope that helps??!

angelatgraceland, that was a useful post, cause I always end up with so much stuff at the back of my cuboard, so you prompted me not to buy nice new things and to eat what I have left, empty my shelves and then restock, so huge thanks from me

x x x