how old is too old?

fizzel81

i get confused with use by sell buy best before by etc at the moment i throw it if it gets to the date on packet but does stuff last over this?

for instance i have 2 packs of veg stirfry i got on very reduced there sell by says 9th (3 days ago) it looks ok but im not sure if it will be ok to eat, i really do not want to make myself ill

milk is another one in this house.
i really need to get a grip on what im wasteing

Pink.

With dairy products and meat I'm more cautious, but with vegetables we keep them in a fridge in the garage and often use them after their sell by date. I use my senses, and if they look and smell ok then I use them.

Pink

WeirdoMagnet

My personal rule is "if it smells 'off', bin it!". :laugh:

Stir-fry veg tends to go off v quickly, and goes slimy, so you can see that it's not really edible, and smells a bit too.

Milk I would throw too if it smells , but that doesn't often happen in our house.

Heth_2

I'm sure veg will be fine. If it looks ok then I would eat it.

calleyw

Best before dates means it will not be at is best if you eat it afterwards. And use by dates are the ones that you need to be more careful with.

I have a chicken I bought today with a use by date of Sunday. I will cook it on sunday and will eat the cooked but chilled leftovers later on in the week. I will freeze them even though it maybe only a few days after.

Meat I tend to adhere strictly to the useby dates. Of course I bung it in the freezer and then defrost cook and eat on the same day.

Veggies I am not to worried about. If you think about potatoes they where lifted last autumn and we are still eating them now that is why potatoes are getting a bit manky now.


Yours


Calley

Caterina

Georgina wrote:

My personal rule is "if it smells 'off', bin it!". :laugh:

Stir-fry veg tends to go off v quickly, and goes slimy, so you can see that it's not really edible, and smells a bit too.

Milk I would throw too if it smells , but that doesn't often happen in our house.

HI GEorgina,

Please be careful about the smell thing, before I did my Food hygiene certificate I thought like that, but they soon put me right. Basically foods can give you food poisoning long before they start to smell.

With meat, fish and poultry - cooked as well as uncooked - I'd follow the packet date scrupolously, unless of course you buy in the sale and freeze them straight away when you go home.

Veg is usually ok to eat after use-by date, but of course it will have lost most of its vitamins - but it is ok for soups etc.

HTH

Caterina

mirakl

As an experiment I kept a, unopened packet of turkey ham in my freezer for two YEARS! I'm a patient person LOL however it looked the same - I didn't dare open it before I threw it out because the packet itself was getting mouldy even if the meat wasn't. My opinion on this is please remember lots of meat hangs in storage for a long time before it's sold, this helps the flavour. I've worked in restaurants and a lot of chefs I know deeply resent food hygiene restrictions stopping them from serving what they would consider to be ripe cheeses, well hung meat and veg that's perfectly fine. I think the giveaway is these food experts (some of whome have michelin stars so no names mentioned) will eat this stuff when they're no longer allowed to serve it