Archive:Quick Questions on food safety / sell by / use by dates

Pink.

Hi Marco,

If the chicken, veg and sauce are all kept completely cold I would think it should be fine. It would only be if you were adding the chicken and veg to a warm sauce that it could be a problem.


I'll add this to the Quick Questions on food safety thread later as your query may help others.

Pink

marco_79

Thanks folks,

Went with cooking it just now in the oven, will reheat it in a pan later and serve with baked pots. Will prep all cold and leave in the fridge next time.

cheers

marco

madhouse

I have some stir fry vegetables that have a use by date of today although, I don't need them until tomorrow. Are these safe to eat a day late. I don't really understand why it is a use by instead of a best before date. Any ideas? :think:

Nix143

Do they smell?
Are they soggy?

It's chopped veg, I'd say if it looks ok then course you can eat it tomorrow. And if some of it has gone a bit soggy just pull that out. What harm can a bit of old chopped veg do you? It's not like it's dairy or meat.

I ahve a cast iron constitution and will owt that isn't crawling out of the fridge

mummysaver

It'll be fine, just watch out if you have beansprouts in there that they haven't gone a bit soggy.

I've picked up loads of stir fry veg recently in the reduced section at Mr T's, seems to be there every night, if it doesn't have beansprouts in then it freezes well. With beansprouts it'll usually last 3-4 days in my fridge.

madhouse

Thank you for the replies. There are loads of beansprouts in it and I wondered if it was because of these. When they go soggy do they just taste horrible or do they become unsafe to eat.

Jo_R_2

Use by dates are for products with a short shelf-life. So fresh stuff, cream cakes, that sort of thing. Officially (lol) okay to use right up til midnight on the date stated. Best before is for stuff with a longer shelf life like, say, tinned stuff which'll last for years and years and years

Have to say I'm a bit iffy over stuff and prefer to err on the side of caution but that's what a very comprehensive food hygiene certificate course did to me!

mummysaver

They shouldn't be soggy by tomorrow, but if they are a bit droopy (he he! juvenile humour I know!) they just lose a bit of the crunch, so it depends what sort of stir fry you're making, if it's going to be served in a sauce it won't matter or make much difference, if it's a fairly dry one then you will notice that they don't have so much bite. But then as you'll be tipping them in with all the other veg they won't have quite as much bite anyway, cos they'll be cooked for longer than they really need.

Penelope_Penguin

madhouse wrote: »

I don't really understand why it is a use by instead of a best before date. Any ideas? :think:

We have a whole thread on this, so I'll merge this thread so that you can browse all the replies

Penny. x

madhouse

Thankyou. I was always lead to believe you did not use food past it's use by date for health reasons, but I could not see this for chopped veg. This thread is quite interesting and shows it is not all it seems.