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

Penelope_Penguin

Red_Fraggle wrote: »

I have found some frozen fish in tomato sauce in the freezer a year out of date - will it be OK ?

It's highly unlikely to harm you, just may be a bit past its best

Penny. x

space_rider

I have a icky tummy so I would personally not eat it. My freezer has something on the door which tells you how long you can keep frozen stuff. According to the Foods Standards Agency look on the packet to see what it says, and they also state that foods can be kept frozen for years but the taste and texture may not be very good

easy

As long as you haven't had any powercuts/ 'freezer door left open' disasters in the last year, it will be fine from a health point of view.

Texture might be a bit manky by now however. If it was me, I'd put it in a fish pie with other tasty bits and a good sauce.

I wouldn't just bin it, mind you.

OrkneyStar

Might not have much taste but will likely be ok to eat. You could chuck in a pie as someone suggested or use to make spicy fish goujons ?

ALIBOBSY

Ok so we have 2 fridges one inside one out. I am usually very good at keeping track of dates and try to put short dates in the inside fridge.
Unfortunately due to
1)Extra Christmas food
2)me being ill so OH putting the food away for me
3)getting the kids back to school
4) OH again defo his fault lol

I have ended up finding 3 tubs of out of date cream outside. Got 2 of sour cream (dated 31st dec), does this even go off?
Also one tub of extra thick double cream dated 27th dec.

Would you eat them? I am thinking the sour cream may be alright, especially if used in cooking. Non are open and they all have been in the fridge since bought (on a snowy cold day so will never have been anything other than v.cold)

ali x

charliee_3

the only way to tell is to open them and sniff/ taste them. as they ahvent been opened and have been kept cool they may be ok, but i am sure you will be able to tell. only thing is once the air gets in they will go off really quickly if they havent already, so you will need to use them straight away...

as long as they smell ok i would happily use them in cooking where any bateria will probably be killed off anyway...

ALIBOBSY

Just not sure if "off" sour cream smells/tastes any different to normal lol.

ali x

BexInLondon

I'd almost definitely use the sour cream. I'd just have a little taste of it first! As for the double cream, again, a taste would tell me, though some people might be different if they were looking after kids. Out of interest, are they Best Before or Use By dates?

charliee_3

cream it is always a 'use by' as far as i have ever seen, sometimes they have a 'sell by' as well, but i assume it is the 'use by' the OP is looking at..

also i have found out sour cream is not just off cream..

got this off a site, sorry no time to link

Sour cream has long been a traditional ingredient in Russian, Eastern European, and German cooking, and has gained popularity in the rest of Europe, North America, and other parts of the world in the past 50 years or so. It was traditionally made by letting fresh cream sour naturally — the acids and bacteria present produced a generally consistent flavor and thick texture that went well with both sweet and savory dishes. These days, commercially produced sour cream is made by inoculating pasteurized light cream with bacteria cultures, letting the bacteria grow until the cream is both soured and thick, and then repasteruizing it to stop the process.
Sour cream cannot be made at home with pasteurized cream; the lack of bacteria in the cream will cause the cream to spoil instead of sour. If you have access to unpasteruized heavy cream, you can add 1 Tbsp of vinegar to 2 cups of cream and let the mixture stand out at room temperature for several hours until curdled.

so therefore 'off' cream is not sour cream and is not ness safe to eat as it is diff bateria that have made it spoil

and sour cream can also spoil in the same way...

maryb

I often use cream that is past its use by date if it tastes and smells OK

Still here

However as suggested, you might feel happier using it in cooking eg a quiche (good for using up leftover Christmas ham).

If you haven't got a recipe suitable for using it up, I would whip the double cream and freeze it, labelling it well to show it has to be used in cooking. (you have to whip it, otherwise it goes grainy when you thaw it) It won't come out of the freezer any more "off" than it goes in as long as you use it soon