Do you eat food past its sell by,best before or use by date to save money?

pinkladyvenus

miss_scrooge wrote: »

If it's best before I eat it after the date shown only wary about eating eggs after best before date.
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I eat eggs past their best before date. I just place egg in bowl of water if it floats it is off. If it stands up in water rather than lays down then it needs to be used soon. All other food I ignore the use by best before/ date, I use the sniff and taste test (I don't eat meat or fish) and have never had an up set stomach

showmethemoneyuk

I think calistos daily mail link sums it all up quite nicely, lol. If these dates are exaggerated even just a little to keep the industry safe, and he really did everything stated in his that test (!) perhaps simply having a great immune system wasnt the main reason as to why he was so lucky in not having any ill effects after all What hasnt been mentioned so much in online articles is on exactly how much fridge or freezer food makes it from its source to the supermarket in a perfect state. As with your post above, I have found eggs to perhaps be the fastest food to go off, after a couple of days purchase at worst, which makes you wonder how well they were handled. I have seen a packets of mince on sale in t*sc*s earlier this year in the refridgerator section which was light brown and not a healthy pink, only realizing later that I should have told staff immediately. Someone could (would) have picked that up, trusting that the food is safe, bought and eaten it unknowingly. I wouldnt recommend anyone to chance that, even if it did them no harm

Steve-o

Sell By date = the date the trader is instructed to sell it by. It has nothing to do with when something has to be eaten.

Best Before date = the date that something is going to be at its best for taste, texture, and smell. After that date the taste, texture, and smell may start to deteriorate. It has nothing to do with when something has to be eaten by.

Use By date = the date that you are recommended to eat something by. After this date, food may become unsafe to eat. This is the date that is connected to when you should last eat something.

All of the dates are guides, with a safety margin included, because every item is slightly different. If a food is stored incorrectly, it will go bad well before any date printed on the label. If the food is stored well, it could last well after the date on the label.

You won't find "Best Before" on meat, because bad meat has the potential to kill you, whereas a bad apple might just make you a little queasy.

Sue14

I can't believe the amount of food I used to throw away because it was past its BB, but no more. I'm still a bit wary of use by, but anything else I do as previous generations did, and use a bit of common sense to decide. Last week my OH bought some grapes and nectarines, reduced to 19p per pack as their BB date was the 7th June, I had some of them for a snack at work today and still have some in the fridge, still in perfect condition, in fact the nectarines aren't even fully ripened yet.

I don't think my dad knows there are dates on food, lol, and I often have to throw away mouldy bread, and manky sausages/bacon from his fridge, but if I didn't see them he would still eat them, he's 87 and takes no medication so he's not doing too bad on it, lol!

morganlefay

Thinking about it I don't eat OOD eggs - I made myself quite ill a while back eating some HM mayo which tasted just a tiny bit 'fizzy' so I'm a bit more fussy about eggs than other things (ie I'd make a cake with them if they were OOD and not eat them soft-boiled).
We have a supermarket near me where I often see trollies of perishable foods sitting out in the car park in blinding sun (obviously not lately :-( ) so you have no idea how those foods have been treated before they put them back in the freezers or fridges. But that makes the sniff test even more important because stuff like that might well be in date but busy going off anyway because of how they've treated it. (I think someone else said that too)

Wickedkitten

All the time, if it smells ok then it's going into my belly.


Not only thing but the biggest saving that I've made on our household bills has been from buying food past its best before date.

Evie74_2

All the time! I just use my common sense - if it smells and looks OK, it's probably fine.

I am more cautious with meat and fish and in the unlikely event of my not managing to use it by the use by date, it will go in the freezer to be used another time.

I also use the "bowl of water" test on eggs rather than paying much attention to the dates: I have had eggs which are "in date" which have floated to the surface, and others which are a couple of weeks past their date which have been absolutely fine.

So much food must be wasted by people being precious about "best before" dates - it's as if people have lost the ability to check the food themselves and make common sense decisions about it. I suppose it's a bit like people relying on Sat Nav systems in cars, and then driving into fields - they just follow "authority" like sheep without thinking for themselves.

Evie

chocoholic_chick

I only chuck food out if it's clearly off. Eggs I always do the float test, regardless if they claim to be in date or not after once cracking an egg I bought that day into a pan and what came out was this stinking, slimy green gloop :eek: but I have eaten eggs 2 - 3 weeks after the use by date and been fine. Milk often lasts up to a week after the use by date, just smell it and you'll know if it's off! But I once went to eat a trifle that was to be eaten that date, thought hmm not sure about this one, had a taste of the cream and it went straight into the bin as it was sour!

Veg is fine often weeks after the use by, mushrooms if they're looking a bit iffy if you peel them are fine, so many people now just dont have common sense about food and it drives me mad! Thats why often I'll only have 1 bag of rubbish to put out and our bins are only emptied every 2 weeks because we throw away so little.

Farway

showmethemoneyuk wrote: »

. I have seen a packets of mince on sale in t*sc*s earlier this year in the refridgerator section which was light brown and not a healthy pink, only realizing later that I should have told staff immediately. Someone could (would) have picked that up, trusting that the food is safe, bought and eaten it unknowingly. I wouldnt recommend anyone to chance that, even if it did them no harm

Good grief, meat is not healthy pink, that is a modern fallacy, added to by the pinkish lighting in the meat aisles

The browning is just blood oxidising, not toxins waiting to kill you

Thankfully people who believe all meat should be pink allow me to buy reduced items that are not bright pink. I had some lovely brown rump steak from the Co-op the other day, went well with my out of date fried eggs

BTW, unless boiling an egg, you will instantly know it is "off" when you crack it open

jamespir

i eat food past it sell by date etc if its ok like looks ok smells ok