Do you follow Use by and Sell by Dates, and other food safety issues

milkydrink

How do these wevils get in flour then????

ashfan83

I work for Dogs Trust and we rely on donations of tinned food, not only dog food but we feed them stuff like Spam and tuna, meatballs etc etc. Anyway, a couple of weeks ago someone was sorting through the donations and there was a bag of tins from the 80s!! I mean come on, we aren't going to feed dogs stuff we wouldn't touch ourselves with a barge pole!:rotfl:

Farway

kimevans wrote: »

How do these wevils get in flour then????

The eggs are already in the flour when you buy it

Resitance is futile:rotfl:

Freezing the flour "may" help, but only by preserving them

Don't worry too much, your skin, hair & bed are crawling with bugs anyway

cashmoneybrother

I will eat anything after the sell by date as long as it doesn't smell to bad, the rest goes on the compost heap. Old milk, eggs, fruit and veg peelings, used tea bags all gets the compost corner treatment and if there are any left over boiled spuds, I fry them the next day (yummy) and the dog has any scraps of veg the next day.

I drive the Ms. CashMoneyBrother mad by saying 'It's just a guide!' when she is telling me that it is out of date.

Old bread makes the best bread and butter puds, and this year we have had an abundance of raspberries off the allotment and these have taken the place of the usuall currents, the juice soaks into the bread (my mouth is running just thinking about it).

If things are nearing the use by date, such as pieces of chicken, either freeze it or cook it with the rest and have it for lunch the next day.

Only once did we end up with food poisoning from some under-cooked out of date sausages, but thats when I lived in a house with a bunch of lads and were young and stupid. Got a few days off work though.:o

chivas

I'm happy to eat things that are past their dates - as long as they look and smell ok! Likewise - I won't eat something that stinks or is green - even if it 'officially' has 3 days still to go!!!

OH is the opposite - won't eat anything 'old'. To the extent that if something says use before 28th he'll chuck it on the 27th - as that's the day before! Luckily, I usually shop in the greengrocers/fishmongers or butchers, so very little of our stuff is datestamped!

I don't think the dates are arbitrary, but they are just a guide - and a cautious one at that.

xtopher

Most has been said. It's common sense isn't it, senses being the word! I am looking at a pot of set yoghurt and it says Keep Refrigerated (as you'd expect) but also says once opened consume within 3 days! Can't eat that much in 3 days! Anyway I have had it opened for weeks now and it still smells and tastes fine; done this for years, never been ill. Must have saved loads of money. My freezer is a godsend in saving money and food on bargains and bogof's that have that days sell by date especially very perishables such as fresh pasta. Freeze it in 125g amounts for a ready portion; can't taste the difference. Even fresh ginger can be saved, peel and freeze, grate straight from the freezer much easier. I could go on..... Happy bargain hunting, xtopher

trainee_debt_buster

heavenleigh wrote: »

Dont know the 'correct' answer but i used baking soda a year past its use by today with no problems, in the case of flour i would probably give it a go! :rotfl:

Just check if it moves first, I once ate some long out of date Ryvita that had "walking" grains on it, weevils, I believe. Tasted fine but stopped eating them once I noticed the lil buggars!

1sttimer_2

OMG this thread was just meant for me! My DD has just gone through our cupboards and lined up all the OOD tin/jar/packet stuff. OH won't dream of chucking anything out. In fact today I've eaten pasta with a mushroom sauce which was dated Sept 06. It tasted fine. If the button on the top of the jar is still ok or a tin isn't dented or bulged - then give it a try, if it smells/tasts off when opened, then throw it.

Fresh stuff gets bad bits cut off and used asap after being found (usually at back/bottom of fridge or in corner of veg rack!

If I'm ill tomorrow I'll let you know the sauce was off :rotfl: :rotfl:

joflo_2

As a consumer of out of date products, which I buy after hours at work. I have noticed that many of the products are quite short dated. The only things I avoid is keeping fish for more than a day afterwards, everthing else is fine for up to a week, I had a some sirloin for a week which was fine when properly cooked. I do put a lot in the freezer straight away though as I buy a lot of chicken and thats seems to go off quicker than other meat.

Kilala

I ignore the sell by dates, unless it looks/smells/tastes funny, then I check it...
Basically your taste buds are very sophisticated and you are unlikely to prepare, cook and eat rancid meat without realising it!!

For breakfast I had a yoghurt just over a week out. Tasted fine to me and no ill effects as of yet!

All use by dates/replace by dates are a con, like specifying how much washing powder you need to use- halve it, unless you are the washer for a rugby team, the wash will be unaffected...