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

izoomzoom

There is a difference between use by and best before:

Use by is a date by which the goods must be used, and is invaribly put on fresh / raw / high risk foods.

Just about everything in your store cupboard should have best before date, which is basically a manufacturers guarantee that the product in the tin / jar / pack will be at its best until this date. There is nothing that says you can't consume it after that.

purplecatlover

ive been busy inventoring my cupboards. well i thought the boringness would make me sleepy, it didnt. now i shall battle to stay up all day so i sleep tonight. but i have a whole heap of oout of date stuff. the baking powder i know can be put to toher uses, but are the rest still useable or do i have to bin them? (flour i mostly only use for thickening stews, id bake more if there was someone else to wash up.)

plain flour
dessicated coconut
chocolate chunks
ground almonds
porridge oats
brown sugar
self raising flour
baking powder
vege stock cubes
lasagne sheets (1 packet opened and not stored airtight, other unopened)
spaghetti


and while im here is it just me or is the slow cooker recipe index not got any links, except the various meats one which seems to be broken?

purpleivy

Baking powder may well have lost its efficiency. The same for the Self raising flour. Anything that is high in fat may go rancid, but that would depend on the conditions in your kitchen...warm and damp will obviously go off quicker than cool and dry.

I would say I have probably used all the above out of date ... with the exception of chocolate PMSL!

purplecatlover

i might see what i can use up quick of the stuff thats only a month or so past date and chuck the rest then. thanks.

ness_w

I have used stuff like that that's been a year out of date, if they are still dry and no weevils they will be fine. Poss not the SR flour though, I'd use it in a recipe that calls for 1/2 plain 1/2 sr.

Ness.

phizzimum

don't forget that often it's a "best before" date - ie you can use it after that date but it won't be at it's best, and the manufacturers don't want you complaining about it.

whereas some products, fresh ones, will have use by dates, after which the product might make you ill.

OH is always dispairing at my view of sell by dates, after all we never had them years ago and we survived! (most of us)

belfastgirl23

I'd have a good look and a sniff and if it looked and smelt ok then I'd use it.

newlywed

purplecatlover wrote: »

and while im here is it just me or is the slow cooker recipe index not got any links, except the various meats one which seems to be broken?

I have that problem too with the indexes but never worked out whether it was the browser I use (I don't use Internet Explorer).

Here's the actual recipes thread: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=4273&highlight=slow+cook

You can do a "Search this Thread" to find what you might want

Stephen_Leak

I'd eat the chocolate, bin the baking powder and regard finding ways to use the rest as a challenge.

I refuse to waste any food, as long as anyone else in the world is dying for lack of it.

lolarentt

purplecatlover wrote: »

plain flour
dessicated coconut
chocolate chunks
ground almonds
porridge oats
brown sugar
self raising flour
baking powder
vege stock cubes
lasagne sheets (1 packet opened and not stored airtight, other unopened)
spaghetti

quote]

You don't say how long out of date any of these are, however if the storage conditions are OK (no signs of damp or mould etc) then they'll all be OK within reason (i.e. typically '07 'best by' dates). They're all 'best by' type products, not 'use by' ones, so no big worries there.

(In the past I've used spaghetti (dried) that was 3 years past BB date and it was fine!)