Best before dates on vitamins

TomsMom

I'm just sorting cupboards to make room for some stuff and I've come across some vitamins and Osteocare tablets which I've been quite lazy about using. Some of the best before dates are 2011 and a few are 2010.

Should I dump them or use them? The Osteocare ones are probably the ones I ought to be using, and the most expensive! They're all Best Before not Use By.

antenna

This is a money saving site.........so use them.
but doctor mary will be on soon in a hissy fit telling you to to dispose them at arms length and retire immediatly.............

TomsMom

antenna wrote: »

This is a money saving site.........so use them.
but doctor mary will be on soon in a hissy fit telling you to to dispose them at arms length and retire immediatly.............

Thank you Antenna, I was thinking to use them as best before is a recommendation.

I rarely come onto this part of the forum so I'm unaware of Dr Mary, but will be interested to see what she says, now wondering whether she would object to using vitamins and Osteocare or using them beyond their best before date .

antenna

I used "Dr Mary" as a catch-all for the namby pambys frightend to use a aspirin at 5 minutes past midnight on the day they "expire".............but i now beg the question..........why do you now want to use them again after not taking them for a long while?

jenniewb

Take them to the pharmacist and see what they say. To be honest I'd bin them. I know we are here to save money and so on but with vitamins the differences between bad vitamins probably wouldn't be anything you could tell by looking at them which leaves your body to react to it some time later before you manage to work it out.

If you want a money saving arguement for that, think along the lines of needing to pay for medicine, needing time off for work or even just ruining the time off you may have over Christmas (and possibly not being well enough to hunt for bagains in the sale!)

TomsMom

antenna wrote: »

I used "Dr Mary" as a catch-all for the namby pambys frightend to use a aspirin at 5 minutes past midnight on the day they "expire".............but i now beg the question..........why do you now want to use them again after not taking them for a long while?

It was more the Osteocare than the vitamins really.

Life was turned upside down when hubby became terminally ill and things got forgotten/left/not thought about for quite some time. Now I was making space in a cupboard the other day and saw how many I had bought when on offer at 3 for 2 but just hadn't got used during that time. It wasn't a conscious decision to stop taking them, more a case of other things were at the forefront of my mind.

I'm OK with binning the vitamins, there aren't many anyway. Just that there's quite a few unopened packets of Osteocare and, knowing how much they cost, and taking into account it was suggested by GP a few years ago that I take them, I thought I would start being sensible again.

jenniewb

TomsMom wrote: »

It was more the Osteocare than the vitamins really.

Life was turned upside down when hubby became terminally ill and things got forgotten/left/not thought about for quite some time. Now I was making space in a cupboard the other day and saw how many I had bought when on offer at 3 for 2 but just hadn't got used during that time. It wasn't a conscious decision to stop taking them, more a case of other things were at the forefront of my mind.

I'm OK with binning the vitamins, there aren't many anyway. Just that there's quite a few unopened packets of Osteocare and, knowing how much they cost, and taking into account it was suggested by GP a few years ago that I take them, I thought I would start being sensible again.

Good choice IMO- its better to be safe then sorry if your unsure. Sorry to hear about your situation, hope your coping OK and don't give up with the calcium suppliments, they do pay off over time, once you lose your bone density its an uphill battle to get it back to anywhere close to normal. Osteoperosis is very painful and scary. You can get cheaper pills via prescription if you speak to your GP and have bone density issues if it's any help.