Best before.... Use by help

Melonade

Morning,

My online supermarket shop bought on Thursday had items with close dates AGAIN!!! (Still trying to get through on the phone to complain) one item is a whole chicken that has a use by 02 feb.

My question is would you cook it? I'm never bothered by best before dates but use by on meat worries me. I can't smell it to see if its a bit dodgy because I'm full of cold, I also don't want to how it away.

madnotstupid

I'd cook it today, once it's cooked it'll keep for longer than if raw. Alternatively freeze it - whole or jointed.

ALIBOBSY

Red meat doesn't bother me too much, unless I want to eat it very pink like with steak. TBH I would complain anyway, but not waste the food. Anything I could would be frozen or cooked like the chicken and either frozen for use later or used in meals in the next couple of days.

TBH I rarely buy meat from the supermarkets as the quality isn't that great. My local butcher and a meat farm shop provide much, much better quality for simular prices-some stuff slightly more expensive, much miles cheaper and all far better quality.

Both do bulk type offers so I tend to freeze any meat not to be used in the next day or 2 anyway and obviously neither have use by dates on lol.

E.G the farm shop was selling 5LB of skinless chicken fillets (free range and locally produced) for £12.99. They are happy to bag up in 2's for freezing.
So I would say the freezer is your friend.

Ali x

Melonade

Thanks for your opinions

I've just popped it in he oven and I'm glad I posted here now. I hate throwing stuff away and even worse for the price of a chicken!!!

I will complain if I can ever get through on the phone. Using all my minutes on hold is frustrating me ATM. I bought an apple pie that had the date for the day the shopping came went straight into the freezer. I'm getting annoyed with getting products that are close to the date because they need to shift them.

I will look into farm shops local to me for the future, I certainly don't mind paying more for better quality

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

I was best before 1981, but have matured!

ALIBOBSY

I haven't shopped online for a while, but I did have a thought. Isn't there a sort of notes box where you can put extra instructions? Can you put in, please ensure all fresh produce has at least 5 days before it expires.

Re: that Apple pie-if it was on todays date shouldn't it have been reduced as well?

Ali x

room512

Can you not email them - when I've done that they've always phoned back? When I've had short dated items they've always refunded the price and let me keep the items (depends which supermarket though Sainsburys were never keen to do this!). The last few online shops I've had no problems with, except stupid subs!