The BBE (Best Before End) Thread

Coppertongue

Whether we're just starting out on our debt-free journey or are halfway through it, or even if we just want/need to tighten our belts for a while (something many of us have to do, post-Christmas!) there comes a time when we're rummaging in the depths of the chest freezer or in the back of the cupboard and we come across something that makes us think, "Ooh! I could have that for dinner tonight!"

And then we turn it over to glance at the label and it hits us: Best Before End: Feb 2012.

These are the Moments that Make Us. Well okay, they're the moments that decide just how much we want to eat that yummy thing vs how icky it might taste

So I thought I'd start this thread for us to discuss what we've found can easily be eaten past its BBE date, and what really REALLY loses its flavour and needs to be binned.

It goes without saying that if something is past its USE BY date, you should always throw it away.

Some ideas to start us off:

• Types of food that stand the test of time (Eg: I just made gravy with some discounter brand granules that had a BBE date of Oct 2011. They had a 'mouth feel' that was a teeny bit greasy but the overall flavour was absolutely fine)
• Safe-to-eat vs should-really-throw-it-out (Eg: that lump of frozen chicken you're looking at; the one covered in freezer burn... should that go in the bin or can you risk it if you chop those bits off and cook it almost to a cinder?)
• Inventive ways to use up food that's lost its flavour or edibility (that is totally a word!) as-is but which can still be used to beef up other meals (Eg: turning stale bread into breadcrumbs to freeze, or croutons for soup)
• What's the oldest BBE thing you've eaten? Was it okay or did it end up as a scraped-into-the-bin-uneaten-because-even-the-dog-wouldn't-touch-it job?
• Got some food that's past its BBE (and flavourfulness) but are loath to throw it away? Ask in this thread and see if anyone has suggestions to use it in another recipe that will disguise its bleh-ness.

The forum has lots of great advice about specific food safety (how to store eggs, raw meat, etc) and also plenty of food cupboard/freezer challenges, but I've not found a thread that's dedicated solely to food past its BBE date, so hopefully this thread might become a useful stop-off point for people with questions about that

To begin with, I have a tip for re-animating stale bread. It was given to me by a baker and is a very simple one:

• Place stale bread (sliced or rolls) into the microwave for 10-20 seconds. This re-softens the fats in the bread and makes it edible again. Yes, you'll have slightly-warm bread (and yes, it'll go chewy after about 10 minutes) but if you desperately want a sarnie and you only have one rock-hard bread roll and a scrap of cheese left it'll do in a pinch.

A second tip for re-animating stale bread rolls:

• Slice the roll thinly into even numbers. Depending on how big it is you might get two or four slices out of it. Grab a sandwich-maker (I don't even have one of those; I use a one-person fat-reducing grill made by that ex-boxer guy ), slick a bit of butter or marge on one side of the sliced rolls and make up some toasted sandwiches using any spare filling that you have.

Over to you, lovely forum peeps!

NewShadow

Freezer burn effects the look and texture of the food, but in no way effects the safety of said food - It just means it wasn't wrapped well or the packet tore.

With freezer burned meat, I recommend curries or casseroles - cooked slowly to allow the meat to relax and reabsorb moisture in the effected areas.

SailorSam

Coppertongue wrote: »

It goes without saying that if something is past its USE BY date, you should always throw it away.


That's a long post for a Newie, people don't read on the Internet the way they do on paper. On the Internet short posts are more effective with just a link in them.
But the bit you've highlighted, i don't agree with that. Perhaps a maybe.

theoretica

SailorSam wrote: »

It goes without saying that if something is past its USE BY date, you should always throw it away.
...
But the bit you've highlighted, i don't agree with that. Perhaps a maybe.

I agree - if something is past its use by date you shouldn't sue me if you eat it... But I am not going to throw perfectly good food away just because you and a date tell me to.

rufydoofyM

I often buy in bulk when there is a good offer and that along with taste changes means that we often consume dried goods like tea, coffee, powdered milk and hot chocolate several years beyond bb dates. Herbs, rice, pasta too.
I generally don't go much beyond 12/18 months with tinned or jars of sauces etc.

Fresh food is a matter of common sense (something people seem to have forgotten in recent years unfortunately).
I've often used meat 2 or 3 days beyond the use by date, although more cautious with chicken when 2 days is my limit and it's then well cooked in a stew. Having said this I've also had to throw meat away prior to use by dates because I don't like the look and smell, rather safe than sorry.

My FF has an led display and freezer is set at -22, fridge at 2 degrees.

Fish is something I never gamble with.

Eggs often used upto 4 weeks after the bb date, but generally only in baking because I'll use the fresh ones when I want a dippy egg. I always store them in the fridge though.

As for fresh fruit and veg, I think the longest something has been lost in the bottom draw is 4 mths and it was still good to use.

Still can't believe how so many people chuck perfectly good produce out just because of a date stamp on the packaging. Call me cynical, but is it as much about profits as safety for the producers maybe. The more wasted leads to more purchased.

Butterfly_Brain

We never had dates on anything in the 70's, and there are well documented accounts of canned goods that are still safe to eat after 50 years.

My DH ate a tin of pears last week that were a year out of date and he is still with us with no side effects.
I have use dried goods that have been 2 years out of date and they have been perfectly edible.

Freezer food will last indefinitely if well wrapped

Use your nose and eyes, if it smells ok and it looks ok it is safe to eat, just avoid rusty or blown cans and jars.

shammyjack

I bought loads of the Black Forest Ham from Lidl last year and am still using some 9 months out of date , they are fine !

theoretica

I just checked my tincture of iodine - expired 2004 apparently, and I am sure my parents use some decades older.

ariba10

When we married there was no such thing as use by or best before dates.

I sometimes wonder how we made it this far.

Fridayschild

We've eaten a Christmas pudding today, best before date end 2012. It was absolutely delicious!! Here's hoping I'm still here tomorrow.....
KC

[Deleted User]

As a child brought up with war-time rationing I'm afraid my late Mum would have hooted with laughter over dated stuf .Basically if it stayed on the plate and didn't move you ate it and what didn't go in the kids ended up in the dog, and not that often either. I am still around to tell the tale well over 70 odd years later.Common sense tells you if something is a bit 'high', and eggs in cold water is the obvious test if they float beware, if they don't eat them up.

But the nose is the best quality controller I know.Maybe I have a cast iron stomach I don't know, but if you can eat 'snoek' a disgusting tinned fishy stuff that we were fed as children you can eat almost anything .The rubbish spouted by folk 'Wanting to live as it was in the 1940s makes me chuckle I would no more eat 'Woolton pie today and enjoy it, as I hated it then and as for tripe well I daren't describe how similar to eating a smelly dishcloth it was.
But beggers couldn't be choosers in those days, and if your Mum dished it up then you ate it or went hungry, her favourite saying was
"Good men died to bring that food to your plate ,eat it up or go without" She had a great admiration for the merchant men who risked their lives to bring food to this country.
A BBFdate on a packet of crisps for goodness sake if they are soft then they are past it, if not eat them up and stop filling landfill with wasted food, they are only spuds for goodness sake.