Food safety

Mojisola

carolinerunner wrote: »

I bought 2 chickens (whoopsied) on Wed, sell by date that day. I cooked them straight away and put them in the fridge when cool. We ate the last of the cooked chicken today, heated in sauce to boiling point for a couple of minutes then baked in a pie for about 25 mins in a 180 deg oven.

Was I pushing my luck? I kind of figure that cooking puts the bacteria count back to zero and gives me another few days. Is that nonsense?! Thanks in advance!

As you cooked them on their sell-by date, I can't see any problems.

The problem with the "cooking puts the bacteria count back to zero" is that many of the problems are caused by toxins produced by the bacteria and these aren't affected by cooking.

RHemmings

My partner gets very worked up if I eat anything after its "best before" date. Note, not "use by" but "best before".

Personally I try to apply common sense. Wet things I usually prefer to abide by "use by" dates. Dry things, not so much.

LookingToTheFuture_2

I've been clearing out my food cupboards and found loads of out of date stuff that somehow got pushed to the back. I've thrown away anything that was already opened and some tins that looked a bit rusty on the bottom. But I'd like to ask people's advice on the following please -

Dried goods
Sachets of flavoured couscous - Best before March 2011
Tapioca - BB March 2011
Basmati rice - BB October 2011
Gravy granules - BB April 2010 (!)

Tins & Jars
Baked beans - BB September 2011
Tinned sweetcorn - BB Aug 2011
Lime marmalade - BB Sept 2011

I don't mind if the flavour is slightly impaired as long as the food is safe to eat. Any ideas/advice welcome!

babyshoes

LookingToTheFuture wrote: »

I've been clearing out my food cupboards and found loads of out of date stuff that somehow got pushed to the back. I've thrown away anything that was already opened and some tins that looked a bit rusty on the bottom. But I'd like to ask people's advice on the following please -

Dried goods
Sachets of flavoured couscous - Best before March 2011
Tapioca - BB March 2011
Basmati rice - BB October 2011
Gravy granules - BB April 2010 (!)

Tins & Jars
Baked beans - BB September 2011
Tinned sweetcorn - BB Aug 2011
Lime marmalade - BB Sept 2011

I don't mind if the flavour is slightly impaired as long as the food is safe to eat. Any ideas/advice welcome!

I'd eat all of these, as long as they look, smell and taste ok.

For dried stuff/ tins/ jars I would only really pay attention to dates when it is more than a couple of years out, and even then use the look, sniff, taste test before making a decision. The majority of these things are less than a year out of date, I personally wouldn't think twice about using them.

(As always, use your own judgement with food that is past its date - your nose and tastebuds have evolved over millennia to tell you if food is safe to eat. Trust them, and if in doubt, throw it out. Also, if anyone you are feeding is ill, very young or very old then best to play it safe.)

LookingToTheFuture_2

Thanks for replying babyshoes x I'm going to give it a go. At one time I would have automatically thrown it all out, but now I'm wiser thanks to MSE!

rising_from_the_ashes

Discovered a pack lurking at the back of the fridge (it's a new one & still getting used to it as a totally different shelf layout from my old one).

It's dated the 11th but looks perfectly fine - could I freeze it?

Obviously don't want to open for the "smell test" if it's going in the freezer .... TIA

BitterAndTwisted

I would. Is it smoked bacon?

I dispute that it's "Out Of Date" even if there's a "use by" date on it. It's less that 48 hours past its prime, so there is no earthly reason why it shouldn't be perfectly tasty and safe to eat unless you've had it out of its packaging and sitting on a warm radiator since you bought it.

rising_from_the_ashes

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

I would. Is it smoked bacon?

Unsmoked .... would that make a difference?

I've chucked it in (can always dig out again if needed) ..... it looks just as good as the day I bought it (you know how bacon can sometimes get a greeny tinge to it - none of that).

Big_Graeme

Only problem would be that you forget how quickly you need to use it when you defrost it.
I'd have been tempted to use it up, something like liver and bacon or egg and bacon pie.

rising_from_the_ashes

Good point Graeme ..... I'll go and stick a label on it saying it must be used in one go as soon as defrosted! (I'll make a big Carbonara or something like that)

I would've used it up but I'd only just discovered it and already have stuff out for dinner (which needs to be used today as 3 days old & won't freeze again) and didn't want to leave it out another day.