MSE Poll: Do you eat food past its best-before date?

MSE_Petar

Poll started 12 May 2020

With most of us having to limit trips to the supermarket and some cupboard staples in short supply, cutting down on food waste has never been more important. So when you find food at home past its best-before date, what do you do?

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Did you vote? Are you surprised at the results so far? Have your say below.
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Thanks!

General_Grant

I'm surprised by the results so far - seems incomplete as I'd voted but not represented in the data presented.
A question on whether one eats food beyond its use by date would be more revealing.

grumpyoldwoman

I've never took a lot of notice of best before dates, all they mean is that the quality may not be as good after that date, it is still perfectly safe to eat. Use by dates, on the other hand, are a different matter, they mean it could be unsafe to eat after that date, but I still use the smell and look of the item to decide whether to eat it or not. Logically, why should something that is safe to eat at midnight on the use by date suddenly be unsafe at 1am on the day after, it doesn't make sense unless they have a self-destruct built in to the packaging. When I was young things didn't have dates by which to use them so you had to use your common sense as to whether they were fit to eat.

staggered

Less than 10% of people automatically throw food out because it's past its best-before date.  It's encouraging that most people realise that "best-before" dates have nothing to do with safety.  "Use-by" would be a much more interesting question.

Pollycat

This is a subject discussed quite often on the Old-Style board.

Re the poll choices:

• I tend to use the 'sniff and sight' test to decide
• I ignore best-befores and eat anyway unless it's obviously off

I do both of these.

I don't take much notice of 'best before' dates, although I do try to use the item with shortest date in my stock e.g. tinned tomatoes, tuna.

So if I have something that is past the BB date, I'll open it and do the 'look, sniff and taste' test.

I did find a can of Campbell's condensed soup under one of my shelves in the garage where I keep my surplus stock of tins, pasta etc that was 10 years past the 'best before' date.

Opened it, sniffed it and used it in the slow cooker. It was fine. And so were we.

I don't often take much notice of 'use by' dates either. Again I'll do the 'look, sniff and taste' test.

It amazes me how many people don't understand the difference between 'best before' and 'use by'.

It also amazes me that people don't realise that you can take raw meat out of the freezer, cook it and put it back in the freezer. e.g. defrost raw mince, use it to make chilli, then put it back in the freezer.

Re cutting down on food waste, I throw very little away.

There's a long running thread about 'love food, hate waste' on the Old Style board.

jon81uk

In terms of use-by dates I've also binned stuff that went bad before the use-by date as the smell or look wasn't right.

Past the best before I will try most things but sometimes the taste is off (diet cola doesn't keep well) or the texture goes soft (crisps go soft easiliy!)

EdSanRo

There is general lack of understanding re food safety.

Know what and how you buy things. Know how you store your chilled/frozen products.

Invest in a thermometer for fridge.

There is a huge difference in shelflife at 5 or 2 degrees in your fridge. Between temperature in the door and lower back of fridge.

I am very happy with consumption past bb or ub date. Depending on how the product is packed and the nature of it.
Tinned produce cool stored in a pantry doesn't even go off slightly months after bb date. Some might stay good for years.
Vacuumed smoked salmon again is much safer than fresh fish. I am careful there.
I generally always check eggs with the water float test when I am not sure.

Sniffing and feeling meat is really a good way.
If it feels ”gelly” I am not going to use it anymore.

pumpkin89

Use by dates have a large safety cushion built in, as no supermarket wants to be convicted of selling unsafe food.  For example, if one customer takes something out of the chiller and leaves it on a random shelf for a couple of hours, before another customer decides to pick it up and put it back in the chiller.  If you bought something several days before the use by date and it's been stored in your fridge since then, it's highly likely to be fine for a few days more.

jackieblack

"Best Before" doesn't mean "poisonous after" 

Silvertabby

My mum, a child of the war, never took any notice of 'best buy' dates.  She was adamant the they were a con, designed to make people throw away 'good food' just to buy more - and that they would have been 'locked up' if they had tried that during the war.

Unfortunately, she didn't have a very good sense of smell, so we sometimes had a job convincing her that she/we really shouldn't eat that !

Debran

How have those of us born before 1970 managed to survive?  No dates on food then.