'Best before' and 'Use by' dates

As some others have mentioned, with use by I am pretty strict to follow -- but best before is just an indicative thing to me. Usually it's fine to consume that sort of stuff after the best before date, it's just not going to be as high quality. I also think some foods are easier to do this with than others!
 
As far as I am concerned I am very much particular to expiry dates and every time I am doing the groceries I really spend time to check clearly the "best before" and "use by" dates. And sometimes I even check it twice asking a grocery staff about this matter. But like what others said it is still best to check and examine first the smell, color and appearance of the food items if it is still can be use before you finally dumped it away. There is nothing wrong if we should pay attention about this thing as long as we are doing this for our food safety.
 
It depends on the food. If it's something I haven't opened and the best by date is relatively recent, I'll open the food item and smell and taste it, especially is it is some kind of specialty item, which is generally the only thing I'm going to buy in a package anyway. I prefer to use things fresh.
 
Last year, I discovered a jar of garlic chutney that had vanished from sight in a cupboard. 'Use by October 2001' it said, so I was only 13 years past the date. It was absolutely fine.
 
I normally always follow the best by dates. Meats I freeze as soon as I purchase them, and thaw them when I am going to use them. Dairy I always follow. I can tell even when milk is getting close to its expiration dates because it has a certain taste. Cheese though sometimes its past its expiration date and still tastes and smells good. It all depends really. I have a friend that will toss out the food the second its expiration date comes, regardless of smell and taste. She says is gross and needs to be thrown out.
 
kateash said:
. I have a friend that will toss out the food the second its expiration date comes, regardless of smell and taste. She says is gross and needs to be thrown out.
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My mother was the same until I asked her how she thought the food concerned knew about an arbitrary date that had been stamped/printed on the site of a piece of plastic/glass/paper that the food was in? It would make the food concerned quite intelligent! :laugh:
 
SatNavSaysStraightOn said:
My mother was the same until I asked her how she thought the food concerned knew about an arbitrary date that had been stamped/printed on the site of a piece of plastic/glass/paper that the food was in? It would make the food concerned quite intelligent! :laugh:
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GM food, programmed to become unedible after the use by date.
Similar to the way things break the day after the guarantee runs out.
 
Duck59 said:
Last year, I discovered a jar of garlic chutney that had vanished from sight in a cupboard. 'Use by October 2001' it said, so I was only 13 years past the date. It was absolutely fine.
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I've a box of 36 teabags from the '70's if you want to try them. Still sealed.
 
I will use canned goods beyond the date. Other than non-perishables, most food here has to be kept in the refrigerator or freezer because of the high humidity, otherwise, it spoils very quickly. I normally wouldn't keep bread in the fridge, because that's not what we did where I'm from, but here it gets moldy within a day or two. In the refrigerator, it lasts forever! I'm kind of kidding, but it does last much longer, so I will use it sometimes well beyond the date on the package. I also use eggs and half n half beyond the dates, but only a couple of weeks on the eggs, and maybe a week on the half n half. Meat and fish are different, since they spoil quicker, and would be unpalatable to me, so I use those up fairly quickly. However, I often use meat and fish well beyond the package dates, simply because I tend to put them right in the freezer when I bring them home.
 
Being vegetarian, I don't have that problem with meat and fish. It's very rare that I end up throwing anything away (even 13-year old garlic chutney). I also discovered half a bag of flour that was supposed to have been used by 2004 and made a perfectly decent cake from it.
 
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