'Best before' and 'Use by' dates

Came across a cardboard "jar" of Cadbury's drinking chocolate yesterday morning. Competition closing date on the side is October 1998, unable to find a BBF or use by date on it though.
 
I'm probably breaking every food hygiene rule in the book, but I'll use up almost anything as long as it looks and smells ok. I pretty well ignore 'use by' dates. I've been doing this for as long as I can remember (decades) and haven't had food poisoning yet!
 
I have some sour cream that has today's date on it. It was actually picked up by my husband who probably did not even check the date. What say you folks? I don't use it a lot and in the past I have thrown it out just after the expiry date.
 
winterybella said:
I have some sour cream that has today's date on it. It was actually picked up by my husband who probably did not even check the date. What say you folks? I don't use it a lot and in the past I have thrown it out just after the expiry date.
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If its not open yet, it will be fine for a couple of days yet in my experience.
 
The thing I really don't understand is the way that pre-packaged fruit and vegetables have use-by dates. It's absolutely fine until it starts to go off and there's no real way of predicting when that will be (although there is plenty you can do to extend their life).

I will admit to being particular about meats though and will not touch them if they are more than a day over.
 
SatNavSaysStraightOn said:
If its not open yet, it will be fine for a couple of days yet in my experience.
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Thanks. I was thinking the same thing. It's not opened yet so I'll use it either today or tomorrow once I open it and everything is okay. I looked up a few things that I could use if for. I wanted to try something I knew that required me using it all at once.I am thinking of a cake of some sort.
 
If items are sealed you may have a day or two but a build up of bacteria does not necessary have a smell,food spoilage bacteria may smell unpleasant
 
We always have a stock of canned goods in our cupboard. I monitor the inventory every once in a while, at least each month. When the expiry is getting near and we have no plans of cooking that canned good like spam or corned beef or sardines, I give it away to the needy neighbors. At least they get to eat that instead of throwing it away. Just last week I gave a big can of corned beef to the street sweeper here. That will expire in July.
 
A classic example of the pointlessness of sell-by dates: a week ago, I bought a punnet of peaches that had reached the sell-by date. They were still firm, in fact too firm to eat. Now, they are soft and juicy, so the shop would have thrown away something that was not yet ripe. Insanity.
 
Only yesterday I went to used some 2% milk and and it was totally off. I am thinking it's time to call the company. It's happening too often with this milk and this is a case where it's going off long before the expiry date. The box actually has good before a July date. Ever since that company "upgraded" I have been having problems with one product or the other.
 
Duck59 said:
A classic example of the pointlessness of sell-by dates: a week ago, I bought a punnet of peaches that had reached the sell-by date. They were still firm, in fact too firm to eat. Now, they are soft and juicy, so the shop would have thrown away something that was not yet ripe. Insanity.
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Try water having a best before date! The very idea is daft.
 
Duck59 said:
A classic example of the pointlessness of sell-by dates: a week ago, I bought a punnet of peaches that had reached the sell-by date. They were still firm, in fact too firm to eat. Now, they are soft and juicy, so the shop would have thrown away something that was not yet ripe. Insanity.
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Duck59 said:
Yet another example of the lunacy - this morning, I bought a pineapple for the outrageous sum of 49p. It's not even ripe yet.
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Same shop?
 
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