How do you keep track of 'use by dates' for store cupboard ingredients?

creative

Veteran
Joined
23 Mar 2017
Local time
11:19 AM
Messages
811
Location
UK
Does anyone here have a system where they can keep a check of 'best before' dates for store cupboard ingredients?

I keep tags on something that gets opened and then has to be refrigerated i.e. have a little food calendar to note when the time is up. (I have lost my sense of smell so have to rely on this). However, store cupboard stuff like tins and grains.....tend to have a longer life so it doesn't get entered on the food calendar.

The upshot being that I can suddenly come unstuck/be surprised. Such was the case today - finding I had almost a full packet of pearl barley (tucked away there) with the 'best before' date of January this year. I realise 'best before' dates mean you can still eat it but it will be past its best. So I will be doing so in the next few days...risotto seems the way to go (to use up the most amount) and I have found an enticing recipe using chorizo and tomato that I will be trying out.

So, how about you, do you have a system for stored food?
 
Last edited:
I try to rotate the older stuff to the front.
But most of the foods we buy have a two year shelf life.
 
Short answer is, I don't. If a store cupboard ingredient looks OK I will cook it. The only problem I've ever had was cooking dried chickpeas at my friend's house. I've no idea how long they had been in his cupboard - but after soaking overnight and cooking for 3 hours they were still hard as bullets.
 
Last edited:
Strangely enough, I do keep tabs on tins of food that I store elsewhere (not in the kitchen). They are an emergency supply, i.e. if society goes belly up/pear shaped....! (Anyone else do this?)

I have a separate food calendar indicating what month and year they should be eaten by. Due to eat some tins of ravioli (whether I like it or not!) since they are nearing the end of their shelf life! I would NEVER normally eat such products but I was thinking of the future, i.e. eating something filling and with a little protein!
 
Strangely enough, I do keep tabs on tins of food that I store elsewhere (not in the kitchen). They are an emergency supply, i.e. if society goes belly up/pear shaped....! (Anyone else do this?)

:eek: Blimey! It never crossed my mind... are we talking 'bunker supplies' or just 'I have run out of money so at least I have some tins to eat'?

@Yorky likes tinned ravioli. :D
 
:eek: Blimey! It never crossed my mind... are we talking 'bunker supplies' or just 'I have run out of money so at least I have some tins to eat'?

@Yorky likes tinned ravioli. :D
Well, it's a limp response to the possibility of society breaking down...in whatever form that might take. If I was serious about it, I'd be far better organised but I can't 'go there' mentally!
 
Well, it's a limp response to the possibility of society breaking down...in whatever form that might take. If I was serious about it, I'd be far better organised but I can't 'go there' mentally!

I think bunker supplies might be a good thread... but anyway.

I've got cupboards and drawers full of unknown sell by dates. I also have fridges (2) full of items of dubious dates. Then there are the freezers (2).
 
I think bunker supplies might be a good thread... but anyway.

I've got cupboards and drawers full of unknown sell by dates. I also have fridges (2) full of items of dubious dates. Then there are the freezers (2).
Wow...seems that you would survive such a situation much better than myself!

I guess you know there are a burgeoning subculture called "preppers" - prepared for any kind of disaster? I know a couple of them (online). There are estimated to be 3 million in US!!!
 
Last edited:
I have always heard you should only stockpile foods you actually eat. And rotate them on a regular basis.
 
Strangely enough, I do keep tabs on tins of food that I store elsewhere (not in the kitchen). They are an emergency supply, i.e. if society goes belly up/pear shaped....! (Anyone else do this?)
Only sort of - living as we do a little 'out in the sticks' [all of 5 miles from a city !] a sudden winter snow flurry will stop all road traffic for several days [although I seem to remember life carrying on as normal 50 years ago with LOTS more snow] and we tend to keep a few days supply in during winter. [But we do eat it come spring].
 
We found some garlic chutney at the back of a cupboard not so long ago. It was a little out of date - okay, it was eleven years out of date - but it was perfectly edible. The short answer, therefore, to the original question, is that we don't take a great deal of notice of dates on these sort of things.
 
We found some garlic chutney at the back of a cupboard not so long ago. It was a little out of date - okay, it was eleven years out of date - but it was perfectly edible. The short answer, therefore, to the original question, is that we don't take a great deal of notice of dates on these sort of things.
Was it previously opened?
 
I don't usually bother with tins but I have learnt that when opening older tins, cover the lid with a cloth during the initial tin opener piercing. A rather frightening and messy experience opening a tin of tomato puree taught me that.
 
Back
Top Bottom