How past the sell by date would you still eat something?

[PlightOfTheConchords]

So I’m having a bit of a clear out in the garage and I’ve found flour, raisins, sauces, bread sticks, Nutella, peanut butter, chocolate, pasta, rice and a few other miscellaneous items all dated 2019.

Would you eat them all?

What’s the longest you’ve left a sell by date and still eaten it?

[Hingeandbracket]

Yep - can't remember exactly but have eaten some stuff many years beyond dates - highly depends on items though - nothing in your list would phase me.

[VettiyaIruken]

I don't take any notice of sell by dates. They don't mean the food isn't perfectly fine to eat.

There's nothing on that list I wouldn't have a crack at as long as they looked ok.

[BovrilonToast]

Yep. I ate month old yoghurt the other day. It was fine.

[EllaAlright]

Yeah, I don’t pay much attention to best before dates, it only means that the quality may be reduced if you eat it after this date, most of the time though, this isn’t the case, and the food tastes just the same.

I’m a bit more stringent with use by dates, which is generally chilled foods and meat.

[SadSisters]

Depends on how they look and smell.

[Habibtihayati]

I'd eat all of that much longer past the date than a year! I've eaten plenty worse and lived to tell the tale. Just consider that use by/best before dates are a fairly recent invention and for thousands of years people have managed (without the added benefit of refrigeration or pressure canning etc.) to decide by sight, smell and taste whether something was ok to eat or not.

[Juo]

All those things I'd eat. Recently used some 8 year old brown sugar, it was rock solid but fine.

[TheNestedIf]

I'd still eat it, assuming that, other than the rice, the items hadn't been opened.

The flour I'd examine very closely. I've had flour mites before. I think they were actually introduced to my cupboards through a large pack of Florentines but a bag of old flour was certainly a prime target. Cost me a fortune in thrown ingredients and Tupperware that did.

[TheSandman]

2019? I'd eat / cook the lot with no hesitation. Can't see why you would even ask.

What’s the longest you’ve left a sell by date and still eaten it?

It didn't have a sell by on it but I know it was at least 30 years since it was put in the jar - because I put it there. It was honey from one of my parents' hives.

[PlightOfTheConchords]

What do flour mites look like? It’s seeded flour so that might make it more complicated to spot them.

Funnily enough I would never second guessed any of it before but I think I’ve been a bit of anxious recently so I’m second guessing myself.

[TheSandman]

"What do flour mites look like? It’s seeded flour so that might make it more complicated to spot them."

If it's moving it's not a seed.

[TheNestedIf]

Flour mites look like this

www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fuk.toluna.com%2Fopinions%2F3970853%2FHave-you-ever-had-flour-mite-in-your-flour&psig=AOvVaw2PLL9ytqppmAzSOYAEe3dq&ust=1592923033091000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAIQjRxqFwoTCLjSu_DSleoCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAD

They are very, very small, about 2mm.

[RedCatBlueCat]

I'd eat all that so long as the flour wasnt moving, and it smelt ok when I opened it.

[GrandAltogetherSo]

I used some sherry vinegar in cooking that was 12 years out of date. 🤷🏻‍♀️

[IncrediblySadToo]

I'd eat all of that except the flour. But I'm very fussy about flour, it goes in the freezer for 48 hours when I buy it, then it goes through a very very fine sieve before I use it.

Not sure how old the oldest thing ive eaten is...but well older than that, but can't beat @TheSandman 's 30 year old honey that's for sure!

[june2007]

Depends on what it is and how it is stored.

[nonetcurtains]

Flour mites are about the size of a spider mite, tiny things. You'll see them moving if you open the flour bag carefully, look in the folds of the paper bags at the top.
I once took a bag of flour back to Aldi and the manager looked at me and said - "they're only flour mites, they won't hurt you". Gee thanks but I want an exchange all the same!

[Geekster1963]

If it’s best before dates it’s generally safe to eat past it’s date for quite a while. Use by dates which are generally chilled foods like, milk, cheese etc can make you unwell. Though to be honest in both cases I go by how it looks and smells.

[MereDintofPandiculation]

it goes in the freezer for 48 hours when I buy it, then it goes through a very very fine sieve before I use it. That would seem like a good way of dealing with flour mites. Before I had a freezer I baked some flour and sieved the mites out. Didn't do much for the quality of the flour, but it was more use than it would have been in the compost heap.

[MereDintofPandiculation]

Use by dates which are generally chilled foods like, milk, cheese etc can make you unwell. I haven't found milk is a problem - once it's turned, I use it in scones.

It depends on both the foodstuff and the normal shelf life. A month past on something that has a shelf life of two years is clearly less problem than a month past something that had a "use by" of 2 days after it was produced.

[DeepfriedPizza]

I tend to eat anything out the cupboards months past their date but I’m a bit more wary of things kept in the fridge. I’d probably only give them a week’s grace.

[SchrodingersImmigrant]

I've eaten homemade chutney from 2008 few months ago😁

What do flour mites look like? It’s seeded flour so that might make it more complicated to spot them.
It's extra protein then😁

[MsVestibule]

An unopened packet of shrink wrapped bacon, about a year out of date. Still pink, still delicious.

Yogurt - ate one with a sell by date of September a few days ago, absolutely fine.

Pudding rice in the back of a cupboard - sell by date 2012, absolutely fine.

If it looks and smells OK, I eat it!!

[itsgettingweird]

Never had dried goods that long to know!

My rule with fresh food is it's fine until it's growing new food

[PlightOfTheConchords]

This is a relief. I’ve just had to throw out the contents of my freezer as it was accidentally left open overnight last week (and I didn’t have time to salvage anything at the time) so I’m rummaging to see if there’s things I can make with the dried goods.