Ham use within 2 days ?

[timeforanewstart]

Silly question but have Ham opened saturday lunchtime and on back of packed says use in 2 days once open ?
So does that include saturday so should use by sunday or sunday/ monday the two days ?

I’d use it but if in doubt, cook it.

If in doubt smell it if it looks and smells ok it is fine.

Jesus Christ.

It’s fine unless you store it on top of a radiator. It’ll be fine probably till next week.

I'd eat it today as the last day

I'm not getting at you op, but I see so many of these sort of posts about food. When did people lose the ability to think for themselves, and use their eyes and nose to assess foods' edibility? If it is still ham coloured and smells like ham, and if you have stored it correctly in the fridge, it will be fine to eat.

It’s so annoying. As if ham goes off in two days. It used to be three days but now two. Ridiculous and it must cause so much food waste. We need to be able to use our noses!

I would use it if it was within its use by date. We never finish ham within 2 or 3 days. If its smelly or slimy I'd throw it away

To answer your question, Monday would be the date they suggest from opening (on Saturday).

I'd probably eat it two weeks past the use by date if it smelled alright. I regularly eat fresh soup that's a month out of date and it hasn't killed me yet.

Remember the ham isn't self-aware; it doesn't know it was supposed to have been eaten by 3.14pm on Monday.

@costa200 thanks thats what i was trying to figure out

@delatron im sure it used to be 3 says as well at least , mind you i noticed cheese said 7 days - chedder cheese as well im sure that never used to be the case either

Yes @timeforanewstart I’ve noticed that about cheese too. It’s so wasteful.

I’m cautious about raw meat so chicken I’d probably stick to use by. What did people used to do before all these use by dates?! Used their common sense most likely.

But seriously nobody throws things away unless there is sign/smell of decay surely?

I always ignore that and go by the use by date. If it’s within date and it looks and smells fine it’s good to eat. A pack will last about 5-6 days in our house.

I would use within the use buy date printed on it. I wouldn't throw away within 2-3 days of opening if it still looks and smells ok. I have cut white mould off cheese before using as the rest was ok

@wizzbangfizz

But seriously nobody throws things away unless there is sign/smell of decay surely?

Nope, there are people out there who throw away perfectly good food because the label says a particular date on it - I know someone who would throw out raw, unprocessed veg because the pack had a date on it (and many supermarkets have now taken ‘use by’ dates off veggies) even if the food was perfectly fine. Likewise I know someone who would keep rancid food because it hadn’t reached the ‘use by’ date!! In our house we use the sniff/look tests - does it smell fine? does it have a slightly slimy feel to it? does it have discoloured areas (a greenish tint)? If the answers to any of these is yes then in the bin it goes!!

@Reedwarbler

I'm not getting at you op, but I see so many of these sort of posts about food. When did people lose the ability to think for themselves, and use their eyes and nose to assess foods' edibility? If it is still ham coloured and smells like ham, and if you have stored it correctly in the fridge, it will be fine to eat.

if it looks like ham, smells like ham, it's probably ham

@Reedwarbler

I'm not getting at you op, but I see so many of these sort of posts about food. When did people lose the ability to think for themselves, and use their eyes and nose to assess foods' edibility? If it is still ham coloured and smells like ham, and if you have stored it correctly in the fridge, it will be fine to eat.

^^ This. It's almost as if people have forgotten that ham is meat that's been preserved to make it last longer.

Likewise for cheese, pickles, jams etc.

As long as it’s used within the use by date then when it’s opened is surely irrelevant. If it looks or smells rank chuck it otherwise it’s fine. Things didn’t used to have so many dates but we’re all still here. I never understood how anyone can use a huge pack of ham in just 2 days. Who eats that much of the stuff.

It doesn't even need to be in the use by date, we've used it a couple of days after and it's fine, I don't know how long it would actually last.

The OP didn't say anything about the pack being 'huge', some of them are tiny, with barely enough to make sandwiches for one person.

I only look at the dates when buying food so I can find the freshest items. Then I ignore for the most part! I know when food is off, I don't need an automatic date generator to tell me.
Does the ham suddenly become inedible at the stroke of midnight 2 days later? No!
I always notice houmus says eat within 2 days of opening. It gets eaten until it's all gone or has started to go 'fizzy.'
Use your common sense - if it looks and smells ok, it's ok.

Why do people seem to lose their common sense? It's not that long ago when food didn't have dates stamped in it, and if you buy from a local butcher or greengrocer there is no date stamped on things. Just use your common sense.

There is so much wastage of food, our local town now runs a "food share scheme", we collect from the supermarkets and offer the food free to anyone who needs/wants it ... it's such a great system yet people get very suspicious and won't take the food if it is a day past it's date - good - all the more for me .

We often have ham open for longer than two days. So long as it looks and smells ok and is within date it should be fine... think of all the salt in it!

Nooooo sliced cooked meat is classed as a high risk food
Not because it poses a high risk in itself but because it is at high risk of contamination

If it is contaminated with spoilage bacteria it will go slimy and smell but other food poisoning bacteria can't be smelt seen or tasted.

Yes I will eat yoghurt a week ( or two ) after use by but not after opening iyswim

The longer the total date the longer I will give it but try my best to avoid the real nasties - listeria can be evil

Irrelevant as this isn’t even out of date!