To eat "out of date" food

[ReallyTired]

For most food if it passes the sniff test and tastes OK its generally OK. However I am wary of some foods being out of date like Chicken.

Am I unreasonable to ignore dates on supermaket food and eat slightly out of date food?

YANBU.
The sniff test/green fluff test is fine, as long as you cook stuff properly.

Supermarket dates have a huge margin if caution anyway.

YWBU to throw good food away.

YANBU, I always go by the sniff test. My family rigidly go by dates, but I work on the principle that if they don't know it won't hurt them. One day I'm going to break it to them that they've been eating out of date foods for years without getting so much as a stomach upset.

I only buy reduced food so am used to this.

Sniff it, look at it, usually fine.

I do this all the time.... Probably had good poisoning twice in 10 years.. Much more cautious with shellfish though...

Obviously I'm think twice in 10 years is not v that bad!

No of course you are not BU, you are being sensible!

YANBU - food doesn't know it has a best before date and bacteria don't clock on at midnight when the date stamp tell them to. Food wastage is one of the great shames of our society and reducing it wherever possible should be commonplace.

I am the queen of the yellow tickets. Buy reduced items, stuff in your freezer. When you defrost meat you can tell by the smell, look and how it feels (if you can bear to touch it!) I would rather chuck than face food poisioning, but the best before eats does have a margin of error.

I wondered how people managed before food come with dates.

It's taken me 11 years to teach DH the difference between use by, best before and display until dates on food.

I go by "use by" dates. Other people can eat what they want obviously but I would be extremely angry if I found out that someone had given me out of date food without telling me.

It would be wasteful to throw out perfectly good food. As my mum always said, there are starving kids in Africa don't you know!

I do remember adverts tho that stated it was a scientifically calculated date that shouldn't be ignored.

Green fluff and sniff test are perfect.

www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/nov/07/uk-households-food-waste

Whatever5 so you have an apple which is past it's use by date, I still feel fresh and when cut it still fresh..... You would really throw it away.

YANBU.

I buy reduced food and eat out of date things providing it looks and smells ok.

Food does not magically go off at midnight. Food waste is massive.

Whatever - you are being ridiculous, and wasteful.

Chicken,yes I'd be cautious. Other stuff I'd smell it,handle it.if ok..eat it

It is one of my greatest flaws that I am a 'use by' watcher. I was very militant about it in my early twenties, but had horrendous OCD/fear of contamination.

These days I do implore the sniff test/fluff - milk, cheese, yoghurt, butter, bread - quite happy to eat these past use by. I have to admit I am still cagey about meat and fish - but I hate preparing raw meat and am still very anxiety ridden about getting raw juices in my kitchen. I remember having to buy the Christmas turkey one year and unwrap it to put in my tiny, tiny fridge - I "contaminated" everywhere and had a panic attack

Non-perishables - pasta, rice, canned goods, sauces, grains, flour etc etc - not bothered at all.

I swear my Mum brought me and my brother up largely on out of date food - her fridge is a breeding ground for opened jam from 2001 etc. Still here though!

Well, YABU and YANBU.

There are two different kinds of dates: 'Use by' and 'Best Before'. 'Use by' is used on food that will be potentially illness-inducing following that date - you find it on perishables like dairy, meat, fresh produce etc. Foods with 'Use by' dates really shouldn't be eaten after that date. Therefore YABU eating or serving something beyond its 'Use by' date. If it's a 'Best Before' date, you're fine to eat it once it has expired as it's simply a measure of quality i.e. food will be at its 'best' before this date but will remain safe and edible for quite some time thereafter. You'll find 'best before' dates on dried and canned goods that do have a much longer shelf life anyway. In that case YANBU.

Knew I'd find some use out of that food hygiene course work sent me on

Oh and I am always eating fruit and veg OOD in this house.

YANBU.

I am generally fine with this for fresh foods or foods where I know how they go off. Veggies, fruit, cheese, bread, yogourt, milk etc etc all go off in predictable ways, so visual/sniff/small taste test is usually accurate.

I am less confident with complex processed foods.

Depends what food. Wouldn't eat meat, fish, eggs, cream, yogurt or milk if it was after the use by date no matter what it smells or looks like. That's personal preference. I would still eat other things for a few days after their use by and then throw them. For example, if our bread is dated till 6th July is I'd use it until the 8th and then it'd be thrown.

DP is date obsessed. Perfectly good things go in the bin on
their date. So if the bread has the 6th July as it's date he won't even eat it on the 6th. He'd bin it! Drives me mad.

I found a block of twelve Asda yogurts in my refrigerator once. They were 3 months out of date. They were delicious with a what shall I call it? mature taste in the same way that a fruit cake or a russet apple after a few weeks tastes 'mature'.

As if to prove that I practise what I preach, I am currently making cheese sauce with milk that was BBE 28th June - it looked and smelt fine, so I will report back tomorrow to let you know whether I survive the night...!

If it's this year it's fine unless it's furry or smells wrong, although I have a 5 year limit for canned food :)

My late PIL (not dead from food poisoning) would never use the fridge for mayonnaise, salad cream, jam, apple sauce etc. helping to clear up after lunch, I used to see that I had been eating condiments kept unrefrigerated for 6/12 when the label stated keep in the fridge after opening and use within 14 days. I was never ill!