For potentially poisoning my family with my utter incompetence...

[PoorMissDior]

How in gods name does anyone remember when to throw out opened ketchup, jam, mayonnaise, pesto etc etc

Once opened these items need to be used within 6 weeks or 12 weeks or some other defined time period.

I was vaguely aware of this but it's just occurred to me that I have a fridge full of condiments and absolutely no goddamn idea how long they've been open for. Could be weeks, could be months, could be years. Who the hell knows.

How does anyone monitor this? Do you all have calendar alerts set up? sophisticated spreadsheets? beautifully written little time stamped labels?

AIBU for not having the faintest idea what is going on in my kitchen?

what's the view on pickled herring?

Dh is a food hoarder. he bought pickled herring years ago (the best before is 8 years ago) but since then became vegetarian. But he will not let me throw them out as it is a 'waste'.

I was going to rinse off the brine and feed them to the seagulls.

Ketchup lasts kinda forever, it's basically a preservative

I get twitchy with mayo though

I never throw condiments; things like ketchup etc get used pretty quickly here but I'm sure I'm still using mint sauce that was opened a year ago and I'm still fine
As long as there's no mould and it smells fine, I wouldn't worry. I find pesto gets a mould cap relatively quickly so end up chucking it as I find it!

@PurplebakedDinosaur

what's the view on pickled herring?

Dh is a food hoarder. he bought pickled herring years ago (the best before is 8 years ago) but since then became vegetarian. But he will not let me throw them out as it is a 'waste'.

I was going to rinse off the brine and feed them to the seagulls.

only if you really really hate the seagulls

There are 'Best before' dates and 'Use by' dates. 'Best before' says use by that date for it to be at it's best but its fine after although its quality might decrease. 'Use by' gives you a date when it's not safe to eat afterwards although even I still use my nose and senses to check and make my own decision. Most condiments have best before dates on them!

Pesto is a dairy product so treat it like the cheese it is. Mayo, just buy small pots? Ketchup...it’s a preserve just use till it yucky/finished.
If you are going to sharpie dates on, keep the sharpie in the door of the fridge. If you are putting away meat always look at use by and put in date order left to right, then you just look at what’s there and start from the left like reading.

Theoretically the herring should be fine if kept as suggested unopened. That's why it has just best before date, not use by date.

Pesto is a dairy product so treat it like the cheese it is

It's not a dairy product and its not a cheese. It contains a small amount of cheese, but thats not the same thing.

I write the date I opened it in sharpie on the lid or bottle then I know how long it’s been opened.

Pesto is a dairy product so treat it like the cheese it is.
I have 3+ months old parmesan in a fridge. Pesto would never last that long so can't treat it that way.
Also, stilton is the best about 1.5 months after use by date🙈 Just since cheese is mentioned.

@lurker101

I taste it first if we don’t use it often I.e. HP or ketchup taste some on the end of a knife before ruining my dinner - if it’s fizzy it goes in the bin.

If there’s a small bit of mould on jam or butter and it’s localised I remove the offending area and taste the remaining product and 99.9% of the time it’s fine

Exactly this, cut mould off cheese and eat... If it tastes ok then DON'T throw it out. Pretty sure it's all a ruse to throw away great food and buy more.

Things like ketchup and mustard used to live be in the cupboard until they were finished so I don’t worry too much about them. Pesto is different. I buy Tiptree jam and it keeps really well without going mouldy.

I also just go on mould/smell and have never had food poisoning. We never get through a jar of jam without it going mouldy

No, I love the seagulls! (They have names. and successive generations nest on our roof).

I thought they eat fish (check) and have something in their bodies that excrete excess salt so should be able to cope wtih pickled herring that is rinsed.

That was the thinking anyway. :)

(Plus I need to reduce some of the larder stock. But whenevr I do DH gets all panicky and buys more.... ).

Freezing pesto is genius.

Yes dates on cheese irritate me. Brie style cheeses aren't usually even ripe on the best before date, cheddars and stilton type cheeses have sat in a damp cave for months, if not years prior to reaching the supermarket, so that makes the date a little irrelevant it would seem.

Yogurt and cream last a week or two after the date too.

The only incompetence OP would be if you are blindly throwing away perfectly good food in accordance with a conservatively defined date without using your eyes and nose to decide whether or not it's still good to eat.

@HappySonHappyMum

There are 'Best before' dates and 'Use by' dates. 'Best before' says use by that date for it to be at it's best but its fine after although its quality might decrease. 'Use by' gives you a date when it's not safe to eat afterwards although even I still use my nose and senses to check and make my own decision. Most condiments have best before dates on them!

Best before and use by are different to each other but they are also different to the ‘use within x amount of time after opening.’ So ketchup may say best before 10/22 but once opened you’re meant to use it within x amount of weeks.

These threads usually end up with a competition of who worries the least about these things, lots of tales of ‘eating 53 year old jam and I’m fine.’ Only for someone else to have to outdo that person by eating 54 year old jam. Anyone that sticks to dates and guidelines is accused of single handedly ruining the planet by being wasteful.

I was almost divorced last week as I threw away a chutney which was 14 months out of date which DH was still eating
His mate bought him another jar for his birthday to go with his birthday pork pie

Also eggs can be eaten months after their use by date. Think my record is 6 months after. Tasted fine just had less cohesion :D

I have a sniff at everything in the fridge on the day before the bin men come.
Mustard, ketchup and jam don't live in my fridge though - so sometimes I have had to throw out the jam as it's grown it's own veg!

Brie style cheeses aren't usually even ripe on the best before date

Never. I basically buy cheese I plan to eat in a month or two. And I deliberately, unlike with anything else, pick the closes use by date when buying them😁

@PurplebakedDinosaur

No, I love the seagulls! (They have names. and successive generations nest on our roof).

I thought they eat fish (check) and have something in their bodies that excrete excess salt so should be able to cope wtih pickled herring that is rinsed.

That was the thinking anyway. :)

(Plus I need to reduce some of the larder stock. But whenevr I do DH gets all panicky and buys more.... ).

Freezing pesto is genius.

Ah, I assumed it was open in the fridge. Unopened in larder, probably OK for gulls - at their own risk!

I found apples in my fridge today that had a BBE date of September - in totally perfect condition, as if just picked off the tree. I think they must have been irradiated, but they hadn't been waxed (like some of those strange green apples).

Just make my own, fresh, as required.

I never go by best before dates or eat within 3 days or whatever. I trust my nose and the tip of my tongue more. I never get sick

Our ketchup often lives on the table or worktop rather than the fridge and we haven't died yet. I check for mould rather than going by the amount of time it's been opened.

Oh FGS this is the snowflake generation.

I am old enough to know when nothing had a use or sell by date on it- ever.

You use your eyes and nose.

I have never ever, ever, found mayo or ketchup with mould as they have preservatives in.

Jam- just scrape off the mouldy layer.