To use this meat? (Or not?)

[PickyEaters]

I thought i'd discovered a lovely surprise while cleaning out the fridge this morning when I found a packet of two fillet steaks forgotten at the back!

Trouble is… the use by date is 18th November…

Would you?

The other problem is that I wouldn't actually be able to eat them until Saturday, although I could cook them today.

They are from Sainsbury's, if that makes any difference to your answer, and in a shrink-sealed plastic package.

Yabu - don't use
Yanbu - sniff and use

I might cook and eat today but I wouldn't then keep them for another 3 days.

I would check them, if they're OK chuck them in the freezer then defrost overnight Friday in the fridge. But have a backup tea ready just incase!

As long as the package is airtight and they look OK I'd freeze them and defrost before you need them. Sniff before cooking.

my dad regularly goes over date on steaks, usually by a few weeks!

The shrink wrapped ones are good for about a month after use by ime

So I'd just keep until and cook on Saturday

Meat has usually been hanging for weeks in the abbatoir before it gets anywhere near the supermarket shelves.....so long as its stored correctly I would just sniff and cook.

I don't eat meat much, and hardly ever cook it, so probably not entitled to an opinion, but don't you pay more for beef that is aged for 28 days or something?

No way to know without sniffing them.

You will know immediately

If it isn't green it's probably fine. Even if it's a bit brown, I'd still probably cook it.

But it hasn't been hanging around in plastic.

It's different to it being stored wet in a packet though. But my butcher will shrink wrap stuff for you and just says use your judgement but he said he's kept them for a month+. Steak can smell pretty strong when you leave it for a while and still be fine to eat. The type of smell is important though, actually off smells different to aged or ripe

The stuff you buy in supermarkets if it says 28 days on it they're normally hung for 14 and stored in the packet for 14 days to hit the "28 day aged"

Pretty cheeky but suggests the lifespan of the steaks in the packets is huge

I'd freeze it now

Thanks all! It did smell 'sour' so I erred on the side of cauiton. (We had fish fingers instead!)

Give them the sniff test!