Best before dates of raw food vs cooked leftovers

[tenbob]

Please settle an argument for me!

Do you factor in how close you are to the Best Before date of raw food when working out how long you can keep cooked leftovers for?

eg you have two pieces of chicken.
One goes out of date tomorrow and the other goes out of date in 5 days time
If you cook both pieces today, would you treat them differently as cooked meat, or does the ‘use by’ clock reset once the meat is cooked..?

No once it's cooked it's reset.

Clock resets upon cooking.

No, if you thoroughly cook it you will have killed any bacteria that were there. Also, cool quickly before refrigeration and, if reheating, make sure you do that thoroughly as well.

I agree with PPs, and will add that the same can apply for freezing. If you freeze raw meat you can't refreeze it raw, but you can cook it and freeze again.

Once its cooked I would give the cooked food a new use by date. So even if the raw food went out of date today then cooking it gives a few extra days for eating it

Use by date refers to uncooked food. Once the food is cooked it resets.

Thanks! Argument settled in my favour 🙌

It’s the small wins…