Help - what to do with mince that goes off tomorrow

[nicecupofteaplease]

Tescos have surpassed themselves with their short sell by date meat and I am stuck with two lots of mince that has a use by date of tomorrow. It's not physically possible to eat that much meat in such a short time, what should I do with it? Freeze as is, or cook it first..? How long after I defrost will it be ok?

Help please!

Mince is trickier than other meat products because it's got so much available surface for bacteria to thrive on, unlike a piece of steak that may have some on it's surface but not inside. Which is why it's worse to have under cooked mince rather than undercooked steak.

And, yes, this all refers to supermarket mince rather than mince that you or your butcher has just put through the machine
and is fresh and from one piece of meat rather than lots of scraps. It only takes one bad piece to contaminate a bigger bunch.

Sell by dates on meat products are not there to nanny us, but to stop unscrupulous individuals selling you possibly poisonous crap.

My uncle is a food technologist who now consults on food health and safety. He mentioned once that best before dates tend to urge on the side of caution as companies often don't want to get sued.

There are some products that you can use common sense with and some like chicken when perhaps more caution is required.

Interestingly there are some tinned products which theoretically will never go off but can a best before date to comply with the law.

Best before is very different from use by though.

There was a programme on the tv once about a man who purposely lived on out of date food. Iirc he was fine for two weeks and then became ill.

Sometimes I wonder if it depends on your stomach. dh will happily drink out of date milk that would turn my stomach! he says he has a stronger constitution than me (years of living on his own eating heaven knows what)

That's the point really. You will probably be fine most of the time but there is a risk.