DO YOU USE FOOD AFTER THE SELL BY DATE HAS EXPIRED?

[JoolsToo]

I wouldn't advocate using on kids but ....

me and dh do - all the time - and we're not dead yet

I do too.

But remember a "best before" date is just that - it's OK after, but might not taste as nice. "Use by" dates are only guidelines anyway (says dp. as are speed limits apparently)

and what does he say about the petrol gauge in the car then SP?

Depends what it is- veg etc then yes if it looks ok but not meat.

Yes, unless it is meat which seems to expire before the use by date often.

I do, its only guidance to cover the sellers.

SP - that's what we say - its only a rough guide - but I have friends who chuck things the minute the deadline is up

if its meat from local asda then never!! they told me i should freeze fresh meat evn if i was planning on using it b4 the expiry date. (their meat always goes off).

if it looks, smells ok, then yeah. but not atm as am pregnant. would never eat anything way way past its date.
never had food poisening yet.

I have tomato sauce in my fridge best before June 2004 and we are still usingit. I reckon the preservatives are good enough. Am I mad?

Depends on what it is - fish, prawns, meat - probably not.

Remember the days before Best Before and Sell By dates? How ever did we cope...?

Tomato ketchup would be fine (it's a BB not a UB isn't it?)

can any of you beat this - dd was round working at our house today - so she didn't get interrupted by the kids! - and she rang me at work to say she's been looking for something to eat and come across some packet sauces - there's a cheese one (1996) a mint gravy (1999) and a couple of others for 2001 - I'll probably chuck the cheese one but the others should be ok !

Use the senses of smell and sight to tell me if things are ok to use. Agree about the meat from Asda though - often have to return it!!

I probably have some tins of sardines as old as that....we've moved house with them!

Dp is cooking gammon that is 5 days out of date as i type. I wouldn't touch it though.

Oh I don't! We use mostly fresh stuff anyway, so tend not to have a lot of packaged food. I don't end up actually throwing much out, I just don't keep large stocks of food in cupboards, and make sure I use it.

I would never use anything that goes in the fridge after a BB date.

Try to trust smell more than anything. Boyfriend woudl eat ANYTHING. I've got some pesto from Morrison with a BBD of 2034 - that's more worrying I think

I do, except if I fail to hide the use by date from dp. We don't have meat, so that's not an issue, but yoghurts & eggs are regularly out of date!

we do it. I loved the fact that last Christmas i bought some posh cheese that had been matured for a year (or somthing daft) that had a best before date of about a week later. Gammon/bacon should be fine - it's preserved (or meant to be anyway). I trust my smell and appearance. that should be the food's smell and appearance shouldn't it?

Yes, i always go by the best before date though..

I regularly buy fruit - such as mangoes and avocados which is reduced because of it's sell buy date, which I then have to keep for a week for it to ripen!

Never ever ever..no with my knowledge anyway, I have tried, but half way through cooking it I think I really cant eat that and find something else thats in date!
I think I did manage it once with some pancake mix though!

Fish, meat, dairy, no. Everything else I use the common sense I learnt from before we had little dates to guide us. So, sometimes, yes.

Until recently, my Mum had a tub of choc sauce in her cupboard which still had the pricelabel on...19 1/2p!!

blimey - even I can't match that!!

DP cleared out our cupboards recently and firmly chucked out the fish sauce with a use-by date of 2000.