How rogue do you go with use by and BBE dates? (Title edited by MNHQ at request of OP.)

[soupyspoon]

Ive had some paneer in the fridge for a while. Ive thought now and then 'oh Ive got paneer in the fridge' and then time slips by, you know how it is. And the paneer is still there

So the other day I thought I will have that paneer and Ive been eating it, I fry it up and mix it in with other things. Ive had some more this morning. Its perfectly fine

However use by date I have just spotted is 27th Nov 23

I thought that cant be right. But perhaps it is?

Nothing wrong with it, tastes fine.

Hope you're OK.
Give us an update when you return from the loo !

I generally ignore BBE, & have recently eaten 13 year-old chocolate.
But UB I usually stick to, especially meat, fish & dairy, although I rely on the sniff test.

I am very cavalier with dates because I used to live in a very remote location which got fresh stuff delivered only once a month. If I hadn't been flexible I would have starved! Same with cans. If it passes the sniff test, the look test and the 'take a tiny bit off the end and have a lick' test then it's fine by me. My only exceptions are rice (but rarely eat that at home anyway) and milk. Cheese would have to literally be walking out of the door before I rejected it! Haven't died yet!

There is absolutely no chance I'd eat something nearly 2 years out of date, even if it was just best before. I stick to the dates-ish. I used to childmind so I had to do a yearly food safety course and have visits from food standards. Once you get in the habit of doing things 'by the book', it's hard to get out of it.
I will say I don't look at dates for veg ...I might go a day over for meat. I may take a risk with my own stuff only I eat - like yogurts.

If it looks & smells ok then we use it.

The other week we had a casserole sauce which was 2022 and this week a chilli sauce from 2023 (had a cupboard clean out, can you tell?).
Have also been clearing out the garage freezer where we had several loaves of bread that were a tad frost bound, used them for toast as they were a bit dry/hard.

I started eating it last week, I wonder if my brain is becoming addled and I do have some joint pain that has come on suddenly!!!

I wouldnt serve this to anyone else. My OH wont even eat things with the use by or BBE on the actual day, he wastes a lot of food. I cant stand it.

Oh I definitely don't waste food if I can help it. I am pretty organised with it. I meal plan and if it looks like something won't get eaten I freeze it.

Im still alive by the way. Had some more this morning, its really nice. Perhaps I have invented 24 month matured paneer.