Should we? Planning roast chicken tonight but just noticed use-by date is 1st May

[BosomsByTheSea]

Wasn't a cheap one, either . Am rubbish with remembering how quickly meat goes off as am vegetarian. Have in-laws and DH to 'test it' tonight before my 8 month old tries it.

It looks and smells OK. What do you think?

Don't.

If it smells OK I would. Chicken smells horrible when it's off.

Good lord oc course you can. It wil lbe fine. Nuts to waste a posh chicken for no reason.

Trust your smell. You'd know about it if a chicken was off. Sell by dates are so early, I'm sure just to protect retailers.

If it looks and smells ok then use it!!!!!

The chicken doesn't know what the date is.

i agree give it good sniff and trust yourself. if its off you will def be able to tell from the smell

OK, I have a very sensitive sense of smell. I will have a really good sniff before I go ahead. Probably won't give it to DS though. Many thanks for your help.

I wouldn't use it!

If it was off you would smell it.

Other than that, if you cook it properly any bacteria on it will die anyway.

Please don't waste perfectly good food just because of a date stamped on it to protect the retailers.

at "the chicken doesn't know what date it is"

Poor chicken doesn't know anything anymore. Don't want it to be wasted.

I would smell it - an off chicken definitely smells off.

If it's not off it will be fine for your DS.

Seriously.

Rinse it under the tap, confirm your sniff, chuck it oven, cook properly, eat & enjoy.

Thank you all.

It'll be fine to give to ds so long as it's cooked through. Honestly.

Don't rinse it BTW - it serves no purpose and can spread bacteria around the sink area if the water splashes off.

Rinsing uncooked meat is a strange idea.
If there are any 'germs' then the heat will kill them. The only thing water will do is distribute them aronud your kitchen.#
Meat laso cooks better when dry.

(Rinse, pat dry..etc etc)

Chicken is one of the biggest sources of food poisening we have.

If it smells ok then use it. What would you do if you'd bought it from a farm or the butchers and there was no date on it? You'd have to trust your own senses then.

But you would assume it was safe to eat.

I would never risk it with chicken or fish.

My Sil used to work for M&S and the staff could buy stuff going out of date because they were overly cautious. The rule of thumb for the staff was you could eat it up to 3 days after the date!

I found some chicken lurking at the back of the fridge today use by 30 April. Thought I'd give it a go. Opened the pack and took a deep inhalation.

Boak Buckbuck.Bin.

You know when its off.

They ate it. No ill effects.

The Bosoms family live on to fight another day.