Mumsnet users talk Best before and Use by Dates with Sainsbury’s

[EllieMumsnet]

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The team at Sainsbury’s would love to hear your thoughts on Best before and Use by dates for food and drinks. Do you know the difference between Best before and Use by dates? And which dates, if any, are you most likely to ignore? What foods are you most likely to bin if they’ve gone beyond their Best before date? And, more importantly, how do you use up food that’s gone beyond its Best before date – please share with us your tips! What food storage ‘rules’ do you tend to follow? And finally, how do you ensure you don’t have to throw away food?

Sainsbury’s says “We know there’s often lots of confusion around Best before and Use by dates, as well as how food should be stored properly to avoid it going to waste. So we want to hear your tips and tricks to avoid food going in the bin unnecessarily.”

Add your comment, tips and views to this thread and you will be entered into a prize draw where one winner will get a £300 Sainsbury’s voucher.

Thanks and good luck
MNHQ

Standard Insight T and Cs apply

Well as I understand it best before is a guide and use by is more of an 'instruction' as food may then be off.

I ignore both. The meat and fish I buy here possible isn't from the supermarket and doeant have use by sticker on it. I use common sense. If im not going to use something for a while i will freeze it. Including milk and cheese.

That said I would throw things away if they were a year out of date!

I am always cautious with use by dates and plan to use things like meat as close to buying them as possible so that they don't get wasted. With best before I always judge by the look and smell. I often have fruit and veg that can be nearly a week over the best before date and it is fine (so as long as it's not pre prepared like a bag of lettuce or kale for example as these tend to go off quicker). I try not to buy ready meals but if I do I would definitely stick to the use by dates on those.

I know the difference, but I also know a lot of people don't. I think there's a lot of misconception around them too. I don't stick to the dates, I go by sight, smell and taste unless it's going to the baby or it's something dodgy like fresh meat or seafood. We hardly ever throw away food, our meat is usually frozen, and I check perishable items in the fridge each evening and if they're ending their life I will use the next morning/lunch/dinner time.

I pay very little attention to either best before or use by dates. If meat is coming up to its use by date and unlikely to get used I will probably freeze it, but will eat it, and feed it to my kids, a day or two over if it looks and smells fine. The amount of food that gets wasted because of misunderstanding of how these things work is shocking!

Cheese in particular - things like brie are usually barely ripe at their use by dates!

I'm careful with "Use By" dates - wouldn't use meat past it's date at all; might use a splash of expired milk in tea if it smells ok, but wouldn't use it on cereal. The "Use By" date is one of the things I check when I'm buying something.

I basically ignore "Best Before" completely, unless it indicates that the item is several years old, in which case it depends how much I want to eat it.

I go by smell and look rather than use by dates. With eggs I pop them in water to tell if they're ok. I often use stuff well past the best before/use by dates

I am fairly anal about checking dates when I shop & nearly always go with a shopping list so that I usually buy food for specific meals. I am fortunate that I am able to shop more than once a week & don't often buy fresh food in bulk, so neither the 'use by' nor the 'best before' dates are a big issue for us &, apart from peelings, we have very little food waste. I do, however, take more notice of 'use by' dates although I still use my common sense, nose & simple tests before I discard something - put a little milk into boiling water to see if it 'splits', check that eggs still sink in water, etc. I was always trained by my Mum (now 93) to keep cooked meat in the fridge for up to three days after cooking & I keep to this rule after roast dinners, for instance. Whenever we have a roast dinner, I always plan the 'leftover' meal as part of the week's meals & will buy a joint with this in mind; today we had a roast ham & so on Tuesday we will have a creamy ham, mustard & leek crumble.

We have had our usual 'leftovers' recipes during the Christmas holidays: Stilton soup, bubble & squeak, etc, etc. Leftover roast lamb makes the best shepherd's pie. Stale bread is great for croutons & bread & butter pudding, of course, but it's also great for adding to a leftover homemade tomato pasta sauce to bulk it up into a hearty tomato soup.

One of our biggest leftover successes this year was our Christmas pudding; it was one that we made last Christmas, had stayed wrapped up for a year & had its final steaming on Christmas Day this year - lovely & not a BBE date in sight!

My biggest difficulty with supermarket shopping is, as other posters have said, all the unnecessary packaging, along with all the wrappers, etc, that are identified as not being able to be recycled.

I make sure I use it before the Use Before Date, especially with fresh foods. As others have said, I do go by sight and smell too. Sometimes things look past it before they should be, and other times you can eke out a day or two!

Same with a lot of other posters, I know the difference and I'm slightly more cautious with use by dates especially with meat. But with most things, I go by look/smell and will use anything as long it seems OK. Never been ill yet...
I have a friend who throws everything out on best before date even if there's nothing wrong with it - such a ridiculous waste of food!

I generally tend to ignore best before dates on fruit and veg, and anything that genuinely starts to look droopy gets stuck in a casserole.

Fish I stick to religiously, as well as poultry and pork. Beef and lamb I tend to cook long and low if it’s a day out of date but I always check by smell first.

But this does go both ways: I’ve bought things from both Tesco and Sainsbury’s that were well within their best before dates and they had very, very obviously gone off. Obviously there has been a problem with the cold chain (I don’t do supermarket deliveries, prefer to go in to shops) but its only started happening in the last 18 months/2 years.

So I think common sense really is key here

• very obviously gone off when I come to cook them. I don’t purposely purchase anything that has gone off

Whenever I put leftovers in the fridge I write the date on them. I find I can never remember whether we had the sausages on Monday or Wednesday, for example, to know whether the food is still safe to eat.

Similarly, if I'm running out of time to use fresh meat, i write 'frozen on ' on the label, so that i know how quickly I have to use it once defrosted.

I often pick up food in the reduced section so they have a short best before date. With fruit and veg you can usually tell if it's gone off, and with meat I usually freeze it immediately so the date doesn't matter so much. We'll cut brown bits off fruit and veg and use them in smoothies or cakes. I've found that some products, like eggs, milk, yoghurt, margarine are all fine to be used after their use by date.

For best before dates I use common sense - inspect the food for smell and appearance, and texture. I don’t tend to adhere rigidly to use by dates. I do tend to rely on inspecting the food: does it smell at all odd, is it sliny to the touch, and has its colour or appearance changed. If I’m in any doubt, it goes into the food replying bin.

Tinned food is trickier but we only tend to buy tomatoes, baked beans and pulses in cans and they’re not around long enough to go over their dates.

I'm probably a terrible example, but I generally ignore them. If it smells okay and isn't slimey I will probably use it.

If it only has a 'best before' date I assume I can keep it forever.

On that note, yogurt will usually keep at least a month (maybe longer?) unopened, as will hard cheeses. If something says 'refrigerate for 4 weeks ' I take that to mean keep in the fridge and it will last forever.

Coincidentally I've never had food poisoning

Oh, and I'm off the opinion that tinned foods last indefinitely.

When shoppping in store I’ll always try and find the longest use by date.

I ignore best before dates

I eat and drink all foods except chicken at least a few days beyond their use by dates if they smell and look ok

Use by dates in milk and bread are ridiculous these days

It’s 7 Jan and we are drinking organic milk with a use by date of 29 Dec today and it is fine

Best before is used for foods where after this date the quality cannot be guaranteed. I will often disregard these.

Use by is for food safety on things like meat, milk, yoghurts, cheeses etc. I am less likely to ignore these although I may use some things like cheese when they are past their used by date.

With the exception of meat, we don't worry too much about use by dates. Eggs can be anything up to a month past the BB date in our fridge but always seem fine! As we live within walking distance to Sainsburys and never do a 'big shop' with the car, we only buy fresh food for the next 2-3 days' meals, so everything is bought for a specific meal and we don't have things going off unused in the fridge

I just think 'use by date' means I have to use it on that date not after, especially for meat or chicken or any food that goes off quickly. If I'm not ready to use the item I put in my freezer straight away. On the other hand 'best before date' just means it can still be used after the date but it may not be as fresh but still edible. For me it depends on the item. I will most definitely use an item that has gone past the 'best before date'. My storage tip is to freeze if possible, and for use by date cook immediately and store.

Meat or fish I freeze if not using before the use by date.

Everything else I just look at and see if it seems okay. Fruit and veg in particular are quite easy to see if they are okay. My husband is a bit more suspicious than me when it comes to certain things like yoghurts.

I mainly use common sense. If something is visibly not OK - very dry, mouldy or otherwise not looking/smelling like it should, I won't use it. I think most fruit/veg/eggs/meat lasts way longer than its dates if stored properly. I would sniff meat if past its date, though I would try to freeze before that if not going to be used. The only thing I'd bin regardless of appearance when past its date is fish. With eggs/meat, I'd just cook them and have egg sarnies for lunch for a few days or something. They will be OK for a few days more once cooked. Veg is fine until obviously not fine IYSWIM. Cheese and yoghurt seem to last longer than dates, too. I assume all these dates are worst case scenario so applying common sense to the actual appearance of the item seems to work. Never had food poisoning from anything past its date.

I always ask myself 'would I eat this in a zombie apocalypse?'- the answer is often yes

We don't really worry about best before dates, especially on fruit and veg, just judge by how it looks, smells etc. We buy lots of reduced food from the supermarket to freeze or to make soups and casseroles and have never been ill. We are a little more careful about use by dates but again rely more on how it looks/smells etc and often freeze or cook things if near to or just past their use by date.

I always chuck out stuff it has gone 2 days past use by, especially if it is fresh meat or yogurt. I ignore best before and just smell/feel them. Certain fruit, veg, cheese is better way after the best before!