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

[EllieMumsnet]

This activity is closed

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

to be honest , if it looks alright and smells ok I don't really go off the dates

End dates are a useful guide

I don't follow them at all. I think they're very conservative so food retails aren't sued if people fall sick but also so consumers throw out more and end up buying more! I follow my nose and how it looks and have always been ok.

I have a good sense of taste and smell and think it's fairly obvious if food is still good. I am most careful with pork and dairy but fruit and veg etc. I use my common sense rather than the date on a packet.

I think you have to use your common sense most of the time. If it smells bad it probably is. I have used things after their date because they are perfectly fine it is just a guide after all.

I’m very careful with meat but other things I use my eyes and nose - I hate waste x

I only buy to eat 'this week' never store foods even if on special offer.
I make a menu for the week - using food like fish, eggs, meat first followed by pasta etc., I ask the children to shop with me and make them aware to read the 'Date before' and contents ie sugar on the packets.

Yes, I take the use by dates very serious, meat and fish, but anything else i am very flexible and never mind trying.....

Unless it's dairy or meat I don't take much notice.. you know when something is off!

i tend to keep to use by dates because i dont think its worth the risk

I tend to always ignore 'best before' dates as it's just a rough guide...I pay more attention to 'use by'. I always ensure we cook whatever has the closest expiry date. I freeze anything that I don't think I will eat in time for its 'use by' date and everything else gets cooked if it needs to be cooked ASAP, which extends its life for another 3 days!

I use common sense when eating best before food. If it lokks and smells okay I use it. I often buy whoopsies and freeze for another day.

I ignore Best Before dates on tinned and jars, but packet stuff like biscuits/cakes tends to go stale or the taste changes a month or two past the best before, with use by dates, it depends on what it is really, chicken and pork doesn't last longer than a day generally past the use by, but beef, yogurts and milk, I can get longer than a day, I always see how it looks, smells and tastes before using, anything I can freeze will be frozen

I won't buy food if the 'best before' date has already gone but if I already have it, I certainly won't throw it away. I tend to stick to 'Use By' dates (although I have gone over my a day on some things!).

I think it all depends on the food product, if meat best before date is today I just put it in the freezer. Things like fruit and vegetables, bread and cheese I dont go by the best before date as it is obvious when they are going off with unpleasant smells and mould. I bought bread in the reduced section as it was out of date on that day about 3 days ago and it is still soft, fresh and no mould! Also cheese is fine after the date, just cut off the mouldy bits. My opinion is the date is a guideline, as long as it is stored correctly and cooked/washed well I dont see a problem :)

I know the difference between the two. Anything that is 'use by' I would tend to always bin.

When it comes to fruit, if it looks and smells and feels okay I would still eat it.

I wouldn't trust egg products past their date, including Mayonnaise. This also includes not using Mayonnaise that has been opened longer than recommended.

I would eat bread if it didn't have mould on it.

I would drink milk if it smelled okay.

I would use any vinegar-based products for ages such as pickled onions.

I wouldn't eat meat passed it's sell-by or use by date because I don't think you can tell if it is safe or not.

I pay no attention to best before dates, if it looks ok and it smells ok, its ok as far as I am concerned. Use by dates I use the same principle but I am more careful.

We have a separate freezer (sitting in the corner of our living room ), so the only things that tend to go out of date here are cupboard ones that don't get used very often, such as cooking spray/oils and baking ingredients. In general, I'll just keep using them. Of course would prefer to throw the sprays/oils out and replace, but feel anxious about disposal and effect on the environment, hence the Frylight having the use by date of about May 2016 . We do also freeze leftover stuff that most people probably wouldn't, such as bread, sandwich spreads and chilled mousses, but then we have the space to do so.

I pay zero attention to best before dates....they mean nothing. I stick very rigidly to use by though, especially now I'm expressing milk for my newborn!

As long as it hasn't gone green and fluffy, and smells okay, it's alright in my book!

Ignore them all (sounds rather cavalier I know) but instead rely on smell and overall appearance of my food as my folks did and granparents did. They both endured rationing and much tighter money constraints than I have ever had to endure, plus I have a freezer which means you can't go wrong. Don't like waste at the best of times and food water especially.

We don't have meat but I am very careful with fish and try to use it within a day or two of buying it. I don't allow fish to pass its use by date as I hate waste and will freeze it if I can't use it quickly. As far as veggies etc, I appreciate a best before but it's a guide only and we all need to trust our eyes and noses more in these cases. If veg have gone soft, I cook them down into bases to freeze to use in future in soups and sauces.

Use bys are important and planning carefully means you can stick within them without waste. Best befores are a guide only and a little common sense should be used with these if they passed; there is no need to throw such food out.

use them as a guide but trust my nose

Meal plan, shop online via delivery or click and collect so you don't end up adding stuff extra that will be wasted, use by I'd always do the smell check if it smells evenly remotely suspect it's going in the bin but I find most meats are fine for a couple of days after except chicken & fish, everything else it always checked and used even after dates if it smells, looks and tastes fine. Can't abide waste. Bread I bag up and freeze in slices of 4 for family that way it doesn't go stale before you can eat it all.

Most of these dates are guidelines... Follow the storage instructions, but most importantly use your nose, eyes and taste a little!