Best by and use by dates: toss it or use it?

[surge]

There you are, about to put the finishing touches on a masterpiece of a taco salad... all there is left to do is hit it with a couple dollops of sour cream. Finally, there it is! On the back of the second shelf of the fridge, behind the grapes and leftover mashed potatoes... got it! But wait! The "use by" date was last Tuesday! Standing between you and perhaps the best taco salad ever is this niggling little date stamp. Such an arbitrary thing! So, a quick sniff and a squint to make sure everything looks and smells kosher, and you decide your salad topper is safe to consume! The meal is saved and democracy lives on for at least one more day! Birds sing, and the sun shines!

So how do you treat those "best by" and "use by" dates that we see stamped on our foods? Do you automatically toss any unused portion when that date arrives, or do you subject it to the smell test and, if it passes, finish it off? Does it depend on the product?

I adhere more closely to the "use by" date, but even with that I tend to let my nose and eyes be my guide more than the date is. Mostly I try to make sure things are used before the dates come into play, but there are some things, like sour cream and milk, that we use only occasionally and they are likely to be out of date before being used up.

 

[Debi]

I'm one of the purists.....if it says not after, not eating it. I realize that some things are supposed to be OK up to 3 days after the sell by date, but I just can't do it! lol

This probably comes from my mother feeling the dates meant nothing. If the bottle wasn't empty yet, it was still OK, in her opinion. She had salad dressings open in the fridge for 5 or 6 months and went by the "sell by" dates. I tried explaining for years to her that once the bottle is opened, you can't go by the sell by date. Whenever we went to visit, I actually brought my own salad dressing with me to avoid the food poisoning that usually resulted from eating something from her fridge! After she passed, we cleared out 22 cans of tuna that were in her cupboard that had expired 5 years prior. I'm sure she considered them safe to eat.

 

[sal]

those dates are more of a guide.My father used to own a meat wholesaler and i would work with him on Saturdays. My job in the morning after the trailers were unloaded was to take alcohol and wipe the dates stamped on the packaged cold cuts. He used to buy them by the trailer,sold like hotcakes Same thing with canned goods. If the packaging is undisturbed, they will last almost indefinitely. That is totally legal too. NY state law says you cannot sell items after the use by date.........but if it doesn't have a date......

 

[Debi]

those dates are more of a guide.My father used to own a meat wholesaler and i would work with him on Saturdays. My job in the morning after the trailers were unloaded was to take alcohol and wipe the dates stamped on the packaged cold cuts. He used to buy them by the trailer,sold like hotcakes Same thing with canned goods. If the packaging is undisturbed, they will last almost indefinitely. That is totally legal too. NY state law says you cannot sell items after the use by date.........but if it doesn't have a date......

 

[Seahunter]

I tried explaining for years to her that once the bottle is opened, you can't go by the sell by date.

This is what I can't get people to understand. It has a sell by date, but once the seal has been broken, the clock is now ticking. So, where say lunch meat may have a far-off date, the minute you open it, meats are only good for about three days ideally. Finally I see some products that have the sell by date, then if you read the label is says something like once opened, consume within x number of days - those items I like.

As for the expiration, depending on what it is, I have some leniency. One reason is I keep my refrigerator fairly cold, which I feel makes some things last longer. I do tend to trust my eyes and nose for some things. I try not to buy items that I think I won't use before they go bad. If it is a big package or whatever, I may give some to a family member or freeze it. Canned goods I don't dispose of immediately upon expiration, but after too many months it goes bye-bye.

If in doubt, I definitely err on the side of caution. I have had too many "creatures" living in me over the years to mess around. I've had campylobacteriosis here which lasted almost a month, and some unknown amoebas living in me in South America. One of my worst cases of food poisoning was from chicken in Florida one time, which landed me in the hospital it was so bad! So yeah, I'm pretty careful with dates.

 

[surge]

those dates are more of a guide.My father used to own a meat wholesaler and i would work with him on Saturdays. My job in the morning after the trailers were unloaded was to take alcohol and wipe the dates stamped on the packaged cold cuts. He used to buy them by the trailer,sold like hotcakes Same thing with canned goods. If the packaging is undisturbed, they will last almost indefinitely. That is totally legal too. NY state law says you cannot sell items after the use by date.........but if it doesn't have a date......

I've heard that canned foods are generally good as long as the can is undamaged, but I think there would be a limit to that too. For cold cuts I would be a little more wary of what the date stamp says, because the date is only accurate if the meat has been properly refrigerated. Even so, you can generally tell by smell if it's gone off. Generally, we split cold cuts into portions when we open the package and freeze about half, because we don't eat sandwiches often.

 

[surge]

This is what I can't get people to understand. It has a sell by date, but once the seal has been broken, the clock is now ticking. So, where say lunch meat may have a far-off date, the minute you open it, meats are only good for about three days ideally. Finally I see some products that have the sell by date, then if you read the label is says something like once opened, consume within x number of days - those items I like.

As for the expiration, depending on what it is, I have some leniency. One reason is I keep my refrigerator fairly cold, which I feel makes some things last longer. I do tend to trust my eyes and nose for some things. I try not to buy items that I think I won't use before they go bad. If it is a big package or whatever, I may give some to a family member or freeze it. Canned goods I don't dispose of immediately upon expiration, but after too many months it goes bye-bye.

If in doubt, I definitely err on the side of caution. I have had too many "creatures" living in me over the years to mess around. I've had campylobacteriosis here which lasted almost a month, and some unknown amoebas living in me in South America. One of my worst cases of food poisoning was from chicken in Florida one time, which landed me in the hospital it was so bad! So yeah, I'm pretty careful with dates.

Sounds like you've had more than your share of food-related illness, Roy! I've never had food poisoning and hopefully never will. Some of those bugs are just downright mean and nasty!

I think you and I follow the same basic guidelines, I'll keep canned goods for a few months after the date, but I try not to let them get to that point. Once a year we rotate out our emergency stock so it doesn't sit there and get too old.

 

[Seahunter]

Sounds like you've had more than your share of food-related illness, Roy! I've never had food poisoning and hopefully never will. Some of those bugs are just downright mean and nasty!

I think you and I follow the same basic guidelines, I'll keep canned goods for a few months after the date, but I try not to let them get to that point. Once a year we rotate out our emergency stock so it doesn't sit there and get too old.

Yes, food poisoning is absolutely miserable, and something you don't forget. When I got released from the hospital in Florida, I had to fly back to the west coast and that was the longest, most miserable flight ever. The campylobacteriosis was serious enough that I was contacted by the county to try and figure out when and where my exposure may have been so they could track it. The South American incident was one of the worst. I had flown to the coast for a break from school, and got the food poisoning. I was completely out of it, but finally managed to get myself to a pharmacy, and luckily you don't need those pesky prescriptions down there. I was still pretty rusty with my Spanish, but I got the point across and got some heavy duty drugs to kill the critters and treat some of the symptoms.

 

[surge]

...and luckily you don't need those pesky prescriptions down there.

Is that the entire continent or just some countries? I know you don't need scripts in Peru, but am unaware of the laws in other countries.

 

[Debi]

I've had severe food poisoning once....from a Thanksgiving turkey, no less. (No, I didn't cook it! lol) It was fairly easy to diagnose, as first one child started with it, then the next, then the next, then the hubs. I was running around caring for everyone for about 10 hours before I went down with it. It took longer to hit me as I don't eat a lot of meat to begin with. My boys were 4,8, and 12 at the time and it was just awful! When an entire family succumbs right after a Thanksgiving meal, you know you have a problem!

And Roy, that must have been awful!!! Especially being in another country and becoming that ill!