Thats the worst, Ive brought chicken and stuffing sliced meat before in a pk from sainsburys i opened it that night and it stank to high heaven, it had another 3days on it but i binned it.

I wouldn't, but then I have no reason to. I can go buy fresh stuff anytime.

i said was it slimy and petrolly looking

I always ignore Display Until date as that is for shop staff, I go by Best Before which is really a quality date after which if it isn't as good you cannot take it back and then Use By. Use By is the one to watch especially with Fresh Meats and Seafood , though of course the look and smell test is as important as I have had meat I have chucked before the Use By date as it has had a dodgy smell, but then yesterday I finished off a container of milk that was 5 days past it's Use By date as it smelled and tasted absolutely fine. A lot of it is just down to common sense.

But I get driven mad by people like my Aunt who I am convinced stands by her cupboards to wait for midnight and then throws anything out that has a Best Before date of that day.

Can anyone else judge whether or not a plastic bottle of milk has turned by the motion of the milk in the bottle? I'm not sure whether this is a widespread ability or a superpower that only I possess.

I can't be doing with people like that, it's shocking how much food gets wasted and thrown away in British households in just a week. It's disgraceful really that we have become such a throwaway wasteful society, We'll regret it one day.

You can tell I think, milk that has gone off tends to be a bit thicker so you can see from the way it moves .

Yep, if it's moving, it's definetly off. Bin it before it attacks! I tend to realise the milk's off when adding it to my coffee.. if it forms lumps, it's had it.

But like others have said, smell test usually works, or bulging tins. Basics like pasta and rice can last pretty much forever as long as they're kept dry though.

Of course. Semi skimmed milk can also be frozen after being decanted into smaller containers.

Was making a pork stew the other week. Instead of putting in a vegetable stock cube dissolved in water as described in the recipe, I decided to use a carton of apple juice that was 2 years past it's best before date as pork & apple is a good combination. Tasted the juice on it's own at first and it was fine, and the stew was well nice.

Well, if it was shellfish poisoning, they may be lucky to be still with us.

If there is one food that might be off, past its sell by date that you shouldn't eat, it is shellfish, unless you want a pain journey to hell or even death.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paraly...fish_poisoning

Honey will last forever as it's full of preservatives

I have not been to the end of this thread but I imagine 1988 might take the biscuit as the oldest food item .

I ate one of my grandad's ration packs from the 2nd World War the other day.

Absolutely fine.

Shell fish.
It was our neighbours 71st birthday and he had taken some of us out to a local hotel for a birthday meal.
I ordered a shell fish starter which looked and tasted lovely.
Three days later my food poisoning started.
Never been so ill in my life.
The doctors contacted the Department of Health and I was sent loads of forms to fill in asking what I had had to eat and where for the last 7 days.
The results were that it was the prawns in the shell fish starter.
We never told our neighbour he would have been devasted.

We use the 'see'n'sniff' method at home. My cleaner is obsessed however - even throwing out salt that was out of date. Salt.

How did I know. King hell, you dodged a bullet there. IMO the only safe place to buy shellfish/crustaceans is from a supermarket, not a restaurant/hotel, market stall or even a fishmonger. The toxins in gone off shellfish/crustaceans can be deadly, not like eating a bit of moldy bread/cheese or fruit. You might as well take a teaspoon of Paraquat (Gramoxone) and see what happens. Put it this way, the end result wont be good.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paraquat#Toxicity

I don't think it's down to having dates on foods, it's more likely to be because people buy too much food these days by supermarket when in years gone buy they would go down the butcher every 3/4 days then the fishmonger when they needed etc - now people fill a trolley and by the end of the week half of its gone off.

If it passes the sniff test, I'll eat it.

Same here but I wouldn’t do it with flesh of any kind because of nasty bacteria but I’m vegetarian so that’s not an issue for me.

As for canned stuff if it hasn’t blown it’s almost certainly edible.

My mum has cans of stuff over 10 years old and she regular eats them and she’s 87 and very healthy !

I regularly consume unopened yoghurts that have been kept in the fridge that are two weeks past their use by date and they’re fine. Infact I prefer them, they get slightly thicker and creamier.

I'm surprised time and again how much food gets binned just because of the date.

Me personally, raw meat and fish I might risk a day or two after Use by date, as long as it looks and smells fine. Absolutely everything else purely judged on smell and/or taste.

Milk and cream simply sniff then try a little bit then use normally, I've often had cream last a week longer than the Use by date. Fruit and veg is just blindingly obvious. And alcohol probably can last forever depending on %age of alcohol, i drank a 6mth out of date cider can last week as it smelt and tasted exactly as new.

Never been tempted to try Corona (the name is forever associated in my mind with a lorry that came round selling fizzy pop back in the 1960s!), but in the specific case of beer I wouldn't worry if it's in a bottle. Indeed, I don't believe I've ever looked at the "Best Before" date before opening a bottle (I did once when one came out cloudy and rather too vinegary to drink - it was about 5 years past its BB date)

The only thing I'm strict about is fish.

Chicken - I use my eyes and nose, it's usually okay 2 or 3 days after the sell-by-date. Never had a problem yet. Even if something were wrong with it, I tend to overcook it so it wouldn't be a problem.

I always remember that documentary a few years ago with the man eating only out-of-date food. The only person to get ill was his wife, who wouldn't participate and ate a takeaway instead I remember he cooked 2-week-old chicken. Cooked it well of course

It's perfectly safe to eat most out of date produce.

One item in my fridge that keeps incredibly well long after the actual best before date is Activia yoghurts. I bought a large multipack of 16 from Costco in February, they have the 3rd March on them and as of tonight are in perfectly edible condition and taste, having been kept chilled at the correct temperature.

Also I have a cauliflower from Sainsbury's with a date of 13th March on it. It remains in perfect condition. Throw it away? I wouldn't be so wasteful. It's as good as the day it was bought.

I also have a red cabbage that was bought in Christmas week. It has a date of 29th December on it. The item wasn't even unwrapped until February when I cut off a section for a meal. It was fine. It is still fine, having been wrapped up and chilled each time. I must admit I am surprised by the red cabbage, but it tastes perfect and looks fine too.

I drank a bottle of Smirnoff Ice that had accidentally been forgotten about and rotated by date wrongly in the cupboard before being chilled in the fridge prior to drinking last week. It had a date of January 2015 on the neck. It tasted no different to a brand new one.

Dates on many things can be safely ignored but it's common sense. Onions are another item that can easily go a couple of months past best by date and be totally fine, even if they just sprout a little at the top.

Alcohol is an antiseptic in strong concentrations, so a bottle of spirits is unlikely to go off any time soon.

=

Rice is one food that shouldn't be stored for any great length of time once it is cooked, unless you want to have to be near the bog for a day or two. Not a problem for me, as I don't like rice in general. Just stodge most of the time.

http://www.nhs.uk/chq/Pages/can-rehe...?CategoryID=51

It also has a lot of health benefits, e.g. for skin conditions.

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/ar...its-honey.aspx