I must say I'm very cautious when it comes to certain over date food. But then I have a heart problem and the last thing I need is a nasty bout of food poisoning.

That doesn't mean I throw much away. I mostly make sure I eat food within date. I'm particularly cautious with all meats, fish, eggs. I tend to be less bothered about over date veg, fruit, bread etc.

PS people tend to think food poisoning means a dickie tummy for a few days. It can be much worse than that. My partner got food poisoning from mayonnaise supplied by caterers at a party. She was ill for about four months.

PS2 I read recently that even well cooked chicken and similar that has gone off can still be dangerous. Cooking kills bacteria but doesn't destroy the toxins that build up in food kept too long.

We're the same, very wary of meat and fish, even more so if it us uncooked, but that is true whether it is in date or not!!

As for other food, as others have said, it is all about common sense.


This is why so much perfectly edible food gets thrown away in this country.

I have yet to find any food that was perfectly edible at 23:29 on its 'use by' date go completely inedible at 00:01 the following day.

No manufacturer is going to set a 'use by' date that risks their product going off before that date is reached so they set a date days, even weeks, earlier to ensure that isn't the case.

There is a lot of research going on to see what natural "preservatives" are in honey as it is a complete mystery, because of of their potential benefits for other produce.

But the 'best before' date on honey is the one I've always thought of as particularly daft.

If it smells OK and looks OK then yes. I had some mince last week that was two days over and it was fine. You can clearly tell when things like fruit and veg go off too just from looking at them.

Food doesn't have a sense of time and suddenly get to midnight on a certain date and turn bad. Seriously, at what point would you throw something out? Would you eat something at 23:30 and then throw it away half an hour later at 00:01?

Obviously not Corona but some beers will actually benefit from ageing. Last year I was actually served a beer in a Michelin starred restaurant that was past the "use by" date on the bottle by a considerable time. The beer had been cellared and aged and benefited from that.

I once had to stop my mother eating a pack of sausages that had inflated to the point where the pack was rock hard, in fact I was worried that it might explode on the way to the bin.

Eggs are easy. Ignore any dates on them, just place them in a bowl of water deep enough to cover them. If they float – bin them.

Also, an uncracked egg spins slowly when it is uncooked, but spin fast when they have been cooked, as in boiled eggs.

Whilst retailers cannot sell food past it's use By Date that does not mean the milk , yoghurt, cheese, slice of ham in your fridge miraculously goes off at midnight, what should people do sit by the fridge door so they can chuck it all at midnight in case someone uses it in the morning

Whilst great care should be taken with food after it's Use By date so should common sense, and a Use By Date does not mean a food is even ok until then, it should be but your sight and smell may tell you otherwise. Care and Common Sense is the way to proceed.

I buy stacks of bargain foods that are sold on - the last day - with that particular date stamped on them
I will only throw things out on the very rarest of occasions
only if it does not pass the sniff n sight test
If salad items are starting to look in need of eating
I will add them to soups or stir fry creations

I am lucky because the main things that I may need to throw out
on the odd occasion tend to be :-
Some lettuce or some carrots
or the odd cucumber or tomato or a banana that has soft / or gone off

Many foods are perfectly fine - long after the BARGAIN date of purchase
I just aim to eat the foods as quickly as possible and - in the ** best order **

I store things like yoghurts and tubs of cottage cheese etc UPSIDE DOWN in the fridge
and they always keep for MONTHS

Much is promptly put in the freezer >>>>> if I have space
the rest is put in the fridge or the veg and fruit baskets etc
or tinned and packets in the various cupboards
and STACKS of assorted breads in the bread boxes etc etc
as do the many blocks of cheeses keep well for months
All tinned and bottled items last for ages !!!!!!!!!
Boxed cakes are the same ---- they are perfectly fine stored in the unopened boxes
or re bagged and put in the freezer in individual portion size packs

Because the packaging takes up far too much space
I will often ***** re bag things ****** that go in the freezer
into smaller portions - that will squeeze in to any little spaces

I often need to find a bit more space after every Massive trolley of Bargains
I get every time I go shopping

Please be careful with the yougurts and cottage cheese.
You have been lucky so far.
The last thing you want is proper food poisoning not just an upset tummy and the trots for a couple of days.
I speak as someone who has had proper food poisoning and believe me it is the very last thing you want.

They just stick dates on to sell more food. If it smells funny or looks odd it goes in the bin.

Any dairy produce like milk and yoghurt definitely should be treated with caution. There's no chance I would eat a yoghurt past its date, it goes directly into the bin. And with regards to milk, I have poured more litres of milk down the drain over the years even with 2 or 3 days to go simply because I wasn't happy after the smell test.

I realise some may say that's a waste of good food etc, etc.... but it's better to err on the side of caution especially wihen it comes to dairy and meat produce.

Yoghurt is fine after the date.

A lot of dairy is fine, especially cheese.

My question when I am looking at the "Still Fresh" reduced items counter is always: What can be frozen?
In other words: Which of the "not suitable for freezing" messages are about texture (which may be compromised post thaw) and which of those messages are about safety?

I am quite happy to consume milk which has been frozen and find that the taste is fine and have not noticed any Separation. When 4 pints of Milk is selling for £1 (I think 6 pints was £1.20 in Morrisons ) I am guessing that lots of people are now freezing milk.

Please don't attempt to freeze Greek Yoghurt. I will not be trying that again.

I ate some vacuum packed beef the other day that was 4 months out of date (and had been marinating for about 4 days after opening). I've also eaten red meat several weeks out of date that wasn't vacuum packed with no appreciable deterioration in taste. If, on the other hand, it was chicken or fish, I wouldn't eat it more than a few days out of date; it would be rancid. The only times I've had food poisoning before have been on holiday when eating out or drinking tap water.

It's a bit of both. There are people who do buy too much but then go shopping the next week and do the same regular shop and so throw the food remaining from last week in the bin and replace it with the fresher stuff, even though there's nothing wrong with the older stuff.
But also there are those who are slaves to the dates. They just see a date and if it's past that date then it goes in the bin.


I've watched a few documentaries on this topic and was shaking my head at the attitude and ignorance of the people and the money they were wasting, as well as the food they are wasting which has a wide ranging effect for producers, supermarkets, people who are in need of food such as the homeless, even the environment.

I never even look at best before/use by dates if it smells or looks off it goes in the bin otherwise I tuck in. Never had a problem and I have a sensitive digestive system thanks to IBS, lactose and gluten intolerance's.

Thanks Maddie
I will take care - I have been lucky
but I have only had actual food poisoning twice - in Sydney
and twice since then in the UK
Within half an hour of eating @McDonalds in Super Hot Muggy Sydney
Both times The big macs did have what tasted like mildly rancid mayo -
That fortnight - I bought them on 2 of my meal breaks at the same branch @Wynyard -
Half an hour later - I was actually back driving on my second half of my shift driving the big blue and white Buses - and - I absolutely found out what food poisoning was
No way could I continue to drive my buses - after the awful severe symptoms began
I had several unmistakable and awful symptoms - on both occasions -

I have always eaten unopened plain yoghurt past it's sell by date. After all it is a fermented product anyway. I would only not eat it if it had mould on.

As to the poster who was ill after eating an old packet of cooked chicken. I would balk at eating vacuum packed cold chicken even if it was in date.

I'm a bit of a tramp when it comes to fishing about on the reduced section of a supermarket.

I've had all sorts hanging about in the fridge for a few days after their snarf by date, all still ok to eat.

The only thing I steer clear of is chicken; I bought a reduced whole chicken in our local supermarket for pennies, thinking 'I'll bung that in the oven, dinner for us and the cat'

I got home, turned the oven on, opened the wrapping and the smell of death made me gag.

The store is only a couple of miles away, so I took it back (it probably cost more in fuel and my time, than I paid for the thing, but sometimes I get a bee in my bonnet)

The assistant was not overly happy about a stinky chicken sitting on her counter, but I tried to get across the point that a few hours earlier they would have sold that at full price; food doesn't go off in a few hours.

I'm a big believer in the 'look and sniff test'; if it doesn't look or smell how you expect, ditch it.

But equally manufacturers and retailers want to cover their bums, so much stuff that is edible ends up in the bins.

Found a big bar of Galaxy today, with a best before date of October 2015, still tastes yummy

Yoghurt is safe to eat well after any use-by date as long as it doesn't have mould on it.

Of course it does, chocolate doesn't really go off.

Particularly dark chocolate, I've eaten a bar of 70% cocoa lindt that was nearly 2 years after the BBD and it tasted just the same as it would have done before the date.

Milk hardly ever gets used before its date in my house. The milk in my fridge right now has a date 27th April on it. It's absolutely fine. I find it lasts longer if it has been opened. Unopened and the (plastic) bottle bloats and invariably goes off just after the date.

I also have a punnet of sugar drop tomatoes that have a date of 30th April. Again, absolutely fine.

Yes, regularly, at least half of my shopping is discounted products. There are great savings to be had.

There was something on TV the other day testing various products that tell you to consume within so many days of opening. Most of the products showed no more bacteria in them 5 days after being opened than they did when actually opened, in fact orange juice which tells you to consume it within 3 days had less later than it did on being opened.


I used milk with the same date 27th April this morning for my coffee, tastes fine, you can tell if something is ok by the look, smell and taste of it.