Do you throw away food after its 'Best Before Date'?

[Mia at Just Food & Life]

Do you think it's safe to eat food after the 'Best Before Date' on the package? I usually keep dry goods like flour for another 6 months to 1 year and wet foods such as BBQ sauce for a few months to reduce food waste. Any thoughts?

 

[Kathleen]

I do not discard after the best before date without a reason. Best before does not mean expired after that date!

 

[Sir_Loin_of_Beef]

Best by, use by, and expiration dates are only there because they are mandated by the government. They don't mean a thing 'cause they ain't got that swing. Do wop, do wop, do wop, do wop, dawow!

I don't throw anything away unless it stinks or there is something fuzzy growing on it. Eggs, for example, are good for at least 9 weeks after the best by date on the carton. Milk is usually good for at least 4 days after the expiration date. After that you can still cook with it. Yes it's sour, but not dangerous. You use sour cream, don't you?

Canned goods never spoil unless the seal has been compromised, that's why they put them in fallout shelters. Frozen foods are also pretty much good forever as long as the package remains air tight.

Even leftovers in sealed containers will last more than the usually stated "3 days in the refrigerator and 3 months in the freezer". Like I said, unless it stinks or has fuzzy stuff growing on it...

Now stand by for all those paraniod members who disagree with me.

 

[bethzaring]

It is safe to eat foods after their best buy date, but the quality can suffer. I don't use any flour after the best buy date because I'm picky about the quality of the ingredients I use. A lot of the foods I use, I produce at home and consequently don't have best buy dates. I was forever changed after I took courses of food safety and sanitation. I do a lot of canning and am scrupulous about keeping things clean and tidy. I have eaten canned goods, high acid foods like applesauce, up to 8 years after canned. I consider each individual food item to determine if I keep it or toss it. I routinely examine sell by/use by dates of my foodstuffs and other stuff. I remember my late mother-in-law offering me a skin antibiotic cream, that had expired 40 years previous. I am afraid I was not kind to her! LOL

 

[dragnlaw]

Best by, use by, and expiration dates are only there because they are mandated by the government. They don't mean a thing 'cause they ain't got that swing. Do wop, do wop, do wop, do wop, dawow!

I don't throw anything away unless it stinks or there is something fuzzy growing on it. Eggs, for example, are good for at least 9 weeks after the best by date on the carton. Milk is usually good for at least 4 days after the expiration date. After that you can still cook with it. Yes it's sour, but not dangerous. You use sour cream, don't you?

Canned goods never spoil unless the seal has been compromised, that's why they put them in fallout shelters. Frozen foods are also pretty much good forever as long as the package remains air tight.

Even leftovers in sealed containers will last more than the usually stated "3 days in the refrigerator and 3 months in the freezer". Like I said, unless it stinks or has fuzzy stuff growing on it...

Ditto

offering me a skin antibiotic cream, that had expired 40 years previous.

One exception I make is for medication products. Not talking about prescriptions here but over the counter (aka OTC) things like that antibiotic cream or even simple aspirin. Those things can and do lose potency over time. But you have no real way of telling. Aspirin can sometimes get a vinegary smell to it.
So I may use a cream for about a month after the date - but for sure I'll throw it when I see 6 months after!

 

[HeyItsSara]

yes and no. toothpaste that has expired can still be used to clean with. that kind of thing.

 

[dcSaute]

the US government does not have anything like/akin/resembling an "expired" date EXCEPT for one, and only one, product: baby formula.

a "sell by" date implies the product will be kept / stored after purchase for some amount of time.

a "use by" or "best by" date is established by the product maker/selling and implies the time when the product is still at peak quality. read again: quality, not safety.

to note: the "sell by" and "use/best by" dates on shell eggs is regulated by USDA.
"sell by" = 30 days after packing, "use/best by" 42 days after packing.
to note 2.0: the dates are "after packing" - not "after laid by the chicken"

the inability of people to think leads to people throwing away giga-trillion tons of perfectly good food stuffs every year. there's a move on to force some kind of 'standardization' for the terms used.

is it a valid concern? well, pick up a box of coarse salt. this are sodium chloride crystals that were formed/deposited several million years ago, in the bed of a now 'extinct' sea.
it has a use by date about a year out . . . one shall be coerced to think that the salt, having quietly resided in its salt layer for several million years . . . will "expire" next year? anybody buying that concept?

 

[dcSaute]

It is safe to eat foods after their best buy date, but the quality can suffer. I don't use any flour after the best buy date because I'm picky about the quality of the ingredients I use. A lot of the foods I use, I produce at home and consequently don't have best buy dates. I was forever changed after I took courses of food safety and sanitation. I do a lot of canning and am scrupulous about keeping things clean and tidy. I have eaten canned goods, high acid foods like applesauce, up to 8 years after canned. I consider each individual food item to determine if I keep it or toss it. I routinely examine sell by/use by dates of my foodstuffs and other stuff. I remember my late mother-in-law offering me a skin antibiotic cream, that had expired 40 years previous. I am afraid I was not kind to her! LOL

I have a bag of yeast in the chest freezer, and a jar of yeast in the fridge freezer.
when the jar is empty, I refill it from the bag in the chest freezer, which expired 5 years ago....

people who dig in really old places have found yeast spores in Egyptian tombs dating back 3,000+years. they gave the yeast spores to "scientists" who 'resurrected' and multiplied the yeast spores , , , and made real authentic Egyptian beer using that yeast. adjudged as 'really terrible beer' - but since there was no expiration date on the jar, they used it anyway.

 

[Steve Kroll]

the US government does not have anything like/akin/resembling an "expired" date EXCEPT for one, and only one, product: baby formula.

a "sell by" date implies the product will be kept / stored after purchase for some amount of time.

a "use by" or "best by" date is established by the product maker/selling and implies the time when the product is still at peak quality. read again: quality, not safety.

to note: the "sell by" and "use/best by" dates on shell eggs is regulated by USDA.
"sell by" = 30 days after packing, "use/best by" 42 days after packing.
to note 2.0: the dates are "after packing" - not "after laid by the chicken"

the inability of people to think leads to people throwing away giga-trillion tons of perfectly good food stuffs every year. there's a move on to force some kind of 'standardization' for the terms used.

is it a valid concern? well, pick up a box of coarse salt. this are sodium chloride crystals that were formed/deposited several million years ago, in the bed of a now 'extinct' sea.
it has a use by date about a year out . . . one shall be coerced to think that the salt, having quietly resided in its salt layer for several million years . . . will "expire" next year? anybody buying that concept?

I was just going to chime in, but dcSaute beat me to it with the correct answer. My dad was in the grocery business for many years and this is pretty much the way he explained it, too.

 

[Aunt Bea]

I use my own judgment with everything but baking powder.

 

[dragnlaw]

I've covered up my expired date with a tattoo.

I agree with the above... if people cannot understand the words "best before" "sell by" "expired" etc... then why don't you ask the store manager before you buy?

 

[jennyema]

It depends on what it is.

 

[Badjak]

I bought about 7 bottles of vinegar as they were close to their sell by date...
Now vinegar is a preservative, so it won't expire. And I happily used them all.
I'm generally not worried about expiry/sell by and other dates

 

[dragnlaw]

LOL, speaking of vinegar - I have:
- a couple of jugs of 10% for cleaning, with some in a squirt bottle.
- a jug of 7% used for pickling/preserving.
- a bottle of 5% for table/cooking use.
- a small bottle of Apple cider vinegar.
- a small bottle of Malt vinegar. (fish'n chips)
- Red Wine vinegar.
- White Wine vinegar.
- Rice Wine vinegar.
I think that's all but not sure.
Most are several years old, especially since I moved.

and some Balsamic Vinegar!

 

[pepperhead212]

What...no sherry wine vinegar???
I saw dates on a few bottles of my vinegars, but I always figured that's the sellers trying to get people to dump them, just because they had "expired".
I still have some 20% acetic acid (bought 4 gallons of them in '18 or '19), that I use in the garden, mainly as an herbicide. No "use by" dates on those!

Some things, besides vinegar, I keep forever, or at least until all used up. FI, I have a jar of Chinese salted black beans (i.e. soy beans) in my fridge, that I've had for at least 10 years. The first time I got these, back in the early 80s (this was before I got my house, and was living with my parents, and, because of the smell they give off in the initial cooking, Dad sad he'd throw me out of the house if I ever cooked anything with those again! I waited until I set up my kitchen to use them again, but I learned, early on, that even though they won't "spoil", due to the salt, after about a year, they will get smelling very funky, so ever since then, I refrigerated the jar of beans, and they last until used up. Shrimp paste is another thing like that, and fish sauce - things that won't "spoil" at room temp, but will get an even funkier taste to them, if not used relatively quickly, so mine go in the fridge, where they will keep until used up.

And some things that will loose their flavors relatively quickly are many powdered spices and herbs. Powdered ones of some I keep out about as much as I will use in 2 or 3 months, and the rest in vacuum sealed bags, or grind another batch, when needed. And I always put a date on them - a piece of painter's tape, that I cross out the last date, and put in the new, as refilled. This way, I don't actually throw much out, only putting as much as think I will use with these things, or with things I very rarely use, keep them in the vacuum bags, and a few in the freezer.

 

[Andy M.]

You have to suspect the best by dates. The maximum bb date is two years away. Thu pm me you put a bb date on water and salt for example and they’ve both been around forever even before you bought them.

 

[caseydog]

Don't we have this discussion on a regular basis?

CD

 

[dcSaute]

LOL, speaking of vinegar - I have:
- a couple of jugs of 10% for cleaning, with some in a squirt bottle.
- a jug of 7% used for pickling/preserving.
- a bottle of 5% for table/cooking use.
- a small bottle of Apple cider vinegar.
- a small bottle of Malt vinegar. (fish'n chips)
- Red Wine vinegar.
- White Wine vinegar.
- Rice Wine vinegar.
I think that's all but not sure.
Most are several years old, especially since I moved.

and some Balsamic Vinegar!

oh, 15 year aged balsamic vinegar . . . with a best by date 18 months out . . .
. . . after salt expiration and dried pasta use by . . .
one of my favs.

 

[msmofet]

Best buy dates are for greedy companies that want you to get scared and throw stuff away even if it's still good and buy new. JMHO

 

[dragnlaw]

Always good to bring up a subject like this again. Wes gots ta edjumacate the young'uns.

yeah, salt and dried pasta, LOL.

One thing about water though, plastic bottles- heat of car, etc. Or even the large water jugs - stored in sunlight - things can grow. Keep them in a cool dark place!s
A visitor once asked me why I was washing the water jug I kept in the fridge - "after all, it's just water" Well after a couple of refills go and slide your finger around inside - it is slimy! Don't see it but you can certainly feel it!

Afraid I get a little upset when I hear someone throwing something out because it was out of date.

Once had a box of the famous Kraft Mac'n Cheese, back when it was still called that. Up at the cottage, my son was going to chuck it out - what are you doing!?!? It should be fine, don't care if it's 5 years old. Well, of course the pasta was fine, but the packet of cheese was scary - had a good laugh on that one!