Ask the readers–are you vigilant with used by dates?
Generally speaking, my philosophy is that if it looks good, if it smells good, if it tastes good, then it probably is good to eat, despite what the date might say on the packet.
My caveat to this is that I’m a lot more finicky and particular about the food I eat while pregnant. Apart from avoiding the usual no-nos, to my pregnant nose ALL meat smells off, regardless of whether it is or it isn’t, or whether it is well in date. This makes it harder to trust the senses I normally rely on.
I am also more particular about the food the little fella eats, my reasoning being that his digestive system isn’t as well developed as ours and I would prefer that he didn’t get sick.
Despite being less than absolutely strict with used-by dates, I have never had food poisoning from home (I’ve had it twice, once from eating in restaurants, once from KFC). We defrost meat on the bench (my dad used to hang it on the clothes line in the sun!). We store the butter in the pantry in winter. Last time I cleaned out the pantry I found Worcestershire sauce that had a best before date of 2006. We were still eating it (not very often obviously). It was fine, but I erred on the side of caution with that one and tossed it anyway.
So over to you: what is your policy on used-by and best before dates? Are you strict with dates, or do you trust your sense of smell and taste? What are your tricks for using food before it expires?
SAVE MONEY AND TIME ON THE GROCERIES
I will use milk to make buttermilk biscuits after it’s exp date. I buy meat from the grocery store on it’s last date and stick it in the freezer. You can get some good deals that way. Bread that has gone stale can be used to make bread crumbs and keep in the freezer, or toast to make croutons or use to add to meatloaf. Bread added to meat loaf stretches it and makes meatloaf moist because it holds the grease from the meat. Vegetables that are about to get old can be cut up and cooked in water or chicken broth to make a vegetable/chicken stock and can be stored in the freezer.
Agree about the meat bargains, we do that too. Do you do anything to sour the milk further to make buttermilk? Lots of great tips here!
For some reason I get food poising really easily so I never use anything past it’s use by date even a day lol or if smell off or looks bad I won’t eat it.
And KFC is horrible hey every time I eat without fail I get sick so now I only eat there chips.
DH often gets ill on KFC even if we eat exactly the same thing, but I’ve also had a couple of misadventures. Why I even eat it at all is a mystery (although we haven’t eaten it in a very long time)…
I check “use by” dates and follow them for fresh foods and dried mixes. I don’t pay too much attention to canned and frozen foods. I pulled out a couple of steaks and a turkey breast not long ago that had dates of 2009. They tasted fine.
Nancy, I think you’re gamer than me on the steaks. But just goes to show if it’s been frozen well, then it should be ok.
I cheat. I get my husband to taste it. If he says its OK, I will happily use it, no matter the use by date. Wasting food is a major crime in my home so it can be used, it will be.
LOL, good idea, it’s like having a tester for poison
I don’t think my hubby can tell, though.
I cleaned out my pantry cupboard a few months ago and found some spices in a packet about 10 years past their use by date. Obviously I was not cooking with them
My kids like to remind me they found a bottle of mustard in the fridge that was about 5 years out of date. It wasn’t being used but had just been left there sitting on the door taking up space. Unfortunately we all have those bottle and jars used once for a recipe and then left sitting alone in the fridge to mature.
I usually try to turn over things in the fridge on a regular basis, throw out anything suspect and cook up any veges looking a bit tired. I decant yogurt nearing it’s use by date into a glass or ceramic container as I think the plastic tubs add to ageing process. I freeze grated cheezes such as mozzarella in plastic packs as can be used straight from the freezer and we never use leftover food more than three days old as it’s not worth getting sick over. The cost to you and your family’s heath as well as medical expenses are not very frugal just for the sake of last week’s dinner leftovers. Sayin that, I rarely have leftovers and when I do they always taste great for lunch the next day.
Your comment about plastic tubs aging the yoghurt is really interesting, I’ll have to try it. I agree, not frugal to eat off food and then get sick! But you sound like you’ve got a few tricks to avoid the waste anyway.
Reasobaly vigilant. Frankly being sick for a couple of days is just not worth saving a dollar or two. Having to deal with sick children is definately not worth it. Certainly the doctors bills and any assocaited gastrolite is way more expensive than the savings.
For us though, throwing things is not 100% waste. It either goes to the chooks or to the dog depending on what it is.
I had a battle with MIL when she was over (the woman is frugal to the point of madness) over a few slices of bread. She woudl not let me throw it to the chooks, even though it had been frozen, then defrosted, then sat in the heat for 1 too many days. Anyway she ended up very sick, which for someone getting over chemo, is not something she needed to be doing.
Again, I agree – another example of the difference between being cheap and being frugal – not worth getting sick over. We aren’t as vigilant as others, but definitely in our house it’s a case of ‘if in doubt, throw it out.’ I’m sorry to hear about your MIL, hope she is getting better with the chemo and all.
I agree with the leftovers being thrown out after 3 days, and that’s if they were fresh when you made them. I put a little bit of masking tape on the container with the date written on it to help me remember. Anything frozen gets thrown out after 3 days once it’s defrosted, no matter what the use by date was when you first put it in the freezer. Nothing wrong with giving the leftovers to the chooks or dogs, they need to eat too. Though Cats and Dogs are lactose intolerant. I love finding things on “special “then seeing what I can make out of them.
The only thing I’m super careful with is Chicken. After food poisoning from a Roast Chook from a chain supermarket a few years ago, I recently got the courage to buy one for the first time since. But couldn’t bring myself to save the leftovers or eat the stuffing. So the dog had a lovely Roast for tea also. We have cows on a farm so eat our own meat, and a few months ago I found a Roast in the bottom of the freezer that was from the previous beast so it might be a few years old, plastic ripped and freezer burn in one spot, other than that it still “looked ok” I just used the slow cooker. No one could tell. Slow cooker meals are tasty and they are frugal, except I wont put Chicken in mine….lol. Oh and the other thing I’m big on is not using Crockery with cracks or chips in them. These porous spots just soak up all the bacteria and nasties that can make you sick. In my workplace once a coffee cup has a chip/crack in it, we are not allowed to have it there. They make us throw it out or take it home.
I also think that everyone is different. A few years ago my MIL sat the Christmas Turkey on the bench covered with a tea-towel for hours after Christmas dinner. I felt sick every time I just looked at it. I made excuses to not eat any of it over the next few days, but all of my in-laws ate it including DH and NONE of them got sick. I couldn’t believe it!! I put it down to them all growing up on a farm playing outside building up their immune system.
I can’t eat a certain brand of chocolates because I got sick after eating them (a virus, nothing to do with the chocolates). It’s funny how our minds can work. Love your tip re the masking tape!
Hmmm I’m a bit dodgy. I really never check the used by date, and am a pretty sad case when it comes to pouring curdled milk in my coffee.
My wife however is another story, she was recently pregnant too and had the same deal with meat as you did Mellisa, and I was of no help to her, as my general rule is “If I can see that it’s green (Im colourblind BTW) then I wont eat it”
However with the little one growing I have expressed my desire to make sure he eats slightly off things. I have an absolutely cast iron stomach and believe it was from my youth of eating moldy bread, curdled milk and sout tomato sauce. I believe a resistance can be built up but you do have to be careful.
I have had food poisoning twice, once from a mushroom I got from a vendor at a street stall in italy (no fault of mine) and another from defrosting bacon that had been in the freezer for three years and I defrosted it in the summer sun, then cooked it on a george forman that hadnt been washed in a month sooo yeah… that one I was kinda asking for it.
But I am known as the ‘garbage disposer’ in my extendded family, along with my dad, and will eat anything and everything, just as long as I cut off the mold.
LOL.
I used to have an iron stomach too, but I got a bit sensitive after pregnancy.
We are queens of the expired at my house. Milk lasts at least a week beyond its expiry, I once ate yoghurt FOUR months past it’s best before, it was fine, BTW, tasted like I had bought it yesty (it had been forgotten in the fridge and was still sealed!!). It makes me mad when people throw out stuff that “expired” yesterday as if it magically goes off on that exact date and time printed on the bottle.
So you might ask, has anything happened since you started this? Yep. Nothing. That’s right, absolutely nothing. No upset belly, no vomiting, no trips to the loo, nothing. I did throw out some mouldy bread last week though, it didn’t even get to be dog food, it was well and truly beyond it! Damn humid summer…
Yes, in summer we keep bread and potatoes in the fridge because of the humidity. When we first moved to QLD, I did what we did in Sydney and bought a 3 kg of spuds and put them in the cupboard (not in plastic). They turned to black sludge that stank in just a couple of days. I had never seen anything like it.