Grocery Use-By Dates

johnq · Guru

Grocery Use-By Dates

Happywanderer · The Master

Wouldn't worry me johnq, depending on what it was of course.
Where I live we get a bread and food drop every Monday night from St Vinnies. It has been arranged by one of the other residents, gets delivered to her unit and she shares it out.
I rarely have to buy bread or veges, maybe just a few to give me variety. The drop varies from week to week and we never know what we will get till it arrives. I never turn any down and if its something I can't eat I pass it on to another resident.
Have just finished a 1 litre of goats milk which was very nice. And have a 1 litre of rice milk to try next.
Some things are on the due date, if it doesn't taste right I will throw it out. But rarely have to do that.

Rip and Rosie · Guru

There is a difference between "Use by" and "best before"

Best before = I use it if I think it still looks fine

Use by = I use it within a few days if it looks okay (specially diary food). If I have frozen it (like bread or meat) I take no notice of the date. I guess the only thing I really respect the use by date for is medication.

Ma · Guru

johnq wrote:
Lighthouse was mentioned previously as a source of cheap groceries. In Brisbane I sometimes get meat not so far from there (Patons Big Gun) so I called in to Lighthouse today.
While it is true that the Lighthouse groceries were cheap for their basic range of products, when stocking my shelves back home I noticed some had expired "Use By" dates.
Many of us come from a time when we used canned goods and so on provided there was no tell-tale signs of spoilage and wouldn't be fazed by use-by dates - although my children cull mercilessly where a product is even a day over.
What do others think, particularly anyone with any relevant expertise?

It's like most things John, common sense. Seems the world is lacking in this commodity of late.

We are all still alive and we didn't have "use by dates" or "best by dates" when we were growing up.

Sheba · Guru

A lot of food is still safe to eat for quite a long while after their use-by date. Those dates are put on just to cover the manufacturers, and, I sometimes think, to keep you buying before it's really necessary.

And I believe they're only Recommended dates aren't they ? Please correct me if I'm wrong here.

A bit like the planned obselence these days of Cars, and Appliances. Remember the "old" days when things were built to last ?

Just use your commonsense, and you shouldn't have a problem. If it looks good and smells OK, see what you think. If in doubt, throw it out.

Cheers,

Sheba.

Happywanderer · The Master

My bread goes straight in the freezer anyway where ever I get it from, I got fruit buns last week, half in freezer. They last forever.
I did get yoghurt one day I had to throw out. Dairy would be the product to be wary of.

jules47 · The Happy Helper

Yes - my bread is usually in the freezer - being on your own, you just don't use enough of it, as for cans etc., as long as they don't have obvious damage they are usually ok I have found - frozen foods have to be watched - if there is any "ballooning" of the packaging - leave it alone, usually means it has been thawed and refrozen.
So the answer is to choose carefully at these places - we had a NQR (Not Quite Right) store in Frankston, and a lot of their stuff was over runs - and the prices were amazing - they had a brand of coffee I loved half the price of local supermarket - so I bought about 2 doz jars - and in Shepparton there is an SPC outlet - buy a box full of stuff and save heaps - always good bargains there.

animalcarer · Senior Member

Johnq very relevant question.

WHO World Health Organisation Head Office Geneva has a paper out on this very

question, but it is probably about 50,000 pages worth of reading. Phew.

So really as all the other price cruncher brigade have said, its all commonsense,

food that I am personally dodgy about are eggs, chicken cold meats, blown tins,

a little dent is ok but always use it first, dairy products. Howard usually says if the dogs dont want it, its not good haha. Yes big gun meats are fantastic I get rump steak there all cut up and bang in the freezer. It really pays to buy in bulk, nothing worse than trudging to the shops all the time. Thanks for your valuable input.

animalcarer · Senior Member

Sheba you are so right. see my comments to john

animalcarer · Senior Member

I agree

pauline · Guru

Agree with most that has been said, only when it comes to meat there is only 2 of us , so if i buy any whole meat it has to be eye fillet as even a bad eye fillet is at least eadible, whereas some of the other cuts are only good for stewing really, last lot i bought cost 50.00, buy 1 whole get 1 whole free, really tender and worked about after they cut it up at about 7 dollars a meal for 2 of us and we were eating eye fillet, i think that is good value, about 13 meals all up.
Pauline

-- Edited by pauline on Friday 19th of August 2011 08:49:33 PM

Vic · Guru

I remember buying a carton of ice coffee at Carnarvon years ago, and noticed the "use by date" was well and truly past. When I mentioned this to the shopkeeper, they told me they truck it up frozen from Perth, and it was kept frozen in their fridge until they needed it for sale. Then it was taken out to defrost and sell, so while some appeared out of date it was ok to drink if sold defrosted on the same day?

ChiChi1 · Guru

I think this may have been posted on here at some time.

http://www.stilltasty.com/searchitems/index/27/page:3

johnq · Guru

All good replies and ChiChi, thanks for that site.

What I have found is that many people and definitely those who have no experience prior to the Use-By dates are actually more risky in their behaviour because they rely on the Use-By date and disregard, discount or simply don't know how to check food and especially bottled and canned items. My late teen/adult children for instance, will always check the Use By but never look at the general condition of the package, unless it is obviously pierced (concern which usually only relates to the publicity surrounding the few cases of deliberate contamination of packs.

The Nanny State erodes the confidence of people and de-skills them.

BTW, as a newby my apologies for not introducing myself prior and I will get around to it.

bushandbeach · Member

While we did have skills many years ago to determine whether to eat items not everyone was as smart as many remember. People did get sick from making mistakes. If there is a use by date I never ignore. I do realise that items such as fresh bread can be frozen for some time and that is sometimes necessary. I like to enjoy my food and not be worrying about whether I will be throwing it up later.

sandsmere · Guru

Have often used out of date " use by " stuff , and never ever had a problem .

Reckon it's just a marketing gimmick .

jimricho · Guru

sandsmere wrote:
Reckon it's just a marketing gimmick .

It's my understanding that "Use by" and "best before" labelling is a required by food regulations. Some items that have a long shelf life are exempt (vinegar for example). They are also useful for identifying batches in the event of a recall.

As suggested by earlier posts "best before" can usually be used well past this date. Also as implied in previous posts "use by" is mainly a guide and can depend on the item and how it is stored.

jack biggles · Senior Member

Some say I am long past my use by date. I always check dates in the supermarket and always eat stuff too quick, I'm yet to see anything reach it's useby date as it's normally long gone to the bin. It is also possible for stuff to go bad befoe the useby date if it's been treated poorly or stored incorrectly.

bushandbeach · Member

While everyone makes their own decisions a 'use by date' is not a guide. Standard 1.2.5 of the Food Standards for Australia and New Zealand Point out is the last date food can safely be consumed if stored correctly.

-- Edited by bushandbeach on Sunday 21st of August 2011 05:31:09 PM

gubby · Guru

jack biggles wrote:
Some say I am long past my use by date.

I'll take your word for it Jack... wink

I'm just not to keen about turning you over to check your date... disbelief

Bent Axle Bob · Senior Member

My favourite "oh yeah, out of date" is containered sea salt. Yet to figure that one out, lol.

Beth54 · Guru

John, I checked the use by dates when I shopped at Lighthouse. That was my first thought actually. That there'd be a reason for it all to be so cheap. But that's nto necessarily the case with Lighthouse.

There was some out of date stuff, but we just went by what it was, and bought accordingly.

I never buy dented cans,,leftover from my old Dad who worked in groceries in his young days,,, or out of date dairy.

Close to use by dates are generally okay to consume.

Incidentally, I've worked in groceries too, and yes, the use by dates are regulated. And they're supposed to rotate stock so that the older dates are towards the front. So, a little trick of mine is, say with yoghurt, check the stock behind to get a longer date.