[Food] Eating out of date food

[The Antikythera Mechanism]

I’ve got a Vesta Beef Curry 11 years out of date.

 

[Perfidious Albion]

I found a can of cold ready to drink coffee that had rolled away and been lost for about seven years… tasted fine.
A lot of what I eat is past the best before date, I use my own judgement.

 

[Audax]

Never cut mould off , and eat !!!! it will also be starting to go off in the rest of the food just not showing it yet .

Not quite true - it depends on the food. See https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/articles/mould for a decent guide.

In terms of dates on products: it's worth remembering that the producers are always going to err on the side of playing it very safe. That goes for both "Use By" dates and especially "Best Before" dates. It is often going to be perfectly safe to eat food that has gone beyond the date on the packaging. However, definitely do so after educating yourself. Know what to look for and use common sense.

That also goes for the "once opened consume within X days" on the labelling for a lot of foods. When I was growing up, this didn't exist. It's a modern inclusion and, IMO, in a lot of cases it's there to create additional demand for the product.

Also, as always, make your own decisions based on your own personal circumstances. I, for example, am perfectly happy to eat things like jam, chutneys, cheese etc that are past their dates as long as there's no obvious problems such as mould. My Mrs, on the other hand, is not - but she can't take the risk because she was hospitalised with salmonella as a young adult and it left her with reactive arthritis.

 

[GT49er]

View attachment 152916
I’ve got a Vesta Beef Curry 11 years out of date.

Probably tastes better now!

 

[The Clamp]

I dont know how true it is but I was told by the quality control manager for Maynards (wine gums) that they make and bag gums for most of the supermarkets and the law only allows a date of 12 months so when nearing that date they remove them and repackage them with a new date and a code telling how many times it has been repackaged. They apparently can legally do this 3 times so the sweets although in date could be up to 4 years old but still be perfectly edible and in good condition. I cannot see a reason for telling me this if not true. I must add this was about 15 years ago so laws and practice may have changed since then

I have no knowledge of such things but I imagine the cost of doing that would negate any revenue it produced. In other words, why would they bother?

As for eating so called “out of date” food? I judge each case on it’s own merits. If it has meat or dairy, I’m a bit more careful. Slightly manky veg can make good soup.
Older bananas can go in smoothies or one could make a banana loaf.

Why not charge a battery with an old potato?

 

[WATFORD zero]

Probably tastes better now!

Well it certainly won't taste any worse

 

[PILTDOWN MAN]

That also goes for the "once opened consume within X days" on the labelling for a lot of foods. When I was growing up, this didn't exist. It's a modern inclusion and, IMO, in a lot of cases it's there to create additional demand for the product.

Many years ago I was told that all the profits Coleman's Mustard have ever made has ended up in the bin. People would look in the bottom of the jar, think it looks off and chuck it in the bin.

 

[Barrow Boy]

In the bad old days - 1960's before "best before" dates - I remember one occasion when my dad, who ran a corner shop, took some cheese out of the cold cabinet to cut some mould off it, and then put it back. It was only a little bit of mould, though.

Back in the early 70's I worked for a large supermarket chain (Keymarkets) and it was common practise to cut mould from certain hard cheeses, re-wrap them and put back on sale.

 

[Normal Rob]

I was clearing out my Mums fridge the other day and found some smoked mackerel from 2013. I did not eat it.

 

[birthofanorange]

View attachment 152916
I’ve got a Vesta Beef Curry 11 years out of date.

I was expecting an early '70s date, tbh.

 

[PILTDOWN MAN]

When I had to clear my late parents house in 2012 I came across a tin of peas. These were dated best before 1966. That was before my brother, Driver8, was even born.

This meant that tin had been packed up and moved to 4 homes in that time by our mum.

 

[birthofanorange]

When I had to clear my late parents house in 2012 I came across a tin of peas. These were dated best before 1966. That was before my brother, Driver8, was even born.

This meant that tin had been packed up and moved to 4 homes in that time by our mum.

I do hope you kept them, to pass through the generations.

 

[cloud]

Like others, a quick sniff and visual check is all that's needed.
Wilting veg can go in a stew, fruit can go in a crumble, pie, jam/compote.
The main exceptions would be meat and seafood, and flour.
Plus we would be careful with what we give pregnant or elderly visitors.

 

[PILTDOWN MAN]

Plus we would be careful with pregnant or elderly visitors.

Yes agree unfair to eat the unborn and the elderly a bit tough

 

[maresfield seagull]

Mushrooms what's the quality test on these ?
Slimey gets binned in my house