Sell/Best by Dates......

[csider]

Total bollocks......(on most things)

Just had a lovely ham, mayo, grated carrot with a lovely CRISP chopped 7 week out of date portion of lettuce.....NICE. Had to take few outer layers off the lettuce, but thats it.

Anyone else got any past by best date stories as usualy use well beyond displayed dates....And I am not ever from Croydon.

 

[turienzo's lovechild]

i pretty much always use out of date stuff........as i'd expect most students do.......i'm not dead yet so i'd say eating out of date stuff is f.................................................................................................................................................................

 

[Conkers]

Carrots last a good 4/5 weeks past their sell by date if kept in the fridge.
Sure they had turned black but they tasted damn good!

 

[BensGrandad]

I once did some work for Maynards Wine Gums Social Club in Nth London and was told by the quality control manger that by law they cannot put a sell by or best before date on sweets of more than 12 months. If they are reaching this date they are withdrawn repackaged with a code so that the company know that this is the 2nd packaging and then sent back out to the supermarkets and apparently they can do this and repackage them 3 times after the original. So that means it is possible for wine gums to be sold within date that are in fact nearly 4 years old.

 

[csider]

No word of a lie, guess what I am now eating.........f***ing wine gums, Maynards......

 

[hitony]

No word of a lie, guess what I am now eating.........f***ing wine gums, Maynards......

Try wrapping them in the 7 week old lettuce leaves will taste a treat

 

[Trufflehound]

I always use the sniff'n'look test. If it isn't sprouting blueish/green fur and smells fine, then it's probably OK, no matter what the best before says.

I had some pickle that said "Best Before April 1999" on the label just a couple of days ago, and I'm still here. It's so full of vinegar anyway that nothing's ever going to degrade it.

 

[crodonilson]

I had a cottage pie a couple of months back which was one day out of date and I was ill for a week.

 

[beorhthelm]

I had some pickle that said "Best Before April 1999" on the label just a couple of days ago, and I'm still here. It's so full of vinegar anyway that nothing's ever going to degrade it.

tis rather the point of pickling isnt it. and jam too. alcohol spirits last forever as well and beers should be fine well past the sell by date.

Its funny that a pack of veg will have a sell by date but loose they wont. probably some daft regulation, after all they just sit in dark warehouses for months after harvest anyway.

 

[footychick]

Use by, has to be used by the date.
Best by, best to be used by the date so I don't really take much notice, as long as it smells ok.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

Its funny that a pack of veg will have a sell by date but loose they wont. probably some daft regulation, after all they just sit in dark warehouses for months after harvest anyway.

That's the POINT about harvesting crops.

Most of them are grown on the basis of there being just one harvest per year. When I grew my own spuds and onions, they would last for months and months with the proper storage. And a damp refrigerator wasn't involved in achieving this.

I was once asked whether a bag of coal should have a "Burn before" date. Does anyone know whether there are regulations about this?

 

[Trufflehound]

I was once asked whether a bag of coal should have a "Burn before" date. Does anyone know whether there are regulations about this?

If you work on the basis of the most unstable isotope of carbon, Carbon-14, that has a half life of 5730 years. So if we assume the coal is starting to degrade once half the Carbon-14 has gone, then a bag mined this week should carry a label:

"Burn Before 20 March 7738"

 

[Spiros]

Use By and Best Before dates are largely a supermarket con to get you to throw away perfectly good food in order to go and buy some more. I ceased being a student more than 20 years ago but eat plenty of things well past these dates and with no ill effects whatsoever. The best way of telling whether it's good to eat is to look and smell. And if it's chicken or turkey cook the living hell out of it.

What really gets me is Best Before dates on cheese - why would you have this on a product which actually gets better the longer it's left in the packet?

 

[Blackadder]

I always use the sniff'n'look test.

Funnily enough I used to do that with some of my old girlfriends!

 

[cardboard]

How can mineral water which takes 100's of years to filter through the mountains of central France have a sell by date of 10 months time

 

[Dave the OAP]

I always use the sniff'n'look test. If it isn't sprouting blueish/green fur and smells fine, then it's probably OK, no matter what the best before says.

I had some pickle that said "Best Before April 1999" on the label just a couple of days ago, and I'm still here. It's so full of vinegar anyway that nothing's ever going to degrade it.

actually if it is sprouting, its probably better for you as its the basic form of penicillin.......

 

[El Presidente]

I always use the sniff'n'look test. If it isn't sprouting blueish/green fur and smells fine, then it's probably OK, no matter what the best before says.

That's how I met the wife

 

[Lord Bracknell]

"Burn Before 20 March 7738"

Best make a note in my diary.

That's a Thursday. The weekend could be ruined if the fire isn't working properly.

 

[Anchorman]

What about freezer stuff? Have just been reviewing todays dinner options and found something 5 months old that says use within a month. I know someone who claims to take no notice of use by's once frozen - any views?

 

[dougdeep]

My jar of Bovril is a year out of date but still tastes gorgeous.