"Use By" Dates - A Rule Or A Guideline?

Glad to see that I'm not alone in going by the "smell test" approach to these things then! :lol:

I do find it staggering that some people like this guy at work would just chuck stuff out rather than eating what is still perfectly good food.

Preezy wrote:Today we mourn the passing of Jenuall the Unfunny, first of his name.

Harsh, I hope I do die now just to spite you!

Theyre a conservative estimate on when a food is likely to start spoiling, when stored properly food will generally last much longer than that. Use some common sense with dates and youll be fine.

What was the filling?

If it looks, smells and tastes fine then it probably is.

I'd be far more cautious with things like shellfish but usually a day or two beyond the 'use-by' should be fine for most people with healthy immune systems.

I'd never re-use cooked rice though, even the following day as that's just asking for food poisoning.

What about nodders?

It's reasons like this that there is so much food waste. Instead of people looking at or smelling the actual food, they look at a date on the packaging :fp:

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Ironhide wrote:If it looks, smells and tastes fine then it probably is.

I'd be far more cautious with things like shellfish but usually a day or two beyond the 'use-by' should be fine for most people with healthy immune systems.

I'd never re-use cooked rice though, even the following day as that's just asking for food poisoning.

What those pouches of pre-cooked rice you microwave?

yeah idk them dates is whatever; you're probably calm if it's a couple of days after depending on the item and storage

OrangeRKN wrote:
IAmTheSaladMan wrote:There is always crowd of people waiting around for the reduced stuff to get put on display at my local Tesco around 19:00. Weirdly it's often the same people.

Not sure it's weird, they may well be struggling financially so need to shop reduced.

while this is true it's almost always unhealthy gooseberry fool with poor nutritional content that isnt the best value for money anyways
but that's likely due to a lack of education and the government themselves not understanding these things, so I end up feeling kinda bad for them; but nutritional education is severely lacking in this country anyway

Ironhide wrote:I'd never re-use cooked rice though, even the following day as that's just asking for food poisoning.

it's fine so long as it hasnt been out for more than 16 hours and you reheat it properly, in my experience

I always find that milk goes off a few days early. I generally use the if it looks ok method of telling whether something is good.

Ironhide wrote:I'd never re-use cooked rice though, even the following day as that's just asking for food poisoning.

It is? I've never experienced food poisoning from reheating rice, and I do it a lot.

Sainsbury's recently removed the plastic wrap from their organic bananas, replacing it with a sticky backed cardboard, and it's made absolutely no difference to the shelf life. Can't say they've been any more bruised either. All these years, what a waste of plastic.

KK wrote:If you don’t mind shopping late in the evening, use by dates can really work to your advantage because supermarkets go mental with the old yellow sticker gun.

I’ve personally had varying results with milk. I’ve had times where the milk goes off a few days before the date and times where the milk was fine a few days after the best before. I like to think it just goes off whenever it feels like it.

SandyCoin wrote:
Ironhide wrote:I'd never re-use cooked rice though, even the following day as that's just asking for food poisoning.

It is? I've never experienced food poisoning from reheating rice, and I do it a lot.

Rice is one of the most common causes of food poisoning I believe. If it's left out at room temperature for any substantial amount of time, then it's very risky. If you're refrigerating the leftovers immediately and then cooking it the next day, you'll probably be okay, but it's not unusual for takeaway rice to be sitting on the worktop for a couple of hours before it gets dealt with I reckon.

If Rice cools slowly (e.g. left on dining table), and then reheated, it's problematic.

If Rice cools rapidly (e.g. in fridge) and then reheated, it's ok.

I think. I've probably got it the wrong way round

I've often reheated rice days after first cooking it. I was fully aware of the risks but I'm a baddaman so.

I eat reheated rice about 3-4 times a week :lol:

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explains a lot

I cook full bags of rice in one go across two large pans, then I cool it all off straight away with cold water, stick it in tubs and freeze it.

Perfect rice portions that can be reheated in 3 minutes :datass:

But yeah, rice is one of those foods that breeds bacteria really quickly when left in the "danger zone" temperature range. Pretty risky to just leave it out on the side for ages, but I know people who do it all the time without any problems.

As for use by dates - I definitely follow the "does it look okay? > does it smell ok? > does it feel okay? > does it taste ok?" process. If it passed those, it's fine innit.

As for milk, I've noticed that if you only open it once every now and then (say, you only use it for cereal every couple of days), it lasts ages, often past the date. If you open it a lot, like if you use just a splash in a brew quite often, it tends to go off quicker.

Wow, who knew I had so many opinions on this topic.

Egg fried rice is made from leftover rice.

"Use By" Dates - A Rule Or A Guideline?

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