(Just) out of date food.

I have pointed out before that sell by dates and use by dates are different and it is the latter that you should keep an eye on.

The whole situation is absolutely ridiculous nowadays. My sil is totally obsessed by sbd- he was appalled that I had a bag of rice that was out of date by a week! The food wastage Greatnan describes is just a tragedy - when you think about the environmental issues attached with production and transport, etc.

Here in Switzerland sbd are even shorter by about a week. The other disaster in the UK is the 2 for 1 type offers - as people cannot resist them - knowing that there is no way they will have the time/organisation to eat the food. At the cash desk I was often told 'you know it is a 2 for 1- go quickly to get another packet' and me replying 'only 2 of us, there is no way we can eat 2 x 1kg packet of tangerines' (or whatever) with the reply 'oh, it does not matter as it is free' - and looking at me like I was crazy for saying no. I often got the 2 for 1 and just gave one away to the family next to me at the counter, again looking at me like I was mad. Modern families are too busy to organise cooking for the freezer- and it all ends up in the bin! As said, tragic, in so many many ways.

My daughter even throws away vegetables that have reached their sell by date. I grab them quick if I'm there. It's a carrot for goodness sake! What can it do to you?

True Oh Queen.

Vampire Queen - you are quite right - I always choose frozen foods from the bottom of the freezer, as I have found some on the top layer has become partially unfrozen

Also you can't always trust use by dates because if the product hasn't been stored properly either in the store or your fridge then it could be going off before the use by date. As I said before it should be a guide not an instruction.

I found my grandchildren were buying far too much food, not freezing it, and throwing it away on the very date suggested as 'best by'. When I took over the housekeeping, I used my common sense (and my nose), froze food as soon as I got back from the supermarket and didn't tell them what the date had been. Nobody suffered any ills.
I often go away for a couple of weeks and leave things in the fridge and eat them when I get back. I have eaten yoghurts which were two months old without any ill effects, and I have travelled to many tropical countries with less than British standards of food safety. I am never ill.
I grew up at a time when there were no fridges in working class houses and no money spare for throwing food away.
I have also noticed the advice about keeping pickles, etc. in the fridge. For goodness sake, isn't that why they are pickled in the first place, so they will keep? However, I have noticed that jam does go mouldy.

Babies and children need their surroundings to be kept reasonably clean, not as hygienic as an operating theatre (hm, possibly not a good comparison with hospital infections being as rife as they are). My family say I have a stomach 'like a leather bucket' and I put this down entirely to my mother's relaxed attitude to hygiene. I don't get colds either. (That could be, of course,because I live alone and rarely have contact with other people!)

I'm not suggesting people with problems with sight or smell should trust their senses that would be silly. But tbh most foods that are on the turn have tell tale signs and of course if in doubt throw it out.

We finished up some salad cream a few days ago. It was best before end of June. It had been kept in cupboard. I am still typing and DH is still digging.

I think you are fine with bacon. Especially if it was smoked. And the lettuce and tomato won't hurt him.

I don't keep tomato or brown sauce in the fridge, although it tells you to do so on the label. Neither of us has succumbed to any form of food poisoning because of this act of disobedience on my part!

I would not eat anything like meat, hummus or sandwiches if out of date.

But I was astounded to read on the Branston jar - "once opened keep refrigerated. Use within 6 weeks"
It is a pickle for goodness sake!!! In the fridge!!!
I wonder whether if I put a saucer of it on a warm kitchen windowsill whether it would have grown many interesting cultures in 6 weeks. Might try it.
As it is a 3.3 kg jar I think about 6 months will be just fine, as long as only clean forks etc stuck in it.

Vampirequeen Some foods do not have a funny smell when they are off. Some people's noses are not very sensitive. Some foods have use-by dates that are not really necessary but are there to protect the supermarket/manufacturer. Some – fish, chicken, for example, really should be followed.

DD's like yours regarding 'use by' dates, petallus, whereas DH will eat things well out of date as long as they look and smell OK. I'm somewhere in between, but I certainly wouldn't throw food away because it's a couple of days past the 'use by' date.

Far too fussy. We have noses. If food is off it has a funny smell. I use the 'use by' date as a guide not an instruction.