" Sell by" dates. What do you think?

I found a pack of Pom Bears over one year out of date. Tasted fine to me. I think we GN's are from a generation that used common sense, not dates, to choose which foods were safe to eat!

Hmm... packet of Sainsbury's reduced fat sausages defrosting on the worktop for tonight's meal. Frozen on the the day of purchase, 7th June (2017!!!) as instructed on the pack. Supposed to be eaten within one month. If you never hear from me again you will be able to work out the likely reason.

So you smell or taste it to see if it's gone off - what do you do when you have no sense of smell or taste? Unfortunately I can only go by use by dates and throw quite a lot of stuff out if it's past it. I do look at veg and use it if it looks ok but sadly regularly clear the fridge of opened jars and packets.

That's the trouble with dates on foodstuffs. My mum had six kids and no fridge...dont remember her throwing ANYTHING away. First she said she used her eyes.. then her nose...then she would feel it ( fruit or veg) and last but never least she would taste it! Then she cooked it and we ate it or else!! With six kids and small wages...we couldn't afford waste. She lived to 92 and all my siblings are alive and reasonsonably well given their ages...I'm 67 and the youngest!I don't waste food now..lesson learned. The supermarkets just want to scare you into buying more food than you actually need. It's criminal the waste this country..and others...produce in a year. Eat up..... or go hungry.!!

Do find that children (particularly teenagers) seem to be governed by Best Buy dates. Must admit often, to just ignoring them, (the dates I mean!!). 'Use By' dates are different, but even those on many items, I think, can be ignored. Dairy items, milk and meat need to be treated with caution if past their use by dates, but most other items no problem.

is Scribbles still with us I've got a tin of something with the same sell by date, probably do it for OH lunch. After I've brought the shopping in from the car.

Never thought of putting flower in the freezer twiglet77 but why not I put crumble mixture in. During a talk at U3A by a microbiologist he said there was so much acid in the stomach we can deal with much more than we think, still won't be eating dodgy sausages or fish!

Old rye flour can cause ergot poisoning which, in the middle ages made people think the afflicted were the victims of witchcraft (or something like that). Best avoided, even now!

Just to add I always pop bags of flour into the freezer (in a plastic carrier bag - could use a polybox) for at least 24 hours to keep bugs at bay, sometimes it stays there for weeks and I've used it straight from the freezer without problems.

Anything like sausages that smelled remotely dodgy would be thrown out.

The bag of pasta I currently have open is dated 2015 and there's one more 3kg bag in the pantry. I wouldn't be at all concerned about the date.

I think flour can get weevils in it? Not that I've ever really dealt with flour in any capacity really.

HurdyGurdy I can tell you what you do when there aren't any dates. You fry up some sausages, like my father did once. and get horrible food poisoning because he didn't notice they were going a bit green round the edges.

Many years ago I used out of date flour for something, can't exactly remember what, but it was vile, smelled dreadful too.

Just found a carton of yoghurt in my fridge dated use by 20/03 17.I opened it and tasted it and it seemed ok,but decided not to eat it.(I think i chickend out.

I'm notorious in my house for serving up food past sell-by dates. I use common sense. If it looks or smells off, then I won't eat it. Always more cautious with fish or meat. Youngest goes with my thing. Eldest won't eat anything 30 minutes out of date. But I do have a dodgy stomach. So maybe I'm all wrong!

I was helping a friend clear her aunts house, and we found a tin of Brussels Sprouts, with no date on at all. Wish I'd have kept it as a souvenir now - I could threaten the grandchildren with it at Christmas!

The sniff test is what passes for stock control in my kitchen. I often use soured cream and vinegary wine in cooking and packs and tins last for ages beyond best before dates.
What I do find quite sad is that my local food bank has just had to send a letter to the local newspaper asking people not to put packets of out of date/opened/half-eaten food into the collection baskets!!

What a coincidence that I sorted a cupboard today and found several packets of savoury rice and pasta cheese sauce that were up to 10 years out of date! I used to buy one now and again as an emergency standby quick meal. Obviously that emergency didn't occur, so I wondered if they would be safe to eat. I hate being wasteful, so I had decided to try one this week. After reading all these posts, I shall not feel quite so silly, as I'm obviously not the only one who stockpiles! I dare not tell my sons and daughter as they would probably dump the lot and give me a good lecture on housekeeping!

You have a good memory!

Well, sometimes they are a good idea. I searched in my chest freezer for a packet of lamb mince which I knew I had.
It was dated 2008.

I always say to anyone who is being daft over dates - "what would you do if you they didn't have dates on them? What would you do if you had to use common sense and/or your five senses"

This is something that drives me to distraction. My son's friend will literally (yes, literally) not eat something one minute past midnight of the date on the item and will throw it away.

As if the food item knows that it's gone past it's date and instantly turns poisonous.

Don't know why , but tins of rice pudding and evaporated milk even only slightly past their use-by dates are quite revolting when opened, brownish in colour and curdled. I also had a tin of condensed milk that was out of date, and it perforated and dripped goo over every single tin in the store cupboard. I couldn't have done a more thorough job of it if I'd tried! Apart from those, if it smells OK and looks OK then it is OK as far as I'm concerned.

Not lap - Jars!

The only thing I'm wary of are the little lap of paste. My friend once got terrible food poisoning from merrily eating some that had been open a few days. The doctor told her it was the main food to cause poisoning and to just discard what wasn't eaten in one sitting. I dont know if its true, but better safe than sorry.

From NHS - Food labelling terms

Retailers often use "sell by" and "display until" dates on their shelves, mainly for stock control purposes. These aren't required by law and are instructions for shop staff, not for shoppers.

So just ignore it.