Sell by dates

I don't take much notice of best before/use by dates. In the last week I've eaten two pies over a week out of date and soup out of date and I buy my eggs from the market so have no idea how old they really are.
What happened to common sense?

Supermarkets are crazily conservative with their use by dates, M&S especially. Probably to avoid being sued.

I've eaten yoghurts from M&S 7 or 8 days past their date and they were fine. We never used to have these silly dates on food!

I've just opened and eaten for lunch a pack of blue Stilton which had a date of the 9th September. No ill effects so far.

Sounds like a good excuse to start eating trifle right now, and buy another one for Boxing Day.

That's what we are doing I have given my dd some to take home it's delicious, only reason I was worried was it has lots of fresh cream and all GC will want some on Boxing Day ,so would rather be safe I am doing what I normally do and making my own, it serves me right for being lazy .?

Supermarkets stock up on goods that will have use-by dates that expire before Xmas so that shoppers are encouraged to go back another day to buy later date goods.

Ignore the sell-by date and substitute it with 'smell by date' . It will almost certainly be OK for Boxing Day.

I am careful with pork, chicken, cream, yogurt and milk but most other things I sniff and if it smells ok I use it up.

The "best by" date is advice. The "use by" date is more of an instruction so we may need to use our nose and eyes.

...but the "sell by" date can result in bargains!

I found a Christmas pudding in the cupboard with a sell-by date of Jan 2016. It was delicious - and I'm still here to tell the tale.

Sell By date, and Best Before date are to do with quality control and stock control. Use By date is the one you need to watch for safety reasons - and if there is a Use By date you also have to pay attention that it has been stored correctly

my nan used to smell things to check if they were ok in the 60s. she used to keep canned food for years lol.