Sell by dates

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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 .?

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

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.

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 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 In the last week I've eaten two pies over a week out of date and soup out of date and I buy my eggs from the market so have no idea how old they really are.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?

I had a delivery of Christmas goodies on Thursday 21st. One item was use by 21st. Hubby ate that. Some for Christmas Day were use by 23rd but I kept space in the freezer just in case so its gone in there. Fresh veg I've ignored the date on. Problem with keeping space in the freezer just in case meant I couldn't buy the usual food shop. Had to pop out yesterday (Friday) and get some tide us over bits.

Thinking about the ingredients I don't see there should be a problem, jelly, sponge, fruit, custard should be ok.

OMG just checked mine, it's 31st HAPPY DAYS!

Put it in the freezer or the fridge. It won't go 'off or be ruined in the space of 3 days.

I always make my own trifle, with lots of sherry in it, my one and only thing I really enjoy food wise at Christmas,
I have bought shop trifles in the past, but never for Christmas,and I'm staying at home alone but will still make a trifle
I am sure the 23rd dated one will be fine, but check the cream tastes right, that is the only thing that is likely to not taste as good as fresh

Even I forgot to check the date on something when I went today. Sainsbury's is totally heaving and it was impossible to think let alone fine some obscure and barely readable datestamp.

Lidl, typically, have 30% off Christmas Eve dated stuff. Other supermarkets wouldn't do that til tomorrow, and would let you pay full price for that today, and hope you wouldn't notice

hulahoop.
Don't worry. I am a trifle addict and frequently buy three in a pack chocolate fresh cream trifles and have even left one until three days after use by.
As long as you store your trifle unopened in the coldest part of your fridge no worries.If you are still not convinced then the shops are still open. and many until late on the 24th.

Use by dates are to protect the retailer as well as the public. If you do not use an item by the date displayed although in many cases items will still be safe a day or two
after the 'use by' then you can hardly complain the product was not fresh and demanding a refund.

Tell me about it!! I'm waiting until Xmas Eve to purchase my strawberries! Mince Pies are the worst for sell by dates....fortunately I don't buy them. How dare Supermarkets/Food manufacturers treat consumers in this way!

We went to Tesco at 8am this morning to get all our last minute fresh food and as I'm being rather lazy this year I decided to buy the prepared potatoes and vegetables to just bung in the oven. The had tons of them on the shelves and all had a 'use by' date of 24 December. I still bought them as I don't think one day can make any difference.

Eat the damn thing. It'll be fine.

On December 8th I bought a huge wedge of Cambozola, which was cut from a new wheel, from the Tesco cheese counter, to last me over Christmas, New Year and beyond. It was labelled with the following day as a 'use by' date. How ridiculous! Needless to say I shall keep using it until it has all been eaten, whatever the date.