Best before dates?

[Janet S]

I've just been sorting out my stock cupboard and found packets of beans, peas, lentils, pulses etc which have a "best before" date going as far back as 2006....yes, I know, I need to sort out my store cupboards!

 

My question is, although I realise they aren't going to be at their best, are they still safe to use?

 

Janet

[Guest Quo Vadis]

Unfortunately, I am the only thing on our boat that is well past it's "best before" date.

[Athy]

Time to feed the birds I think, Janet, for safety's sake. They (the foods, not the birds) will PROBABLY be all right, but that won't be much consolation as you run to the bathroom again!

[Mrs Tawny Owl]

Hi Janet,

 

I frequently use stuff past it's best before date, the trick is to use a bit of common sense and have a look and a sniff before you eat it.

 

Mum used to have a village store, so I grew up eating stuff past it's best before / sell by dates, and I'm fine really.

 

I read somewhere the rule of thumb is that the best before date is maybe 1/2 way before it's gone off. so with sliced meats you buy with a date maybe a week or 2 in advance, I wouldn't eat them after they were maybe a week past their dates, less if the packet was open.

 

With things like dried beans, the date when you buy may be 2 or 3 years in the future, so they'll last at least that long past the given date. If you think about it, dried foods like that are not really likely to go off if kept dry so should be fine for years.

 

Tins are also likely to be fine unless they've started to corrode, so check the inside of the tin after tipping the food out, and if it's rusty or discoloured, especially with acidic foods then don't eat the food.

 

In all cases, just have a look and a sniff, and if it smells funny, or looks odd then don't risk it. That's what I do and I don't think I've ever had food poisoning, or caused it in the family either.

Sue

[Guest]

I'm with Sue on this - generally far too much food gets wasted in this country due to 'safe'.

 

That said I would be wary of stuff going back as far as 2006 mind.

 

Somebody better qualified will advise better but is there not also a risk of the food absorbing stuff from it's packaging over such a long period of time....

[Grace and Favour]

Hi Janet,

 

Right --- Products with a BBDate - you'll find that dried pulses & vegetables products should be perfectly safe to eat - however, over years of storage (providing they have been kept in a dark environment) pulses continue to harden slightly - and they'll take longer to cook to the normal texture.

If the products have got damp, you'll notice mould/discolouration - and don't use

 

When using them, soak for the recommended time, boil/cook as instructed, but you will likely need to add an extra 10% - 30% final cooking time (you'll need to check as you go along of course)

 

 

Two of the most reliable measurements of food suitability os sight and smell - - if a product is mouldy, suffering from infestation (like flour mites), has separated or smells rank, then don't use.

The vast majority of canned goods will keep for many, many , many years past their sell-by/use-by (dates were commonly introduced by the EU to increase food production/wastage) The one area of canned foods to be careful of is where the contents are acidic - - (rhubarb, tomatoes and items with lemon/vinegar recipes)- for acid will inevitably attack the can linings after 18 months or so - and the food tastes metallic. Some foods actually improve with years of keeping - canned fish in oil, Christmas puddings and mincemeat are a few examples.

 

I have long made a point of buying many of our food products short/out of date from a specialist supplier (normally at 50 - 65% discount to normal shop prices) - and delight in having a range of ingredients that I would not otherwise be able to afford.

 

If you've any specific questions, please don't hesitate to ask

 

Cheeripips

 

 

 

PS - I spent my working life sourcing / designing food products for the Supermarket industry

Edited December 10, 2011 by Grace & Favour

[nipper]

I spent last night onboard my sailing boat. twas a little cold, but it's nice to be on the water.

 

A few hours ago I though I'd better get something in my tummy, so got a packet of Knor Oxtail soup from the locker, made up a pint and a half of hot, really nice tasting soup and scoft the lot! But,I did notice the useby date and it was 02/06.

 

Tasted fine to me and anyway, I'd have to throw a good deal of sailing boat stores away if i really took notice of the use by dates!

 

PS. Why is it so difficult nowdays to get hold of packet soup, I looked everywhere a few months ago,and all i could find was tins?

 

Nipper

[Stephen Sugg]

Crisps always go out of date on a Saturday. Don't know why.

[David Schweizer]

I can easily remember the days when food did not have a "sell by date" and we did not have a fridge. Dry goods were bought from the shop in brown paper bags and stored in jars in the larder. She would just add the new stock into the jar, so some of the stuff at the bottom could have been years old, and no one knew how long they had been in the shop before sale.

 

There were obviously some things that went off, like dairy produce and meat, but even those items seemed to last a lot longer than we are told to keep them these days. I know that food safety is important but I help wondering whether it also has a lot to do with the over protected life to which many of today's children are subjected, and consequently not developing immunities to some of Natures natural hazaards. As my Wife's Nan used to say " Everyone should eat a bushell of dirt before they die".

Edited December 10, 2011 by David Schweizer

[Starcoaster]

They'll probably be absolutely fine, and I reckon you could tell by the look/ smell when you open them... But for me, even if they did look/ smell absolutely delicious, the 'probably' bit would put me off to the extent I wouldn't enjoy it anyway!

[The Bagdad Boatman (waits)]

If you have not used them in the last 6 or 7 years do you really need to ask the question. Plant them on the towpath and eat the ones that grow

[Chris Pink]

Surely if they are still capable of growing they'll still be ok to eat.

[Starcoaster]

Interesting point! I wonder if that is true?

[dor]

I read somewhere the rule of thumb is that the best before date is maybe 1/2 way before it's gone off. so with sliced meats you buy with a date maybe a week or 2 in advance, I wouldn't eat them after they were maybe a week past their dates, less if the packet was open.

 

There is a BIG difference between 'best before' dates and 'use by' dates. The latter will be used on perishable items like fresh meat, fish and processed foods (cooked meat, ham, cook/chill meals etc.) and these should be adhered to; or at least not go over by more than a day or two. Whilst generally if they smell ok they should be ok to eat (what did we do before dating?), some bacteria produce toxins and whilst cooking will destroy the bacteria it can still leave the toxins active (and some are lethal in small quantities).

 

Best before dates however are pretty meaninless. Take bottled mineral water: it spends 30,000 years percolating through the rocks and they manage to find it and bottle it a few months before it expires. Dried pulses, pasta etc., if it has been kept dry and in the dark, will keep for decades. Tinned foods much the same. If they look ok and smell ok they should be ok.

 

I had a sausage sandwich the other day ,which just need HP sauce. I fished the bottle out of the back of the cupboard and spread it on, noticing that it seemed a bit runnier than usual. I later spotted the "BBE: 03/2002". Still alive!

[steelaway]

I've just been sorting out my stock cupboard and found packets of beans, peas, lentils, pulses etc which have a "best before" date going as far back as 2006....yes, I know, I need to sort out my store cupboards!

 

My question is, although I realise they aren't going to be at their best, are they still safe to use?

 

Janet

 

 

 

If it smells bad, it is bad, if it smell like it should it will be OK

Tins of food from the first war where found to be perfectly OK

Its in the manufactures interest that you throw away perfectly good food - so you will buy some more

 

Alex

[zenataomm]

My version, you have to wade through a few lines to get to it, it's just after KP Nuts in 2d packets

[onionbargee]

I have successfully eaten a display case full of strange tinned food, which was in the offices of the old Heinz factory on the Paddington arm at Hayes, when they demolished it. Tinned food NEVER goes off.

[Grace and Favour]

I have successfully eaten a display case full of strange tinned food, which was in the offices of the old Heinz factory on the Paddington arm at Hayes, when they demolished it. Tinned food NEVER goes off.

 

Ah! - that was their case of samples when they were looking at producing dog-food then . . . . . . .

[Janet S]

The items all seem pretty good to me...unopened packets of dried kidney beans, black eyed beans, aduki beans, puy lentils, yellow split peas, continental lentils, cous cous etc.

 

All have been kept in a dark, dry cupboard. There are also lots of open packets of basmati rice, brown rice, pearl barley, broth mix, risotto rice etc which have been used recently.

 

Some packets have been used regularly...it's only when I was having a clear out and a tidy up that I noticed the sell by dates and wondered if I should be worried...

 

Janet

[NB Alnwick]

My disadvantage is that I have pretty well lost my sense of smell. Therefore my only way to gauge the state of food is with my eyes. But that doesn't always work - a work colleague once expressed surprise when he saw me eating mouldy sandwiches - one of the problems of dim early morning lighting when preparing food aboard and then leaving my spectacles at home! For all of those reasons I do tend to observe 'use by' dates - albeit with a widish tolerance.

 

Having said all that, I am looking forward to drinking a bottle of 1963 vintage Port and I don't care if I can't smell it . . .

[PhilR]

A question here for the men:

 

If you had some beer which was past the *sell buy* or *use by* date would you throw it away? .......... I thought not

[ditchcrawler]

I can easily remember the days when food did not have a "sell by date" and we did not have a fridge. Dry goods were bought from the shop in brown paper bags and stored in jars in the larder. She would just add the new stock into the jar, so some of the stuff at the bottom could have been years old, and no one knew how long they had been in the shop before sale.

 

There were obviously some things that went off, like dairy produce and meat, but even those items seemed to last a lot longer than we are told to keep them these days. I know that food safety is important but I help wondering whether it also has a lot to do with the over protected life to which many of today's children are subjected, and consequently not developing immunities to some of Natures natural hazaards. As my Wife's Nan used to say " Everyone should eat a bushell of dirt before they die".

So can I and always think back to it when I check the battery voltage in the morning because of the fridge running all night.

[PhilR]

Slightly off topic, but:

 

Many years ago a pal of mine had a wooden canal cruiser. At the beginning of each season he would stock up with canned food and store it all in the cabin bilge. This worked really well until the year the hull sprung a leak and all the labels were washed off the cans. Meal times used to be really interesting afterwards .....................

[ditchcrawler]

I have successfully eaten a display case full of strange tinned food, which was in the offices of the old Heinz factory on the Paddington arm at Hayes, when they demolished it. Tinned food NEVER goes off.

O yes it does, you only need a crack in the tin on the inside of the can or a faulty seam. I would never buy dinted cans of food because that is a good way to damage the tin on the inside.

[Grace and Favour]

The items all seem pretty good to me...unopened packets of dried kidney beans, black eyed beans, aduki beans, puy lentils, yellow split peas, continental lentils, cous cous etc.

 

All have been kept in a dark, dry cupboard. There are also lots of open packets of basmati rice, brown rice, pearl barley, broth mix, risotto rice etc which have been used recently.

 

Some packets have been used regularly...it's only when I was having a clear out and a tidy up that I noticed the sell by dates and wondered if I should be worried...

 

Janet

 

It looks like you've a good winter's worth of soups there, Janet!