Best before dates?

[Iain_S]

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

 

We did It was Boddington's, and about 3 years past "use by" date. Definitely off, cloudy with a distinct metallic taste. Might have been OK if it had been in bottles, rather than tinnies, though.

 

Iain

[PhilR]

We did It was Boddington's, and about 3 years past "use by" date. Definitely off, cloudy with a distinct metallic taste. Might have been OK if it had been in bottles, rather than tinnies, though.

 

Iain

 

I was thinking of proper beer - not Boddingtons.

[ditchcrawler]

We did It was Boddington's, and about 3 years past "use by" date. Definitely off, cloudy with a distinct metallic taste. Might have been OK if it had been in bottles, rather than tinnies, though.

 

Iain

I have done the same, for the same reason. Tried it first.

[Mac of Cygnet]

I have before me a bottle of 1993 vintage Thomas Hardy's Ale. It says it matures like fine wine, and indeed is the same strength (12%). Several times over the years, in times of need, I've been tempted to open it, but I think it has now attained heirloom status.

 

[Grace and Favour]

Mac,

If you drank it the morning after a solid session . . . .

 

would it be 'heirloom of the dog'?

[Grebe]

Grace & Favour - Great advice thanks.

 

 

Nipper, we get packet soups from Morrisons, they are great for things like this and also for smallpacks of things such as cereals, milk and tins. I suppose that mens mainland for you.

 

 

Although we favour packet soups, rices and pasta there is always a chance there wil be no water available so we always have a few tins available so we do not need water.

[LEO]

I have before me a bottle of 1993 vintage Thomas Hardy's Ale. It says it matures like fine wine, and indeed is the same strength (12%). Several times over the years, in times of need, I've been tempted to open it, but I think it has now attained heirloom status.

Hi,

 

I have just purchased a bottle of 4 year old beer from the Chiltern Brewery' Butlers Cross - best before 2016, Abv 8.1. Christmas treat to go with the course of flying lessons my wife has bought me (Don't get excited it's one of the remote helicopter thingies).

 

Carefully stored and cooked food can be used well past it's sell by date.

 

Leo

[Janet S]

Well, I threw the lot in a pot - kidney beans, black eyed beans, butter beans etc, soaked them overnight then gave them a good boiling and they made a delicious bean salad...and I've lived to tell the tale.

 

Janet

[ditchcrawler]

Well, I threw the lot in a pot - kidney beans, black eyed beans, butter beans etc, soaked them overnight then gave them a good boiling and they made a delicious bean salad...and I've lived to tell the tale.

 

Janet

Well done

[nipper]

Grace & Favour - Great advice thanks.

 

 

Nipper, we get packet soups from Morrisons, they are great for things like this and also for smallpacks of things such as cereals, milk and tins. I suppose that mens mainland for you.

 

 

Although we favour packet soups, rices and pasta there is always a chance there wil be no water available so we always have a few tins available so we do not need water.

 

 

Thanks Grebe.

We do have a Morrisons over here, two in fact. I'll get the staff to have a look! She will take great delite in even more shopping!

[Pentargon]

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

I LOVE it. you is my main man. lateral thinking, ecological sensitivy, future supplies, waaaay to go.

[matty40s]

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

 

This is done to assist retailers with staffing their stores to keep the EHO at bay/comply with Food Hygiene Regulations.

 

Food safety checks are carried out on fresh/chilled produce daily, to reduce short life, or remove over date Use By/sell by date products.

Grocery lines are given best before dates (such as saturdays for crisps), or end of months for soups.

goods are similarly labelled.

This means that the nighttime store teams can just check the crisp displays once a week, not every day, the soup displays once a month etc. and move around sections on different days to make better use of the time.

[tillergirl]

Inside information - the government are considering doing away with bb/bbe/use by dates on a foods..........there has been consultation with retailers (though not with trading standards) and there are plans to phase these out due the huge food wastage in supermarkets. I will leave you to decide if this is putting people at risk.

[Grace and Favour]

Inside information - the government are considering doing away with bb/bbe/use by dates on a foods..........there has been consultation with retailers (though not with trading standards) and there are plans to phase these out due the huge food wastage in supermarkets. I will leave you to decide if this is putting people at risk.

 

I suspect the only people it may put at risk are the seriously infirm, and blind anosmics

 

And I would hope that these peeps have able-bodied for more things in life than just food preparation

[Slim]

I went diving deep into a high kitchen cupboard earlier today and found 3 individual christmas puddings. 2 were dated 2003 and one didn't even have a date on it. Yes, they did get thrown away.I also found just over 1/2 a mile of cling film and enough assorted plastic food bags to last me for years. What really confuses me is that I've completely redecorated the kitchen twice in the last 6 years.

 

 

On the subject of BB dates I knew somebody who was employed by a reputable company to overprint them on well known products including coffee and baked beans. Seemingly the date had no relationship to the usable life of the product rather it was an EU imposition.

 

 

 

 

Frank

[cheshire~rose]

I went diving deep into a high kitchen cupboard earlier today and found 3 individual christmas puddings. 2 were dated 2003 and one didn't even have a date on it. Yes, they did get thrown away.I also found just over 1/2 a mile of cling film and enough assorted plastic food bags to last me for years. What really confuses me is that I've completely redecorated the kitchen twice in the last 6 years.

 

 

On the subject of BB dates I knew somebody who was employed by a reputable company to overprint them on well known products including coffee and baked beans. Seemingly the date had no relationship to the usable life of the product rather it was an EU imposition.

 

 

 

 

Frank

 

I would not have thrown those puddings away - unless once opened they looked at all mouldy! I have just bought next years Christmas pudding. I always buy it a full year in advance even though the pudding I have bought is best before September next year. I already have one that went out of date last september that will be wonderful on Christmas day. I always used to buy one in the sales after Christmas and stash it away but have been caught out before now waiting for them to reduce the price and instead they sell out!

 

I have been working my way through a number of out of date items in the last couple of years having had to clear the homes of two relatives. I think the oldest was a jar of Golden Syrup which was around 8 years out of date. The tinning inside was fine, the syrup had started to set but I just stood the tin in a bowl of hot water for 10 minutes before using it and it turned back to syrup and made two wonderful treacle tarts!

[tillergirl]

I'm still using dried herbs, ginger and pepper that have a BBE September 2003. Not had any fatalities in the house yet.

[the grinch]

 

This means that the nighttime store teams can just check the crisp displays once a week, not every day, the soup displays once a month etc. and move around sections on different days to make better use of the time.

 

i can assure you the last thing the night team does is check dates! throw the packs on the shelf as fast as possible piling the old stuff already on the shelf on top. no different at Tesco, Coop or waitrose all of which i've been on nights with.

[OldGoldy]

i can assure you the last thing the night team does is check dates! throw the packs on the shelf as fast as possible piling the old stuff already on the shelf on top. no different at Tesco, Coop or waitrose all of which i've been on nights with.

My daughter's Tesco Express had 79 lines out of date after an investigation started when my granndaughter bought a pack of crisps a number of months out of date. The manager's attitude when challenged, got him retrained? and moved to somewhere they could keep an eye on him. The area manager was MOST apologetic. They realised that there COULD have been serious health issues resulting from the attitude at this store The staff were equally off-hand and lax as you can imagine.

[Laurie Booth]

My daughter's Tesco Express had 79 lines out of date after an investigation started when my granndaughter bought a pack of crisps a number of months out of date. The manager's attitude when challenged, got him retrained? and moved to somewhere they could keep an eye on him. The area manager was MOST apologetic. They realised that there COULD have been serious health issues resulting from the attitude at this store The staff were equally off-hand and lax as you can imagine.

Not to mention selling mud at a good profit and over ringing the till.

[jelunga]

Use by dates and best before dates are different. Use by dates indicate a date before which the food should be safe to eat. Typically put on short life products like meat veg etc. best before dates are on longer life products and indicate the date before which the foodstuff will taste and perform up to standard. Use after a best before date normally does not prove hazardous but the item may not taste as good as it should.

Canned goods normally last many years after their best before dates. Exceptions are foods with high acid content like citrus fruit or a high oil content like olive oil. The acid will eventually eat through the protective inner coating of a tin and absorb heavy metals like lead which does your brain in.

The oily foods will go rancidG like old bacon.

I think both dates are useful. Just learn what they mean and do not overreact.

I have to say the worst case of using an out of date product happened to be many years ago when I went for a smallpox jap from my venerable doctor. Just before he gave it me I noticed the use by date on the vaccine was about 2 yrs previously. I declined the dose!

[ditchcrawler]

I would not have thrown those puddings away - unless once opened they looked at all mouldy! I have just bought next years Christmas pudding. I always buy it a full year in advance even though the pudding I have bought is best before September next year. I already have one that went out of date last september that will be wonderful on Christmas day. I always used to buy one in the sales after Christmas and stash it away but have been caught out before now waiting for them to reduce the price and instead they sell out!

 

I have been working my way through a number of out of date items in the last couple of years having had to clear the homes of two relatives. I think the oldest was a jar of Golden Syrup which was around 8 years out of date. The tinning inside was fine, the syrup had started to set but I just stood the tin in a bowl of hot water for 10 minutes before using it and it turned back to syrup and made two wonderful treacle tarts!

My mum always kept at least 1 pud until the following Christmas and that was in a basin with grease proof paper over it, not sealed.

[Arthur Brown]

All the available date forms rely on an estimate of how the product will be stored. So food stored well according to it's needs will last longer than the printed date, food stored badly (eg damp) will show signs of failure before it's printed date.

[Caprifool]

I would definatly eat food like dried beans that are out of date. If kept safely away from bugs.

[BruceinSanity]

Use by dates and best before dates are different. Use by dates indicate a date before which the food should be safe to eat. Typically put on short life products like meat veg etc. best before dates are on longer life products and indicate the date before which the foodstuff will taste and perform up to standard. Use after a best before date normally does not prove hazardous but the item may not taste as good as it should.

Canned goods normally last many years after their best before dates. Exceptions are foods with high acid content like citrus fruit or a high oil content like olive oil. The acid will eventually eat through the protective inner coating of a tin and absorb heavy metals like lead which does your brain in.

The oily foods will go rancidG like old bacon.

I think both dates are useful. Just learn what they mean and do not overreact.

I have to say the worst case of using an out of date product happened to be many years ago when I went for a smallpox jap from my venerable doctor. Just before he gave it me I noticed the use by date on the vaccine was about 2 yrs previously. I declined the dose!

 

AIUI, it's the display until and sell by dates that are proposed to be coded so as not to confuse the shopper. These dates are meant for the store only, to aid stock rotation. Use by and best before dates will still be shown.

 

Re the smallpox, I don't blame you, but how did the jap feel about it?