Vocal Voices

are you a stickler for those dates or are you more a "smell, feel, taste" person and decide from there?

I'm definitely in the latter camp and it drives me to distraction how much food we waste at work because of the blasted dates on things. So this morning I decanted a bottle of milk with a use by date of yesterday into a bottle was empty and had a use by date for tomorrow. Nothing wrong with the other one but because it's one day out people will just chuck it down the drain. Now they'll be none the wise

Yes Ria I am like you - smell and taste before binning. I have been know to consume food which was a week out of date with no ill effects

I have to use a bit of caution but mostly use common sense

If we're past the Best Before date, we'll still use the product as long as it's tasting / smelling OK.

For example, we tend to buy cartons of long-life UHT no-fat milk, purely as back-ups in case we can't get out to buy the fresh product, and every now and then we find the long life ones have gone beyond the Best Before date. I conducted an "audit" last weekend and we've got three at the moment showing Best Before 17/06/17. So we'll use them now and replace.

Use By is another matter. We'd plan meals to make sure we use them up within, say, 1 or 2 days if we've exceeded the Use By date. It's very rare we would actually throw anything out, but I have to say it's not unknown, though - especially if it's a fish product.

Smell/taste here! Just noticed the garlic bread for tonight is two days past date, but I sniffed as I opened the wrapping and it is perfectly ok

What's gonna survive against Garlic? lol

I often wonder how we survived childhood without these dates on products

I pretty much ignore best by dates and use common sense. If there's meat in the fridge with a short use by date, which may not be used in time, I freeze it.