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Best By/Sell By Dates - Do you follow them?

GolferGal

GolferGal

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As I sit here munching on a bag of sun chips with a best by/sell by date of 11/19/19 and JB looking at me with disgust, it got me thinking. Do you follow those dates? For dairy and meat products I do, but for pretty much everything else I am willing to test it.

I actually read an article just the other day that talked about how you can eat things well past those suggested dates, sometimes up to a year past them.
 
GolferGal said:
As I sit here munching on a bag of sun chips with a best by/sell by date of 11/19/19 and JB looking at me with disgust, it got me thinking. Do you follow those dates? For dairy and meat products I do, but for pretty much everything else I am willing to test it.

I actually read an article just the other day that talked about how you can eat things well past those suggested dates, sometimes up to a year past them.
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For dairy it's an absolute follow. For meat, as long as it is frozen by the best by date I'm ok with it. For everything else I am willing to go past and at least try it although one time my wife bought some mini birthday cake muffins for my daughter and they were out of town. She shoved the box in the back of the pantry and forgot about them I guess. I saw them while they were gone, grabbed a pack and didn't even check the date. Needless to say that was a bad choice. Opened up, popped one in my mouth and almost puked. They had mold all over them. I ran to the bathroom and spit it out and finished getting sick. Lesson learned. Check the dates on the stuff my wife buys. Haha
 
Milk is the only one that I follow. usually a day before the expiration it is trash.
 
there is a reason they were changed from "consume/eat by" to "best by". If it is within a reasonable time frame (months on something like chips, days with in fresh items) I will usually give it a roll. But as always, smell/visual test is going to trump any "best by" dates. If the milk is chunky or smells, toss that **** out.
 
I learned a couple of years ago many of those dates are suggestions and you are fine to eat it well past that date. We volunteered to pack meals for a homeless organization and that's one of the things we learned was that many products have the date but don't even start to spoil, get stale, go bad, etc. until well after that date. I can't remember everything they said about it but it was pretty eye opening.
 
GolferGal said:
As I sit here munching on a bag of sun chips with a best by/sell by date of 11/19/19 and JB looking at me with disgust, it got me thinking. Do you follow those dates? For dairy and meat products I do, but for pretty much everything else I am willing to test it.

I actually read an article just the other day that talked about how you can eat things well past those suggested dates, sometimes up to a year past them.
Click to expand...

Word for word, I'm with you.

If it doesn't have mold or smell funk - I'll try it.
 
Depends on if the wife sees it 1st in which case it's history. Sell by and best by dates are only important for the seller. Unless the item is highly perishable, I am cool even months later giving them a try if it is a sealed package.
 
I don't eat meat after probably 3-4 days of it coming home from the grocery store.. I don't care at all what the date is on it.
Milk is no longer viable to me within a day of sell by.
Same with condiments and salad dressings etc.

I'd bet the closest flex I would have would be on something like chips, but even then I probably won't.
 
Canadan said:
I don't eat meat after probably 3-4 days of it coming home from the grocery store.. I don't care at all what the date is on it.
Milk is no longer viable to me within a day of sell by.
Same with condiments and salad dressings etc.

I'd bet the closest flex I would have would be on something like chips, but even then I probably won't.
Click to expand...

I just ate a bag of sun chips with a date of 11/19/19. I'll let you know later if I die, haha.
 
ddstanford said:
Depends on if the wife sees it 1st in which case it's history. Sell by and best by dates are only important for the seller. Unless the item is highly perishable, I am cool even months later giving them a try if it is a sealed package.
Click to expand...
That said, Canadan is right about milk and meat if not frozen, those dates are the highly perishables I was talking about
 
Yep nothing wrong with trying it past the best by date other than milk. Fortunately I’m my hose there is almost zero chance of milk ever going bad.
 
Meat is the only thing that I am 100% yay or nay on. Eggs get a week or so. Dairy gets the smell test. Chips, crackers, cookies, etc, I'll chance it if it passes the smell and touch test.

I found some Diet Coke stuck in a cabinet that was almost 2 years past its date. It was chunky.
 
I almost always follow it. It’s one of the few things in life that I actually follow. I’ve lost that game of chance too many times
 
Canadan said:
I don't eat meat after probably 3-4 days of it coming home from the grocery store.. I don't care at all what the date is on it.
Milk is no longer viable to me within a day of sell by.
Same with condiments and salad dressings etc.

I'd bet the closest flex I would have would be on something like chips, but even then I probably won't.
Click to expand...
The milk one is interesting, I dont care if the date is still good when it’s been open longer than 7 days I toss it out.
 
We have a very similar dynamic between my wife and I. I won't touch anything that is past the date. My wife is more lax on it, unless its dairy and meat which she follows.
 
Look, feel, and smell test.


Food is expensive, I'm not wasting it.
 
I will do milk 1 day past best by if it smells ok. Bread I will just make toast out of it.
 
GolferGal said:
As I sit here munching on a bag of sun chips with a best by/sell by date of 11/19/19 and JB looking at me with disgust, it got me thinking. Do you follow those dates? For dairy and meat products I do, but for pretty much everything else I am willing to test it.

I actually read an article just the other day that talked about how you can eat things well past those suggested dates, sometimes up to a year past them.
Click to expand...

We are more alike than you care to believe.

Those dates are simply there to enable companies to sell more product. Sure, as you stated, dairy and meat products demand more scrutiny, but many things are fine well beyond those dates... well past.
 
Carolina Dundee said:
The milk one is interesting, I dont care if the date is still good when it’s been open longer than 7 days I toss it out.
Click to expand...
I generally don't drink milk, and when I do it's just to wet cereal haha
 
Carolina Dundee said:
The milk one is interesting, I dont care if the date is still good when it’s been open longer than 7 days I toss it out.
Click to expand...

It'd have to be a 5 gallon bucket to be open >7 days in my house.
 
How about now?
 
Now?
 
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