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So they were talking on the radio today about eating foods after their expiration or “Sell By” dates. It seems people have super strong opinions about this, so I am curious to hear what you think!
B is of the opinion that if the milk says sell by 9/5/13, you must drink every last drop by 11:59pm on 9/5/13 or it must be thrown out. There are no exceptions made to this rule. I smell it first and if it smells fine, I’m cool with using it the next day. However, if like mold gets on cheese or something, I will NOT just cut it off and eat the rest. I can’t do it. We just had this conversation up-north and my mom and Grandma insisted it was fine. I had a different kind of cheese on my wrap ;).
But what do you think? Is it okay if it’s past it’s expiration date or do you toss it? I once had some ladies I was waiting on (I was a server at a Country Club in college) send back cans of Coke because they were past their expiration dates by like a week. I thought that was a little much, but then again, those cans of Coke were quite expensive if I recall correctly!
It depends on what it is. Cheese…I am OK cutting the bad part out. Bread on the other hand if it smells funny or if I see any itty bitty something that does not belong I just cant eat it (some people do)…milk…I go by the smell.
My husband is like yours, if it’s past the date at all, he won’t touch it. I however, will smell or taste it first, and as long as its not too far past, I’ll still use it. I’m the one who prepares the food in my household, so he would go nuts if he knew I used any expired food. Good thing he doesn’t read your blog.
If its past its date – we throw it out. Yogurt always gets me at the store. I picked some up yesterday and as I was double checking dates they were sell by dates in August. I set them aside and let the manager know.
I agree with what you said. I said yes but it really depends on what it is I think. Mold is a nogo but a day or so past on something in the fridge and I’m ok with that. I’m even sure we’ve had pasta that was pretty expired but I was like its pasta what could be bad. My mom is a strict no expired person and she’s really picky about her fridge. I grew up with and she still enforces the 2 day rule. Leftovers must be thrown away on the second day usually in her way that morning so if you want the leftovers you better eat them the next day. We’d be so screwed at my house now since N will eat leftover pizza from the fridge for days. LOL I figure I’m nuking it so that will kill whatever might have decided to grow. 😉
I work at a Food Lion, and I can assure you that the sell by date is just so grocery stores that sell milk can assure they’re selling quality products. You’ve got a good week after the sellby date until anything might actually go bad. There’s a difference between sell by and expiration, but even then you’ve got a buffer zone! We give all of our stuff that has gone past its sell by date to the food pantry ??people won’t buy it in the stores, so we donate it. It still lasts for a week after that!
It depends on what it is! A lot of “expiration” dates are really just sell by dates. Milk and yogurt are usually fine past the date and a lot of cheese is actually mold already (blue cheese for example), so it’s perfectly fine to cut off the pieces with mold and eat the non-affected parts. Even brown lettuce or bruised fruits are perfectly edible, but most people just throw them out due the gross factor. The only exception to this in my opinion is meat. I would never risk it. You aren’t even supposed to reheat meat (from leftovers) more than once.
I don’t eat anything past the expiration date, even though it is usually fine, I don’t feel like risking it.
I won’t use stuff after the expiration date, but I do believe that my milk rule is (after smelling) is up to 5 days, and shit eggs are like supposed to be good like 2 months after sell by date. So u can’t use the sell by date as an expiration date.
It depends on what it is…. Most things as long as they look and smell ok are fine. Bread is one I throw out if I even see the slightest bit of mold, cheese im ok with cutting off the mold as long as its fairly contained… if its growing all over I toss it. Milk I go by the smell but we go through almost 3 gallons a week so it doesnt really have time to go bad. My husband in the other hand is extreme but after years of being a beer salesman and constantly having to check expiration dates and rotating I guess that’s expected. 🙂
I grew up poor so we ate tons of foods past their expiration dates when we would get them from various charities. I don’t have a problem eating something personally that’s expired or even if it has a bit of mold, I’ll cut it off and eat a different part. But I won’t serve that to anybody else in my family or friends. If I make myself sick, that’s one thing, but I don’t want to be responsible for anybody else getting sick. What I have a problem with is restaurant leftovers left in the car while we go to a movie or shopping… I won’t touch that!
I read somewhere that you should never just cut off the moldy part and eat the rest of something. Just because you don’t see the green on the outside doesn’t mean that the mold isn’t growing inside the cheese or bread or whatever. I can’t recall the source, but it really stuck with me. Also only some cheese is made from mold, so if you don’t know for 100% that it’s ok to eat it, don’t. (so says the mayo clinic anyway).
My family sounds like yours. The hubby is a no-go on milk after the date but I do the smell test. I’m not cool with cutting off mold; I figure those little spores have already reached the rest of the product, it’s just not showing yet. No thank you.
My husband is like B, and won’t touch stuff the day after it “expires”, but like several people here, I worked at a grocery store, and know that it is still fine. That is a fight on the regular.
lol, those dates aren’t so much expiration dates as they are sell by dates… Milk is usually good up to a week after the sell by date, that also goes for yogurt and cheese… Sour cream, hell no, that ish is in the trash the day after it expires. There are a few other things that if they smell fine I will eat, but I won’t push it, especially since I’m pregnant.
Tim and I try not to let things in our house get that far, but I’ve been known to grow expirements out of food when they get shoved to the abyss of the fridge, lol.
But honestly, I guess it depends on the person and the experiences that they have had…
If it’s a “sell by” date then there shouldn’t be a problem with the product lasting a week or so after that date. With any foods, even if the date hasn’t passed, you should throw it out if it smells or looks bad.
If it’s an expire date, depends on what it is. Web MD has a great post about dates and such (http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/features/do-food-expiration-dates-matter)…I know cuz I had a discussion with someone about expiration dates on aspirin bottles recently and came across this article.
I have to agree with B about the expiration dates, although I don’t drink milk and disagree with you about the Coke. I won’t drink Coke even if it’s a month before te expiration date not only is it already flat but the taste is already different within that time frame, it starts having a weird almost chemical taste, I do not blame those ladies for sending it back. I have done the same thing.