… Also “often a waste”??? always a waste. People (myself included) need to get better at planning meals so there’s less food waste generally. I’m guilty of wasting food sometimes, and I get really cross with myself.
No, some things last for a long time, others don’t.
For example:
- We bought 3 pallets of Almond milk (by mistake! I only wanted 1) at an auction a few years ago. It is all in 1L tetrapaks, and although it went out of date in August 2024, it is still good, and we use it every day.
- Crisps - We have a pallet of Walkers cheese and onion crisps in “aluminium” (mylar?) bags bought at a similar time. They are still crunchy and taste fine. Some Morrisons own-brand dorito-type corn chips in normal plastic (with see-through section) bags which came in the same package, didn’t fare so well. They lasted less than a year after their BBE date.
- Organic Seaweed sheets - these were also packed in “aluminium” (mylar?) bags too (with moisture inhibitor “pillows”. They lasted well past their BBE date, but don’t taste nice when eaten straight from the bag - maybe this is something to do with the oil that was used (and possibly the same reason as why the “doritos” didn’t last long)?
- Beer - different types age differently. I don’t like beer, but I had loads of Fosters and Stella left over from a party. Both had similar BBE dates. After about a year past their BBE, the Fosters cans started frothing when opening (even though they weren’t shaken), and made my stomach feel a bit weird (I was trying to make shandies out of them as I can cope with that!). Stella Artois, on the other hand, was still fine at the same point, and for several months after.
- Pepperami - I ate one that was 10 years out of date. It tasted fine, and I didn’t die, which was a bonus.
I don’t risk it it with meat so much, but you can usually tell as it changes colour obviously.
As I’m trying to eat less meat and more vegan alternatives, a lot of the alternatives to sausages and burgers etc. last a long time after their BBE. Recently one vegan burger had a bit of mold on it, so I scraped it off before cooking it and it tasted fine - I wouldn’t have done that with a meat version :/
It really annoys me when people throw stuff out the day after something goes out of date. Whatever it is won’t become immediately radioactive/poisonous, are they that stupid?? grrr
I had an ex that would use that date to determine when to throw everything away. Drove me nuts… Use your nose or try a bite . Everything spoils differently.
Everything spoils differently.
This is where info seems to be scant.
My mother often told me: if there is mold in something with tomatoes → death… toss it. I’m sure there is a grain of truth to that but I recently tested this. I scooped out a bit of mold from tomato sauce in left-overs, and ate the rest w/out issues. I probably reheated the left-overs but don’t exactly recall.
Heard stories about some granny unwittingly using spoiled mayonaise in potato salad served to her church which killed people. Bacteria/virus/pathogens love eggs (hence why it’s used for vaccine making). So I don’t fuck w/mayonnaise but fries vendors often have big tanks of unrefrigerated mayonnaise with hand pumps. Not quite sure why that has no issues.
In any case, it would be useful to find a reliable source on what kinds of bacteria are common in what foods, and ultimately which spoiled foods are more or less likely to cause serious issues.
How you react to eating unsafe food can depend as much on you as it does on the food. What you could eat without noticing any issue might make some other person very sick and kill yet another person. It can depend on factors like how good your immune system is feeling that day, what it has experience dealing with, how good your overall health is, and what specific species makes up your gut biome. Or, counter-intuitively, sometimes if you are less healthy overall, it can mean that something doesn’t affect you as much, eg if you have gut issues that prevent you from absorbing toxins related to some pathogen, you could pass it fine while it knocks a healthier friend of yours on their ass.
For the mayo, my guess would be the ones usually not kept in a fridge likely use more preservatives, though I’d bet they also have a shorter shelf-life than the ketchup and mustard pumps. Another possibility is that it isn’t really mayo but just something that looks and tastes like it but was made very differently.
For which bacteria is present on foods, I believe that this is very region-dependent and that the supply chain will play a bigger role than the food type (though food type will affect which bacteria and fungus species thrive on it). Might see different microbe profiles based on time of year and all of them will be evolving new clades and going extinct over time. Not sure how much of an impact survival of the fittest has on what this actually looks like from year to year or decade to decade, but understanding what microbes are doing what to your food could be a moving target similar to trying to keep track of what covid clades are associated with what symptoms or traits.
Even grocers get this wrong. I asked a grocer if I could get a mark down on beer that was past the best by date. Was told “actually I cannot sell that to you” before taking it off to the back room.
In more progressive regions, food past the date is given to charity, who then know more about the meanings of the dates and the safety tolerances.
In more progressive regions, food past the date is given to charity, who then know more about the meanings of the dates and the safety tolerances.
I volunteer at a food bank, and I can tell you
food past the date is given to charityis correct. Howeverwho then know more about the meanings of the dates and the safety tolerances.is wholly incorrect at our food bank. As long as there is no visible mold it is given out. If there is no way to inspect it, it is given out.It sucks that there’s so little expertise or interest in being academic about it. Over the decades these things have been running for, there should be a database of which foods are generally fine to ignore any best by date, what specifically is best by that date and how it isn’t as good after, what to watch out for on the safety side of things, and when to not risk it.
Theres a place near me that sells products with damaged packaging as well as past the sell-by date. Prices are similar to grocery shopping in the 90s, so it’s where I buy most of the shelf-stable foods I eat. I balk at grocery store prices now, and just go without until I have time to make the hour and a half (one way) trek out there. Stuff like chips/crackers are a caution item cuz the oil starts to taste bad (still edible just not good), ultra-pasteurized milk starts to separate, and sauces can taste stale depending what they are made with (acocado and olive oil bases seem to be prone to this)
But otherwise its a great way to use food that would otherwise go to waste, they get stuff from indian and asian groceries as well so I get to try a lot of stuff I’d never otherwise buy due to being wildly expensive import stuff. And it saves a ton of money. And if you buy something for $1 and it sucks, you don’t feel bad throwing it away.
Grocery Outlet has lots of stuff close to the date for a fraction of the price of other stores. I love it. I get most of my dry groceries and a bit of my perishables there. So much better than any of the major chains.
Most food safety measures are there for restaurants to prevent one-in-ten-million cases. There are so many things that people online treat as unsanitary that really aren’t a big deal. Fresh cooked food doesn’t magically become poison if you don’t refrigerate it within 2 hours. Washing chicken in the sink or defrosting meat in a sink full of water doesn’t turn your whole kitchen into a bio-hazard. Raw eggs are not 100% guaranteed salmonella bombs just waiting to contaminate anything they touch. Most household fridges are kept just a couple degrees above freezing, and can even reach freezing temps if they’re far enough in the back; I promise you things like leftover pizza or casseroles will not go bad within a week.
You don’t need to wash chicken.
You dont need to, but it does have an effect on the texture of the final dish. Typically, it’s done with sliced meat, not whole cuts.
Most of the people telling you not to wash chicken are sticking a whole chicken under a running faucet and splashing everywhere, which is bad. The right way to do it is just put your cut chicken into a bowl, add some water, and swirl it around with your hand. Then you can drain off the water and add your marinade or whatever. There’s effectively no difference from that and just washing dishes that have touched raw chicken.
You end up with a much more tender final product.
I’m skeptical that water alone would tenderize chicken, but I’ll have to give it a try to find out.
Kenji Lopez-Alt discusses it in his video here. There’s a little bit more detail in his book The Wok.
I don’t even look at the date.
Smell, fuzziness, colour, texture. And also guts of steel and an unholy track record of dumpster diving and self sufficiency - I had to learn how to trust my senses.
Only on milk. Learned that one the hard way.
Refrigerated meat (namely poultry, don’t do red meat so idk) also mostly gets tossed after the one week mark but I have a weaker immune system. Although, living in the US I don’t like eating too much meat for that same reason.
Dry goods are fine unless there’s mold or bugs.
Everything else gets the sniff test, or only goes if there’s visible mold. ¯\(ツ)/¯
Same thing, I don’t fuck around with milk or meat. Otherwise I try to use my best judgment. Saw someone say they threw out unopened baking powder that had expired and ngl I was a little bit horrified…
Baking powder is one that does go bad. It won’t make you sick but it will stop working. Although throwing it out without testing it is crazy. You just have to put a little into warm water and if it bubbles it is still good.
Right yeah like it won’t make you sick but you don’t know it’s off yet. Plus you could add a little bit extra if it is a bit “flat”
Only on milk.
Milk is usually good for at least a week after the sell by date.
It really varies wildly with milk, at least for me. I’ve had it be good for a week after the date, and sometimes it’s already bad a day or two before the date. Always gotta test it!
I’ve noticed that higher fat content seems to last longer. e.g., 2% seems to stay fresher for longer than skim.
I only ever buy whole milk and its still so variable! I tell it whenever I put it in the fridge to be good, but it does not listen.
Even badly expired milk, like when it starts to sour and get clumps, can still useful, as you can still use them in recipes, like baking cookies and cakes
We used to make batches of farmers cheese with spoiled milk, and I think give the whey to our tomato plants. You can also then use the cheese to make syrniki which is awesome. These days we’re not buying much milk so it hasn’t come up as much.
