Do you pay attention to the Best Used By dates, especially on bread? My wife and I have disagreed on this for 50 years. She says it is fine unless you can see mold. That doesn't work for me. We had half a loaf that was 10 days past the date - no way am I eating that when I have other options - I tossed it.

 

my wife and I argue about that all the time, she goes by the exact date on the label. The expiration dates are based more on flavour and freshness and to encourage repeat purchases rather than outright safety. My wife things it is unsafe to eat and drink items after the expiry date. I've drank milk after the expiry date with no issue, if it doesn't taste right I usually know right away.

I'm a nut for fresh bread, and I can't eat bread if it is too old, so I can see your point on the bread. Most of the bread we buy from bakeries is good for 1-2 days max then it goes stale. Most of the mass produced sliced bread seems to last a long time with the preservatives it tends to have.

 

Bread for me is one of those grey areas with expiration dates, I tend to agree with your wife, Dave. Sorry.

Expiration dates on milk, yeah if it's within a day or two I toss it. Way too many times have I not checked and it was unpleasant, like the TV commercial for chunky milk.

 

Depends on what it is how long past the date it is still edible/drinkable. But that date is definitely not absolute.

 

BTW - I freeze bread all the time. Then take out slices for toasting. Otherwise I would be throwing it away a lot. Tastes fine. And is not frozen all that long.

 

Most dates that you see on packages are "Sell By" or "Best By". "Sell By" tells the store when to remove it from the shelves but they are still good to use. "Best By" tell the consumer that after that date the product may not perform as well or may be bad.

To me both are a suggestion. I was raised where my mother would see mold on bread or cheese and just cut it off and milk was tested by smell. I've got jello boxes that are at least 5 years pass date.

 

I'm with Deb. As I remind my +1, "I haven't given you food poisoning in 49 years." To which he replies, "Not yet!"

 

^^^^X2......although I've only had my +1 for 42 years.
Levi

 

The smell test always works for me with milk. If its close to the best buy date +/- a day or two I always smell first.

We are both bread lovers but thankfully we don't live close to a bakery with great European bread. That would be a real challenge to watch the waistline (hahahah). So most of the time its just a question of chosing the best grocery store brands. We tend to freeze bagels and english muffins more than bread.

 

Bought some cookies from the Safeway bakery, and the label said Packaged on March XX, 2020. They were hard as a rock. I figure they didn't sell some, so they put them in a different container with that label. That's cheating to me. BTW, I took them back.