Getting rid of the "sell by date"

They are going to stop putting a sell by date on food, apparently to stop waste!! doesn't matter if we all get food poisoning as long as it gets eaten!!!!!

Val

 

It's the " use by " one that's the important one Val. That and the " best before " will remain on the package so they will be safe to consume if you go by those.

 

I've got no problem with it at all ... we are still alive and well and didn't have 'sell by / use by dates' as we were growing up and young adults.

I believe everything is too 'hygenic' these days and people do not have a tolerant immune system.

I actually have several friends who carry around these liquids to wash their hands every moment and live in virtual 'bubbles' and they are always ill with this, that or the other ... I wonder why ..... ?

Remember what killed the Martians in War of the Worlds ................?

 

So rather than supermarket staff simply checking labels and putting stuff in the reduction cabinet, the supermarkets will have to comission some new barcode reader software to arrive at the exactlty the same answer, perhaps even with a greater margin of error (safety), and will also customer distrust of the new system result in a further inbuilt margin of error, all resulting in far more stuff actually getting chucked away?

 

Sainsburys sausages????

Val

 

I always check the " use by " date on stuff I buy anyway. Reduced price or not. If I don't plan on using it by that time I just freeze it. Then when I thaw it I make sure it gets used the same day.

 

Its the use by date that matters Val, sell by is just something the retailers use.

Made a meal from dried ingredients from the 1960's, still here to tell the tale.

There is a shed in Antartica that still has food from the early expeditions,some of which could still be eaten, although the fats have gone rancid, but thats the reason we started using spices, to discuise the taste of rancid meat.

Scott's Hut - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You wouldn't want to go eating supplies from The Franklin Expedition though,

Franklin's lost expedition - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The tins they used were soldered with Lead, the food was poisonous & they all died horribly.:(

 

:roflsign::roflsign::roflsign:

More like their "Vegetarian" Quorn pie, flavoured with dead Moo Moos.

Don't think us vegies have forgotten that Mr Sainsbury:gaagh::gaagh::gaagh:

 

Tom Cruise ?

 

Cant actually see what all this date stuff achieves.

Bought some kidneys off the butchers counter in Morrison's once and they were as high as a kite.
Because they weren't prepacked, and were so called, "fresh", you dont get a date.

 

IMO it wont change anything for us consumers but I do find when going shopping with Mrs Lazydog you can struggle to get stuff i.e bread that has a use by date of more than a couple of days.Now that doesn't effect us but how do people cope when shopping for the month!
Or do they just buy loads of processed ready food (YUK)
i reckon is just so the supermarkets can con us more and make more profit.
Will get of my soap box now (I hate supermarkets with a vengence)

 

when was that? sounds like quite a scandal:OUCH:

 

I've never been too worried about sell bay, best before or use by dates. The wife however is the exact opposite and takes them as gospel. I've made some progress in teaching her the errors of her ways and she's not so wasteful now.

For raw meat, my rule is if it looks right and smells right, and I cook it right, we wont die. In fact we'll enjoy it and be no worse for it.

For eggs, if there is any doubt, I use the 'egg test'. You gently place the raw egg in a pan or jug of water. If it stays firmly at the bottom, it is good. If it floats, it is bad. A second test once you've broken the shell is if the yoke is form and vivid yellow or orange, it is good. If it is very pale and saggy, it is a bit dubious.

Bread is good as long as there is no mould on it. If its gone too hard to use just as bread, it is ok for toast, eggy bread (french toast to the posh), or, and credit to Ziggy, it can be scrunched up with water, sugar and currants (or other fruit), whacked in the oven for a bit, and served with custard as a delicious and filling pudding.

I rule fruit and veg to be ok if they look ok. Tomatoes that are no longer firm get used in sauces, wrinkly peppers (as long as they aren't mouldy or turning liquid) go in spicy dishes. Green veg is ok if its still green (and not liquid).

These are some of the food rules I live by, and at the time of writing, I'm still not dead.

 

Problem solved:-
Eggs from the nesting box
veg from garden or freezer
meat from butcher
bread from the oven
Tinned stuff ignore sell by/use by
pickles and jam try to use within 12 months of making
On the odd occasions we go to the supermarkets is for bits and pieces and cooking oil vinegar.
We have an asian supermarket near us and if we want any fresh veg I dont grow we buy it there they have no packaging a big turnover their veg is always fresh and 1/2 the price of the big named places + they sell goat and mutton which make delicious curries again which freeze and get used when ever (If i dont eat them before wife puts them in the freezer!)

 

Some years ago I recall a comedian doing a joke on 'food dates' which went something like - (ostensibly reading from the label on a bottle of water) 'Natural, fresh, spring water, gently filtered through granite rock over millions of years. Best before end of April!' Which just about sums it up really.

I can't for the life of me, understand why they even bothered with 'sell by', 'best before by' or 'use by', dates in the first place. Since their introduction people have become obsessed by them and it's clear that half the people don't even understand the difference between them anyway.

My Mother, Grandmothers and innumerable generations before them, (without the benefit of fridges and freezers), managed perfectly well to tell when something was edible and when it wasn't, then along came a tiny little bit of printing and suddenly people begin throwing away copious amounts of food 'because of the date'.

I take absolutely no notice of them, as others have already said, I drop an egg in cold water; if bread has mould on it then I don't use it, if it just smells a bit 'yeasty' then it's fine for bread pudding or to dry and turn into breadcrumbs; a couple of yellowing leaves on cabbage doesn't mean the whole thing has to go; I've made many a soup with little more than just 'wrinkly' veg., and whilst I grant you, lumpy milk 'aint good irrespective of it's 'date', I shall continue to slice mouldy bits off cheese and eat the rest.

The sooner people start ignoring stupid, arbitrary dates on things and rely on their noses and common sense the better.