Do you follow expiry dates?

On things like the coffee and drinks, they are at their very best before that date, but they will not hurt you after they expire. Even milk, I will use, especially for cooking. Meat, well if I buy it and it is close dated I will freeze it if I am not using it immediately. Most of these dates are set really early. Canned goods are something I will not use past date, though.

I learned somewhere before that expiration dates are actually one month advance. Example, food will expire October 2012, they say that you can still eat that food until November 2012.. I'm not sure about that but I think my mother believes that. As for me, I am uncomfortable touching food that are expired. I'd rather buy something new than risk my stomach..

Hello Ricki. With me it depends on what the product is and how it was sealed if opened whether or not I will either use it or toss it out. I just went through the cupboard the other day and threw out some pancake waffle mix and instant milk that had been open for over a year. I read t hat after a while they can collect mold and so can cause illness. I now transfer them to zipplock bags. Most things I don't pay much attention to the expiration date unless it can really be unsafe to eat. I don't keep meet left overs or lunch meat over the expiration date. Now my granddaughter threw out some perfectly good yogurt that had gone past the expiration date by just a few days. The only thing I am a real stickler about is any thing that can cause food poisoning. Most things have so many preservatives that they just can't go bad even if they wanted to. If it's on sale past the expiration date I do buy it after checking to make sure it is still sealed real good.

Honestly a lot of the dates on packages are just advisory. Now I don't eat candy from a few years ago, or anything for that matter, but that's just me. I know that things have a very long shelf life past their expiry date but I still worry. So I guess I'm a weird one in that I know that the good by shelf date is usually nothing more then a suggestion, but I suppose I feel it will taste different when it's all in my head.

Expiration date is just a warning. we can eat or drink beyond that date. If I am not mistaken, the product will last 6 months after the expiration date reached.

Expiry dates do serve a purpose and they are there to remind us that nothing lasts forever. :) so best yet, use them while they're still at their best. why wait for the expiry date? That should also teach us not to stack up on things we do not really need (or occasionally need).

I do pay attention to expiry dates, but I am realistic about it. In the case of most food I would not keep it for long beyond the expiry date, but a day would be irrelevant tome. The addition of an expiry dates is a legal requirement that manufacturers must comply with, so they appear on many items that do not practically require one. Coffee is a good example, and I would be quite happy drinking it far beyond the displayed date. When the practice was first introduced in England, I noticed a vast amount of cheese on sale in the supermarket at incredibly low cost, simply because the date showed that it would expire in a couple of days. I must have bought about 3 kilogram of it, after all it not fresh food and cannot easily go off.

We follow expiry dates. hehe my mom is very particular with that and actually even if the expiry date is about 2 days from today and we ae to use it today, we would already not use the food as a safety precaution. =) my brother is really also very sensitive to these so we don't use them anymore.

I am strict about expiry dates and never consume anything beyond the expiry dates. I remember when I was on holiday in Australia, I had visited a shop in Melbourne where they were selling giant size tablerone chocolates at half the normal rate. I picked up a few pieces and as I was on my way to the payment counter I accidentally looked at the expiry date and was shocked that they were a year beyond the expiry date. I put back the pieces but was thoroughly disappointed. I love chocolates!

If it is food item i check date of manufacture and date of expiry, they don't call it date of expiry but 'best before'; if it is medicine specially antibiotics; expiry date is of great important, for shoes, wallets i don't bother.

Hi friend, good to know that you had a sensitive disgestive system and have the ability to take expired items without any side effects. I am not interested in consuming expired items and take risks in my health. Always i try my maximum to avoid expired items and through it like the girl

We always follow the expiry dates. We throw them out on the very day it has expired onwards. My mom had a bad case of food poisoning and it was a very traumatic experience and from then on we never even try to use expired foods. Better be safe than sorry.

Hmm, for me I don't want to risk my stomach though. Since I've had experienced the sickness after consumed instant noodles which past its expired date. At that time I didn't checked the expired date of that intant noodless and get sick from eating that. From now on I really don't want to risk myself by consuming something past expiration date.

I have known people who wouldn't eat something if it was the last day before it expired, even things that aren't fresh and just say the end of a particular month. Or 'best before' which doesn't necessarily mean that you can't eat it after the date. I won't eat meat/milk etc after the expiry date, but will with long-life things like tinned food.

depends on what it is ok but i always keep a lot of non perishables past their dates. stuff like hot chocolate (even if its opened. i am using up stuff i had since Christmas now that the weather has turned cooler); popcorn; pasta; chips (my mom manages a tuckshop at a nursing home and she gives us all the chips that have gone past their date and they are fine.) i don't see a problem with using up stuff like that even if they are passed their expiry date.

No, I don't. Neither does my mum. We ever consume food that are way past the expiry date, canned food for instance. I think accept when, like bread, already grow the fungus thing, then you should throw it out. But for me when food still smell okey then no need to throw away. I think expiry date is just for precaution, assumption of when it is not good for consumption, or maybe the seller just don't want to keep it too long, for fear that you might not buy another one real soon.

Non-perishable items are called non-perishable items for a reason. Yes, they might have a best by date on the can, but that definitely doesn't mean that you can't continue to eat or drink the product after that date has passed. Now, I won't continue to eat them indefinitely, but I will eat them for a period of time after the date has passed. With milk and dairy products, it is typically good for a week after the sell by date and the same is true with meat as well. However, even these things will last far longer than that as long as you've frozen it.

Hello 911Ricki, Nice topic indeed. I have never consumed any food stuffs after the expiry dates. Some times without my knowledge I would have consumed. But I think it may also due to climatic conditions which causes the food to get spoiled sooner or later. In my country as it is hot, it is very easy for the food to get spoiled not sure about the medicines. Hence we need to refrigerate the things which would get spoiled soon. But consuming stuffs which are expired depends upon the body conditions of the person's immune system I guess.

why should you problem on this, it's very simple follow the expiry date and it comes don't use it, bec, we buy for it for the go0d our life, in my place there's a mall they sell cheap food or anythng 2 m0nths before expiry date..

It depend. For milk, I follow the expired date strictly. Ror bread, if there's no growth on it after expired date, I'll still consume it. For other food, i follow the expired date loosely. i have an experience, where i buy 5 sticks of chocolate cheaply, which the expired date is in 1 month, and i found worm in one of it. i throw out the one with worm, and eat the rest.