This amused me: "She grew up in a family where, when concerned if the milk was OK, they wouldn’t look at the expiry date but instead sniff it."
Everyone in our family always did this and so do I; I never realized people did otherwise. If it smells good (or doesn't smell at all), eat it. If it smells kind of bad, wash it. If it still smells bad after washing, then throw away.
> "Best Before" doesn't mean "Bad After"!
At our house now, when we look through the fridge and see something approaching/past its Best Before date, we brainstorm something we can make to use it up before it spoils. Pudding is a great way to use up any quantity of milk. Random Vegetable Soup: throw all of the questionable vegetables in to the Instant Pot with some chicken stock, pressure cook for 10 minutes, blend with a stick mixer. If cheese grows a bit of mold, we just cut it off and put it in a new container. Meat gets kept in a fridge that is just a hair too cold, and either gets used right away or frozen.
Writing all of this, I just realized that we produce very little food waste here. Occasionally some leftovers are forgotten in the back of the fridge and get moldy, but that's pretty rare.
If I found mould on my cheese I'd just slice it off, and eat the rest. (Though now I think about it, if I saw bread with mould on it I'd throw the whole loaf away.)
Idk, but if there's mold on one part of the loaf the whole thing smells funky.
https://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/wcm/connect/a87cdc2c-6ddd-49f0...
Cheese is already off milk, many have added mold, its a feature.
"Best before" is product quality information. "Use by" is product safety information. If a product says "best before mm/yyyy" you can use the product after that. There'll be a gradual deterioration in quality. But it may well be safe for years after the date (depending how it's stored and whether the packaging stays in shape).
"Use by" means you risk illness if you eat it after the date. Obviously there's a bit of a safety margin built in, and some people are at much higher risk of illness than others.
But I have two questions for you:
- where I live, most beer has only a "born on" date, and apparently never expires. What about over there?
- and my only test for egg goodness is that good ones sink and bad ones will float. I've heard that eggs in the UK are prepared for sale differently - does this test work for them?
My wife calls me the "Half price king" because I wander around looking for things. Bizarre stuff you can get on sale includes wine (where they have no room on the shelves and have to sell their old stock to accommodate the new stock -- companies pay for placement!), but also stuff like cultured butter or yogurt (yogurt fermented with a theromophilic culture by a reputable supplier will last months and months), natto (well... I like it), pickles, etc. I also look for beef that's gone off colour, or deep sea fish that's been kept frozen. Also, fruits are often great just before they go off, so as long as you intend to eat it that day, you can often get really good discounts.
On the downside, I have to warn my wife about buy bread and spices on sale -- some things really go down hill with age.
The only thing that I'm aware you should be really careful about is leftover rice. Bacteria can produce a toxin which isn't destroyed by heat and can be deadly. I cant think of any other counter examples to where, if it isn't obviously off, it's ok.
I guess they mean "wash the neck of the bottle". The neck can gather milk that goes off and smells even if the rest of the milk is ok.
And indeed, keeping rice for too long is really not recommended.