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Expiry dates on food
- Thread starter riamu
- Start date
The molecular structure of freezing will increase the water to milk ratio.
Freezing will always increase water content on any produce.
Use by is an expiry date for health purposes, so in other words you risk causing problems with your health.
My own personal experience I tend to notice a drop in quality of food even before the use by date, so I found it distasteful to eat the food anyway, so I dont even bother trying to.
I also sometimes visibly see things like rot on bread that is yet to hit the use by date, so I even have a suspicion these dates are set too aggressively for profit reasons.
TESCO on average refund me £5-10 every food shop due to short dated products I absolutely refuse to accept food with less than 48 hours on it and pay full price for it, unless its food designed to be eaten same day.
They clearly find this profitable else they would stop using me as a drop off point for their short dated products I mean I am baffled, its cheaper to give me a 2 day expiry loaf of bread for free than make me pay £1 for a 3 day loaf of bread. But thats up to them.
My own personal experience I tend to notice a drop in quality of food even before the use by date, so I found it distasteful to eat the food anyway, so I dont even bother trying to.
I also sometimes visibly see things like rot on bread that is yet to hit the use by date, so I even have a suspicion these dates are set too aggressively for profit reasons.
TESCO on average refund me £5-10 every food shop due to short dated products I absolutely refuse to accept food with less than 48 hours on it and pay full price for it, unless its food designed to be eaten same day.
They clearly find this profitable else they would stop using me as a drop off point for their short dated products I mean I am baffled, its cheaper to give me a 2 day expiry loaf of bread for free than make me pay £1 for a 3 day loaf of bread. But thats up to them.
What is that in reference to - online orders? Do they regularly deliver stuff close to the useably date when you order online and you then get a refund?
Soldato
I think it's the other way round, they put shorter dates on so you chuck it away and buy more. Hence why most stuff is still perfectly fine a day or 2 past the use by date. Note that bread is usually best before which means it is perfectly safe to eat if it is still in good visible condition.
Also I often shop at Aldi on a Saturday evening and most times nearly everything only has maximum 2 days use by left which is no good if I'm shopping for the week.
Soldato
who to?
Nothing I could prove to anyone outside of the company and anyone inside the company wouldn't of cared.
opened a vac sealed steak yesterday, it was well within the use by date and looked ok but there was a rotten smell, like someone had just taken a dump , I binned it
Strange that it looked and felt ok, normally there’s some sign that it’s off
Strange that it looked and felt ok, normally there’s some sign that it’s off
That will be a bacterial infection that has got to the steak before packaging, bloody scruffs need to clean the factory up.
Soldato
I always freeze milk and bread generally doesnt go mouldy inside the use by date unless you leave the bag open or leave it in a damp environment. Ie, a non ventiled bread bin!
Good lord no.
Where do you think these extra water molecules are from.
Er the air. You never noticed ice build up inside the freezer and packets of food? Although how much can build up inside a milk container is debatable.
The problem with milk is it tends to separate when freezing. The water basically freezers faster then the fat contents. The fats tends to stick together and if the milk has very high fat it might not even freeze. As, it has a very low freezing point and the freezer might not be able to freeze it 100%.
Thus it won't defrost evenly. So, if you don't wait until it 100% defrosted it won't be the same as before. And even once 100% defrosted it might not mix up back quite like it was before being frozen. As the fats still tends stick together upon defrosting.
EDIT: More accurate descriptions!
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Man of Honour
The volume of the water increases when frozen (ie the water content expands), but I'm not sure that it's possible for the actual content to change?
Permabanned
Apparently the fat content, highest in full fat milk, predictably, separates out and is changed by freezing and it does not reconstitute back to the unfrozen milk's state, so can taste watery and somewhat grainy. This is much less noticeable in skimmed or semi skimmed milk. A lot of people round these rural parts still drink unpasteurised milk straight from the cow, and shun warnings of bacteria and live to a ripe old age. I must say it does taste a hell of a lot better in my opinion. Still not as good as a decent pint of beer though.... 
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Dear lord no. Water can't just penetrate a container.
If you just pour milk into your freezer then you would be right. Most people do not. Most people have it I. Sealed container. It does not gain or lose everything at all.
As you now correctly point out it may split the rlmusion offat and water.
Milk will have no issue freezing regardless of fat content. How do you think ice cream freezes. -18c is cold. Although your principle of higher fat content lowers freezing point.
This is BS
Glaucus is right, you don't gain any water.
You might find it clumps together a bit and therefore seems more watery, but you don't get extra water magically appearing, it is just a change in consistency not an increase in water content.
Er I thought that what I said.
Man of Honour
What a deviant.