Expiry dates on food

Chris Wilson said:
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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I suppose that' because we medicate cows more heavily these days so there' less chance of gettng tb
 
dowie said:
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?
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yes online orders.

On their website they have guaranteed use by dates. They are very conservatively set tho, but they still manage to breach them.

e.g. on sandwich spread it usually comes with a week or so on it, but they are really passive and only set it at 2+ days on the website, but once every 3 or 4 deliveries it will arrive with less than 2 days on it, so in that instance they supposed to let you refuse the delivery.

In practice they refund and let you keep it.

It used to be a whole lot better tho.

First of all the dates used to be much better e.g. for spreads it used to be 5+ days not 2+.
Breads were 4+ at start and are now a petty 1+.
They used to give a £5 voucher for "each" item that failed to meet the date and automatically, and I think that was losing them a shed ton of money, needless to say this got scrapped as a policy. But they will still give vouchers if you get a lot of items in a single delivery with poor dates and ring up.

The funny thing is if you go in the tesco that does my deliveries their dates are fine, so I am pretty confident these low date stuff is deliberately been picked out to home customers as a means to offload it.

I do abuse the policy on their fresh sandwiches and baps. Most have 2+, some have 3+, these never got culled when they reduced spreads, bread etc. If i order say 10 sandwiches, valued at circa £30, usually at least 7 or 8 fail to meet the date, they listed on the receipt the driver hands over as not meeting the target use by date, its an instant large refund. They also very good at meeting the min order sizes, which is £25 for "any" order or £40 to avoid the £4 delivery tax for small orders. So e.g. if you order £10 food, with £30 sandwiches, and they refund £25 for sandwiches, it still counts as over £40.
 
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Glaucus said:
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.
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Milk is not packed in a vacuum, so the is air in the container and the milk.

So it freezes and makes the milk taste like ****.

Don't freeze milk. ;)
 
I have seen weird things happen to out of date food.

e.g. carton milk eventually balloons up like a blown up balloon, I have also had a "in date" can of coke explode inside the fridge although that may have been the fridge set too cold and been a temp issue.
 
LeeUK said:
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.
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That may seem good in theory but when I worked in the food industry we were pestered for longer dates, because short dates means short time windows to shift the stock, makes stock management a nightmare. Manufacturers could negotiate a higher price if they got the dates longer and the retailers made more money because they had less wasted stock. This was before the law that came in that forbids selling out of date food, so it can only be worse now not better with that law in place.
 
Had some anchovies in the bottom of the fridge since Nov last year that say consume within 3 weeks. They smelt slightly off but chopped and chucked into a sauce you wouldn't know it.

Also recently used some mozzarella (the stuff in water) that was 2 months out and smelt fine.
 
riamu said:
Hi, are there any food items which can be used even after their expiry date has elapsed? For example a loaf of bread or a point of milk, can they be used a day or two after the expiry date? Also if bread is frozen and then defrosted, how long will it last and does it have to be kept in the fridge after defrosting. Can milk be frozen? thanks
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Heya! Based on your registration date on these forums and hence extrapolating your age I believe this to be a troll thread.
 
Raymond Lin said:
Generally speaking when food go bad, it takes a while, it doesn't go from perfect to rot just because the clock struck midnight. Trust your nose, if it smells bad, then it probably is bad.

I keep bread in the freezer for AGES, take 2 slices out straight into the toaster to make toasts.

Milk I tend to just smell it, when milk goes bad, it's very easy to tell.
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It's not bad until the rim is crusty!
 
lookitsjonno said:
Had some anchovies in the bottom of the fridge since Nov last year that say consume within 3 weeks. They smelt slightly off but chopped and chucked into a sauce you wouldn't know it.

Also recently used some mozzarella (the stuff in water) that was 2 months out and smelt fine.
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I had some potatoes for tea which had a best before date of sometime in March which were still perfectly fine. I've also got satsumas in the fridge that are weeks out of date and still fine also. Big pet hate is best before dates on fruit and veg. How did we ever manage before them!
 
chrcoluk said:
yes online orders.

On their website they have guaranteed use by dates. They are very conservatively set tho, but they still manage to breach them.

e.g. on sandwich spread it usually comes with a week or so on it, but they are really passive and only set it at 2+ days on the website, but once every 3 or 4 deliveries it will arrive with less than 2 days on it, so in that instance they supposed to let you refuse the delivery.
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You check each individual item before the delivery person leaves? Surely the guy delivering it just leaves the bags with you and wants to be gone?

Good to know though.

itchy said:
Milk is not packed in a vacuum, so the is air in the container and the milk.

So it freezes and makes the milk taste like ****.

Don't freeze milk. ;)
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this is just silliness

it is the change in consistency that you're getting confused over - some small change in humidity of a tiny air gap in the bottle (which will be reversed when you melt the frozen milk) has nothing to do with it
 
dowie said:
You check each individual item before the delivery person leaves? Surely the guy delivering it just leaves the bags with you and wants to be gone?

Good to know though.
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I do not usually check items, it would take too long.

Their systems seem to be coded to flag items when the dates are low, so its on the receipt, also the pickers put short dated products and substitutes in different yellow bags so if they need scanning etc. they easy to find, as they have to be scanned by the driver to refund.
 
itchy said:
Milk is not packed in a vacuum, so the is air in the container and the milk.

So it freezes and makes the milk taste like ****.

Don't freeze milk. ;)
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or dont say stupid stuff, rather than trying get out of it. a container has a very small air gap at he top and tha air gap wil contain 99% of water from the milk, and our talking about an absolutely tiny amount which makes zero diference.
most milk is absolutely fine to freeze, not only is it very low fat as its had the cream skimmed off, is also homogenised meaing it normally doesnt seprate either.
 
I smell test everything, that's what a nose is for. You will know if it's gone off.

They have to put expiry dates on everything because regulations say so. Most of it is BS.

Also an easy way to tell if an egg is bad is if it floats.
 
Lol at some of these comments, I freeze milk and cheese (softer varieties mainly) fairly often, with no issue on defrosting.
 
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