Out Of Date Food

[carni 10,094]

I have just read a story in the Daily Mirror, Celebrity Master chef, about Brian Capron ruining a casserole with out of date suet.Well quiet a few years ago, an elderly lady neighbor sorted her pantry out and knowing i liked cooking she gave me lots of bits and bobs to use up.I cook in bulk and freeze individual portions.I cooked 6lb of best stewing steak and onions, thickened it and wanting some for the days dinner i used her donation of suet and made dumplings, leaving i to cook for another 25mins i went up stairs to bed make.Suddenly i realised the house was full of the most acrid nauseating smell,i couldn't understand why.UNTIL i looked at the date on the suet and it was 10yrs out of date.The taste was all through the stewing steak and all had to be thrown away, the smell in the house stayed even longer. But i do use out of date food i just use a bit of common sense.

PS, i should have took the hint, some of her flavourings were in little bottles that looked like old fashioned poison bottles lol

[mick2me 3,033]

I am one who hates wasted food, going back to my days as a kid, food was in short supply

[darkazana 1,736]

The use before brigade went a bit mad at one time, causing thousands of pounds of foods thrown away from shops and supermarkets needlessly. Especially stuff in tins which will actually keep for years.

I think it has been changed now and the best before dates are being removed, with only foods that can cause food poisoning if kept too long being labelled as Use By, such as meat products. If its Best Before then it will lose quality but will still be safe to use.

[darkazana 1,736]

This has just reminded me of a time when I was running a Youth Club, we had a Christmas Fayre to raise some money for the Club. Some one donated some sauce packets for the Tombola, the tickets of which cost 20p! The next Club night a villager came in absolutely livid that he had "won" a packet which was a week out of the Best Before date! He was going to report us to the Trading Standards etc etc and demanded his 20p back! After that I checked any goods that were donated for similar causes!

[Cliff Ton 10,488]

I always look at the "today's date but still fresh" price-reduction shelves in supermarkets. You get things cheap which might last for several days, and they still won't kill you.

For me a 'Best Before' date is a challenge, not a warning.

[carni 10,094]

Us Too,#2

I cant bare to throw food away, what ever is left usually fits in the next days meal somehow ,Christmas days dinner keeps us going for days, Boxing Day its the same again or Bubble and Squeak, Plus Turkey/Stuffing Sandwiches, next day,Bubble/Squeak again or Salad/jacket potato and remaining Turkey and Pork, it just goes on until it is all used. One thing we don't make is turkey Curry, I know lots of people like it but for us the Turkey is to strong tasting. What we have for our main meals usually contain some thing from the day before,ie All veg, i cover in cheese sauce and it goes really well with Jacket Potato.mmmmmmmm Food, My favourite subject. Most things give a hint by smell if they need throwing away, but not every thing so take care.

[LizzieM 9,514]

A while back I was taking a look in a little used (low down) cupboard in my Dad's kitchen. Right at the back was a grim sight ......... a great pile of blue, hairy mould. On further investigation I found that a 10 year old can of sliced peaches had exploded sometime in the past. The top had blown off but the rest of the tin was intact.

[Beefsteak 305]

As I've said in other threads , i do the weekly shop at 3.00pm on a Sunday just as everything is being given it's final reductions.

I can (And have) fed us for a week for a fiver or less !

[alisoncc 379]

We have a branch of a chain of stores that sell "almost expired" food, quite close. For those of us who are happy to shop for meals to eat that day, their prices can be a third of that in the major stores. It has a strong following amongst the local retirees on budgets. You don't go there to buy up for the week or longer though.

Interestingly they have staff whose role is to to check the shelves, and remove anything that has actually expired. But you can find lots of stuff due to expire in a few days. If you are a canny shopper you can get some real bargains. Recently bought some imported stilton cheese for an absolute fraction of the supermarket marked price, like 10%. And I reckon things like cheese improve with age anyway.

[poohbear 1,360]

Too many public get confused and think the 'Best Before' date is the same as 'Use By' date.There's a big difference.Many manufacturers alter the best before dates to suit their customers.I've seen Easter eggs with a date two years hence for one customer...and other batches conveniently dated just before the next year.

ie...boxes of chocolates dated early December.The manufacturers know that the public won't buy Granny a box that is out of best before date on Christmas Day.This forces the retailer to job them out to clear, and buy new stock for Christmas...good for business.

[Bilbraborn 1,594]

I work in the catering trade and we know that selling to the public, and using for yourself are two different things. Anything remotely out of date is a big NO NO for vulnerable people. Most places now have to purchase stock in a way that it can be traced back to source. I am lucky to acquire stuff that is out of date but edible.

When I was a kid, me mum's nose told her what was ok. These days, I would always be careful with high risk foods. Other perishables you use your common sense. If I pick blackberries from the wayside, there is no use by label on the bush. most people who cook regularly know what you can and can't do.

A few weeks ago I worked in the kitchen of a care home. An old lady had just celebrated her 100th birthday and there must have been hundreds of boxes of chocs all over the place. She had no chance of scoffing that lot before some went out of date. They were eating chocs with their breakfast dinner & tea. And so were we.

[darkazana 1,736]

Before semi retiring last year I too worked in the catering trade, formerly as a school cook supervisor, and finally as a cook in an elderly peoples residential home and it never failed to amaze me how many times I had to return food to our suppliers as it was too near the sell by date, as in the next day! (They knew it was for the elderly) and also how many well meaning family members brought in stuff that was almost out of date for their elderly relative.

[Bilbraborn 1,594]

As an agency worker, I did a few weeks on and off at a well known holiday home for the disabled in West Bridgford (now closed) . One day I was asked to sort out the dry food store and remove any out of date items. I filled six large boxes.

[colly0410 1,181]

I found some out of date (only a few days) boiled ham in the fridge, I thought I'd fry it in the George Forman grill thing (to sterilize it just in case of any germs) & have it with fried egg & tomatoes: Yuk, not a good idea, it was horrible, I slung it & had egg & tomato sarnie instead. I live & learn.

[Bilbraborn 1,594]

Personally, I'd like to know what criteria they use for this dating process. I have been in supermarkets and seen some right grotty looking pre-packed meat like mince and bacon which according to the label is well in date.

As I said before, I never push my luck with high risk foods, but fruit is OK. You can cut away the spoiling and make fresh (!?!?) fruit salad.

[alisoncc 379]

I work in the catering trade and we know that selling to the public, and using for yourself are two different things. Anything remotely out of date is a big NO NO for vulnerable people.

Definitely not the kind who built the British Empire, where curry was invented to mask the stench of rotting beef on the menu.

IMHO far too often this "vulnerable people" thing goes well over the top. There is a strong body of opinion that suggests that todays youth have depressed immune systems because they were never allowed to eat dirt, play in the rain, etc as young kids. Molly coddling them as children has produced sickly adults. It is believed that the Polio epidemic in the '50's came about from depressed immune systems for similar reasons.

When people get old and weak they die. It's the nature of things. Being somewhat cynical, do believe that the medical professions have their own agenda in providing palliative care. The longer they keep someone alive the more money they make. Compassion dictates that some should be allowed to die, but that's rarely where the "carers" are coming from. Rant over.

Peas pudding hot. Peas pudding cold. Peas pudding in the pot, nine days old. But then again the people who spoke that are all dead. Probably because they were "vulnerable people."? :-)

[mudgie49 401]

I can't imagine rotting beef being on the menu in India, the cow being a sacred animal, and most Indians being vegetarian.The idea behind curried food was to preserve the the poultry and fish,and the fact the various blend of spices, enhanced the taste.

[dgbrit 258]

Grew up broke but you are asking for trouble eating out of date food not for me sorry.

But then again there is a 12 yr old Christmas pudding in the fridge including a sixpence.

[alisoncc 379]

I can't imagine rotting beef being on the menu in India, the cow being a sacred animal, and most Indians being vegetarian.The idea behind curried food was to preserve the the poultry and fish,and the fact the various blend of spices, enhanced the taste.

The reference was to "Building the British Empire". The Brits did eat beef in India, and elsewhere. And curry was a British invention during the Raj for the specific purpose of disguising rancid meat as they had no refrigeration then. There is a documentary around somewhere that addresses this in very precise terms. Curry as such was unknown in India before the Brits arrived. So sorry love.

[Bilbraborn 1,594]

Alisoncc. I was referring to the law. I agree with you in many ways. In Radford kids used to play in the back yards next to a leaky outside lavvy. We sat in freezing cold classrooms with our coats on. As I mentioned in another thread on this forum, I (and loads of other kids) used to play around a smelly canal. But we survived with strong bodies.

I have a serious digestive disease but I would put that down to the copious amounts of scotch that I used to tip down my throat when I lived in Glasgow.

My wife seriously believes that a stew tastes better after being stored for a couple of days in a warm kitchen. I always manage to sneak it into the fridge.

[alisoncc 379]

I (and loads of other kids) used to play around a smelly canal. But we survived with strong bodies.

Canal was the best place to play. The stretch between Carrington Street and Wilford Road was my favourite. A youngster from across the street fell in there and drowned. Name of John Priest, probably about eight at the time. Would have been 1951/2. His family moved away immediately after.

[Bilbraborn 1,594]

Sadly, the stretch at Wollaton claimed a few young lives. Which is probably one of the reasons I got a clout off me mum when she found out I had been playing there (how could you hide the fact when you came back stinking like a decaying canal).

[darkazana 1,736]

A lot of children these days are denied such pleasures, due to the advent of computers, daytime TV and the fact that many parents feel its not safe to let their offspring out of their sight for one reason or another. One of the reasons we are looking at an up and coming generation of obesity. Won't have to worry about them receiving palliative care in their old age, according to the experts they won't get there!

[Bilbraborn 1,594]

Exactly. We used to eat all the crap going but then went out and used it up in energy playing football, cycling, chasing girls (how dangerous was that?). I played Rugby at school and did cross country training most nights after school. We cycled everywhere because our dads either didn't have a car or would not give you a lift (what's yer flaming legs for?).

[Beefsteak 305]

I bought my usual pack of 'pita bread' on Tuesday (To have for supper with some Taramasalata) on opening them they were moldy, and they were still in their sell by date too !

I couldn't get to take them back yesterday but took them back this morning instead, and got them replaced no problem (Didn't even have the receipt ! .....Good old Morrisons.)