I always follow the sell by dates and buy the freshest items in the display. Use by is not much of a different guideline. I do not keep any product that has been opened, in the refrigerator more than a week. Excluding mustard and ketchup and other condiments. I do buy those in smaller containers so they are used up in a month or so.

If it's canned or boxed, I'll use it if it's within a couple months of the use by date. If it's something like rice or pasta, I'm not too worried about use by dates. Fresh foods like milk, sour cream, cheese, etc., and things that have been opened are the ones I'm much more stringent about using within a short period of time.

I have about a thousand food "weirdnesses". I don't keep food in my refrigerator unless I am going to eat it in the next couple of days. I don't use a lot of milk or eggs, because I don't drink milk or eat eggs, so unless I am going to bake something or use them in some way, I feed them to the animals. I don't want to use my nose and smell that the milk has gone bad. If I noticed that it smelled, I would probably never buy milk again. God forbid that I cracked an egg that had started getting that watery look. Or, that it was actually spoiled. Makes me want to hurl thinking about it. I use very little canned food, and I buy it and use it when I need it or will need it shortly. That is just me and my idiosyncrasies. I don't consider food wasted when I feed it to the animals. I buy eggs often to scramble for the possums. Milk that won't be used, I give to the cats. I was raised to NEVER put a scrap of food in the garbage, and I don't. So I never throw food away. There is always something here that will eat it, or it goes in my compost to feed the worms.

some dates i NEVER even look at... like eggs... an item every supermarket has a quick turn-over with. my grandmother taught me not only to open carton and look at eggs but make sure every egg will physically move... not stuck inbox.

used to have super fresh market near by. they would always have meat/poultry items discounted $1-2 to 50% off... and always 2-3 days BEFORE sell by date. good for freezer.

i always look for date furthest out on dairy. somewhere there are probably "rule' about what these dates actually mean. just making up a reasonable number but milk should be absolutely fine for (my made up number) 5-6 days AFTER the date on container. i wouldn't hesitate to take it back if it soured before then... a quick google showed 10-15 days, but not from USDA.

block cheese, unopened... LONG shelf life, i pay little/no attention to dates. i think some dates are more "marketing" than anything else.

I know that much commercial yogurt (think Yoplait etc) can last, unopened and refrigerated, long past the date on the carton...Same with sour cream and eggs. Once opened is another story. Dry goods (pasta, rice, beans) last very long, but they have to be well sealed. Cereals tend to get an off taste and be stale when approaching the expiration date. I don't buy much in the way of canned goods, but feel that veggies also are safe past the date (not years past, though!). Pasta sauce in glass jars can be good well after the date, but I tend to be suspicious of tomatoes in cans. I always check for dents and bulging lids, and if there is a whoosh when I open the can, out it goes!

So far, I don't pay much attention to use by dates. Instead I rely on my eyes and nose - and the old saying, "If in doubt, throw it out." But I'm reminded of the time my dear grandmother was going to use rancid flour -- she could not smell that it had gone bad. And it smelled awful! So someday I won't be able to rely on my senses. Don't know how I'll deal with that.

Marilyn, food that eaten by animals or added to a functional compost heap isn't "wasted", in my book.

I will not use an egg past the expiry date. My dad ate an egg past the expiry date in The Netherlands and mom said she's never seen him so sick in her life. Not sure how past the expiry date it was, but I refuse to eat old eggs. Most other things, I'll look at it, smell it and make my husband taste test it ( ;) ) before I decide if it's good or not. I won't even eat meat if it doesn't smell quite right and that's long before the expiry date.

A few times I have gotten packages of meat ( usually chicken ) that has a foul odor when you open it despite the good expiration date. I throw it out. Fish is the same way. There should be little to no odor to fresh fish. I feel like an old "fish-wife" when I ask to smell the fish at the market. Often the fishy odor is coming from the ice and melted ice in the display. ( Another gross topic )

I've read that the US is dropping SELL BY dates for only USE BY dates.

I find I need to be a little more cautious because manufacturers are limiting or eliminating preservatives. I'm glad they are removing them, but it does mean that things won't 'keep' as long as they used to do. (Maybe *I* will 'keep' longer, without ingesting the preservatives.)

I don't have (and don't want) a garbage disposal. We have so little trash and food waste that we could wait months before filling one stanard size garbage can -- if it wouldn't stink by then! OTOH we fill a big recycling container every two weeks.

The only thing we've ever had on our products are Use By dates. (Best Before) I've never seen nor heard of Sell by.

Hersheys, Dove, Godiva/chocolate covered hazelnuts , blueberries, almonds....found them out of date for $2 a bag, April 2017 ....I don't care! :0)

The dates of whichever kind are there to provide guidance. The food producers know what the life is of their products before degradation or spoilage occurs. The dates aren't random.

I don't think it's either rational or a reasonable display of machismo to say "Oh, I never pay attention to those dates." Food spoils, food degrades. It depends on the item. Some things may be simply be sub-par (compared to when fresher) but remain safe and not dangerous to consume after the stated date. Other things may be spoiled and unpalatable - that's certainly true of fresh food like raw meats and milk products. I'll often give milk or cream a quick sip if the date is approaching and not infrequently it's spoiled beforehand. Other things a sniff. As others have suggested, I put a higher value on avoiding intestinal problems than on foolishly trying to save a few bucks. If in doubt, it goes OUT!

arcy... you hit it right on the head about wasting food. my sil, lovely woman, must throw away hundreds of $ worth of food over those dates. she tosses things like salad dressings well before best by date. a best by date does NOT mean food has "expired" or has gone bad... just not at its peak.

I think its interesting that except for baby formula there is no federal law that any dates need to be put on food, its solely up to the manufacturer.

My nephew will throw out anything that is past its date, even by a day. It doesn't matter that he ate it yesterday and it was fine. Today, out it goes! I suspect that he will change his tune soon, when he moves out of his parents' house and starts buying his own groceries!

I won't use a lot of stuff out of date, I don't usually buy canned veggies with the exception of peas, but if they go out of date I won't use them. Eggs can't even be close to the date. I've smelled rotton eggs cooking.. horriable and I don't like eggs on a good day let alone bad ones. Cereal if opened don't keep to the date if left in the box, but if put in an airtight OXO container keep quite awhile after the date.

Meat is my pet peeve..I'm always worried it could be bad. There have been times when I've cook chicken for Little Lil(dog) that she would not go near, but it did not stink raw or while cooking, but I suspected it was bad, I worry that some stores inject meat with all kinds of chemicals so you can't smell when its bad..anyone know if this is true?

All in all there's not much waste in my house as I watch dates carefully and try not to over stock food items. I'd rather go to the meat market every few days and stop at the produce rather than stock up on fresh foods. And unless I'm using eggs for something I don't buy them until I need them and even than its more likely a half dozen.

The use by/sell by dates have been a huge, huge boon for the food industry. It is absolutely true that we waste enormous amounts of food because of them and I will absolutely go past the dates, unless something smells off. I am a person with a touchy stomach but I know food is generally fine past the date stamped on the package. I'm particularly annoyed that meat broths have such a short shelf life, now that they're packaged in cartons rather than cans.

2 things...I have noticed I will smell the milk container, I normally by milk in a plastic container and it will smell sour, I pour some out in a cup and it's fine, no smell and it tastes fine. I just smelled the milk the other day and thought for sure it was bad...poured some in a glass...no smell, perfectly fine, used a little in my coffee, no curdling. Weird huh?

2nd thing...When I've seen those extreme couponer shows, they show stashes of cereals or crackers or chips...I would think the items would bet stale by the time they use it all.

This thread prompted me to toss a small jar of creamy peanut butter that I'd bought when that was one of the few things DGD would eat. (I just saw it on a shelf.) It has to be more than a year old. I doesn't say "Refrigerate after Opening". How could it possibly still be edible? Blech. (And I prefer crunchy anyway!)

What does everyone think about the 10-day rule after opening. That is where I was going with this question.

Said item is good until a month from now. But if I open it today, it is only good for 10 days. With the orange juice, DH just keeps drinking it and we toss if there is still some left on the expiration date.

I refrigerate peanut butter. Yes, I know they say you don't HAVE to. But. I see it as something warm and moist and "things" will grow in there . Nope. In the fridge it goes.

I helped a friend clean out his mother's house after she had died. She was a hoarder. In fact, she no longer lived in the house...had moved into another house with him, and her husband still lived in the house. It wasn't like there was garbage all over the place or dead cats or anything like that, but she had a pantry full of canned goods that had been in there for an eon. Many had exploded and the shelves were covered in the stuff. It was really nasty. I didn't have to clean that up...I think all I did was carry out her clothes that she kept stored there. She shopped every day and the amount of clothes she had was unbelievable.

Years ago we were eating at a beach side restaurant...on Bolivar, not one of the fancy restaurants. There was an outside deck with picnic tables and the ketchup was in those squeeze bottles...with the pointy little tip. I put it on my food and it was soured. Yuck. I think that contributed to my food peculiarities. I keep ketchup in the refrigerator and I throw it out when it gets about halfway gone. I figure if I can spend $40 a day feeding horses, I can afford to replace ketchup often. Same for mayonnaise.

"What does everyone think about the 10-day rule after opening. That is where I was going with this question."

10 days is way too long for some things (think of raw meat good for only a few days at best, depending) and way too short for other things (think of peanut butter or mayonnaise good for a few months). I think it really depends on the item.

Ketchup can be a particular problem left out on restaurant tables, especially outside and in hot climates where she lives. I've encountered fermented bottles - a pop followed by escaping air when the top is opened.

I think things like milk often smell sour at the opening of the container where we sniff. I don't know if it's because that area is exposed to more oxygen, or gets warmer, or what, but often the actual milk is fine. I've thrown away a lot of half and half that I thought was sour before I learned to pour a little out and smell that.

The trouble I have is things like salad dressings, where the expiration date is way off but it's been open for months. I know the expiration date is for the unopened container but I don't know how long it's supposed to last when opened. 10 days seems really short for commercial dressing and other condiments.