WHAT DOES “SELL BY” REALLY MEAN?
Living in a one-person (and a dog and a fish) household means that I eat much smaller quantities of food than the average four-person-family.
But to get the best deals on many food products means buying the product in a far larger quantity thatn a one-person meal.
So, what is with l this gobblety-goop with the sell-by dates?
I asked WEB-MD….
Milk is twice as expensive in smaller cartons than in the quart. The sell-by date on milk means that the milk is good for one week after that date.
Eggs are good for at least three weeks after the selling date!
Chicken should be cooked or frozen within a day of sell-by.
Hamburger and pork… within three days.
Canned goods are good for more than a year after the sell-by.
All baked goods are freshest if eaten by the sell-by date.
The things I have to watch most closely are the gallon of milk, fresh baked goods, and the large family-packs of meats.
Written for Fandango’s One-Word-Challenge: August 29, 2018. DUE.
My dad who is 86 now says that those expiration dates are ridiculous. He says as long as it tastes good he will eat it and does. He has not gotten sick either. I am a little more squeamish but I found eggs still taste fine after the 3 weeks. Even a month past that date. My son just cleaned out my dad’s fridge and tossed items with expiration dates of 2012, ugh!
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I ignore the “best if used by date.” If it doesn’t make me gag when I smell it, I consider it to be edible.
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Stuff doesn’t usually last that long in this house. I do buy the big packs of meat though and divide them up into meal-size packages for the freezer. Dry stuff keep more or less indefinitely, and for things like milk or yoghurt, if it doesn’t smell right, it’s ditched.
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