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Eating out-of-date stuff

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Re: Eating out-of-date stuff

Postby Sakkarin » Tue Aug 18, 2020 9:35 am

Very lightweight article; with bread it has missed what for me has been a game changer, freezing it.

Eggs two days? Nonsense (although clearly not raw ones).

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Re: Eating out-of-date stuff

Postby miss mouse » Tue Aug 18, 2020 9:57 am

"(though perhaps the big question is how BBF dates are chosen given that so many things are fine for a good while afterwards?)."

I think that the food is guaranteed to be good up to that date and will be replaced if it isn't, afterwards it is safe but possibly not taste as good. I bought some Saba dated BBE 2028

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Re: Eating out-of-date stuff

Postby KeenCook2 » Tue Aug 18, 2020 2:03 pm

Sakkarin wrote:Very lightweight article; with bread it has missed what for me has been a game changer, freezing it.

Eggs two days? Nonsense (although clearly not raw ones).


You're absolutely right on freezing bread, Sakk, and I've never had any problems with my eggs that I've frequently kept for ages.
The important thing is that at least they're making an effort to try to prevent people from binning perfectly good food.

As for eggs, I know we've had discussions on this before, but I admit I keep mine in the fridge! Whether that makes any difference to their longevity I really don't know. Is it possible that some eggs that aren't refridgerated would have a shorter shelf life?

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Re: Eating out-of-date stuff

Postby halfateabag » Tue Aug 18, 2020 2:11 pm

I store my eggs in the garage which stays amazingly cool like a cave (wine), don't have room in the fridge, it's nearly always full ! Use them well past SBD...... Still here, still well !!!

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Re: Eating out-of-date stuff

Postby slimpersoninside » Tue Aug 18, 2020 2:57 pm

In these unusual times we've bought our eggs from all different places, farm shops, different supermarkets and even the local egg farm, we usually buy from our local farmers market.
The farm ones don't always come with a BB date so I've been doing the float in water thing before using every egg, glad I have as a couple have happily floated to the top! Usually I allow a bit past the BB ;) .

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Re: Eating out-of-date stuff

Postby Kacey » Tue Aug 18, 2020 3:32 pm

Sucked a few M&S humbugs earlier that I found in a drawer when I was having a clear out. The flavour was fine but they were just a tad on the soft side - best before 17/4/13! That must mean they moved from Bham to Derby with us 3yrs ago and escaped the mass clear out we had back then!

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Re: Eating out-of-date stuff

Postby Earthmaiden » Tue Aug 18, 2020 3:35 pm

Just out of interest, have eggs that float to the top actually reached the stage where they would smell when cracked open or is there a period between floating and odour?

It was drilled into us at school that we should never crack eggs all into the same bowl but crack each one into a cup first to check it. It was illustrated with a story of someone who was making a Christmas cake, the eighth egg cracked into the luxurious ingredients was bad. It struck me as such an awful thing to happen that I have usually (but not always) followed that rule and never bothered to float eggs. Hence my wondering if there is a stage when an egg is bad but looks and smells alright.

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Re: Eating out-of-date stuff

Postby Pampy » Tue Aug 18, 2020 3:37 pm

I use eggs well past their BB date and have never had a problem. Ideally, eggs should be stored out of the fridge, at a steady temp. below 20C. But because the temperature fluctuates a lot, I keep mine in the fridge.

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Re: Eating out-of-date stuff

Postby Seatallan » Tue Aug 18, 2020 3:42 pm

Pampy wrote:I use eggs well past their BB date and have never had a problem. I


Ditto. I keep ours in the garage like halfateabag.
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Re: Eating out-of-date stuff

Postby karadekoolaid » Tue Aug 18, 2020 3:45 pm

Dead right with the frozen bread. I don´t know what´s happened to our bakers here, but the bread seems to be inedible within two days, and we only usually get a variation of baguette here. The solution was to buy 10 and put 8 in the freezer.Perfect solution.
I keep eggs outside the fridge. The last lot I bought must have been two weeks ago, and they´re fine. I made a mega-omelette with them yesterday and I´m still here. I crack them open, smell them and see if the yolk is whole. Probably not the best way to be sure, but still.
Vegetables, cans, conserves, etc. I´m not too worried about, Fish, meat and poultry - I´ll chuck it out if it´s past its sell-by date.
But at least Lidl are giving people a bit of leeway.

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Re: Eating out-of-date stuff

Postby Earthmaiden » Tue Aug 18, 2020 9:27 pm

Just to make those of you with good kitchen habits feel smug.

I used up some cooked chicken and bits of veg in a stir fry tonight. Thought I'd add 5 Spice. I used to make lots of stir fries with 5 Spice then went off it and haven't used it for a while. I thought it seemed to have lost its pungency so looked at the label. BBE Dec 2000 :oops:. The awful thing is I only got the spice drawer in 2006. I think I'd better go through the drawer.

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Re: Eating out-of-date stuff

Postby Stokey Sue » Tue Aug 18, 2020 10:21 pm

Don’t go through my spice cupboard - I’ve deliberately obliterated the BBE dates on may of the tins and jars because they are quite frequently refilled from those cellophane packets from Asian corner stores

I think the turmeric is apparently BBE some time in the 90s but I know it was bought this year, but it’s a nice tin with a good lid

I did chuck some hot Hungarian paprika - I knew it was bought in June 2004 and the tin was no longer air tight. The tin is now used for the storage of rubber bands

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Re: Eating out-of-date stuff

Postby northleedsbhoy » Wed Aug 19, 2020 8:36 am

I thought it was a given that most folks froze bread. When I was at work I ate very little bread at home, mainly for sandwiches at the weekend so if I hadn’t frozen the bread I would’ve probably ended up throwing the loaf away after only using about half a dozen slices. It’s easy just to take a couple of slices out and they defrost quickly.

Cheers
NLB :thumbsup

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Re: Eating out-of-date stuff

Postby Badger's Mate » Wed Aug 19, 2020 10:27 am

I'm sure plenty of people keep bread in the freezer, but those that don't probably need instructions on what to do with it.

ETA

Spices are kept in boxes or jars in a drawer here. Some are the original containers refilled, others are sealable storage boxes with cellophane packets in them. The drawer is very full. It's better than it was, but I still get turmeric and paprika all over the shop at inconvenient times. If I buy a new tub of each and store them in that, there probably wouldn't be enough room in the drawer for everything. It needs a rethink but it's nearly right.

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Re: Eating out-of-date stuff

Postby Earthmaiden » Wed Aug 19, 2020 10:41 am

My spice drawer is about as right as I can get it. The jars are lying down with labels facing upwards and any extras can be squeezed on top. I know that the ones I use a lot contain refills. It seems that 20 years can pass without me touching the others though :oops:.

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Re: Eating out-of-date stuff

Postby Badger's Mate » Wed Aug 19, 2020 11:10 am

I found a packet of caraway seeds in the drawer the other day. No idea why I bought them, seedy cake maybe? Perhaps they were for some fermented veg recipe - in fact as this is being typed I've remembered they were for sauerkraut. Anyway, the happy discovery led to them being thrown in a rye (ish) loaf this week. :yum

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Re: Eating out-of-date stuff

Postby smitch » Wed Aug 19, 2020 11:19 am

We never freeze our bread, we don't have the space.

In 'normal' times when we worked in the office, we didn't bother buying a loaf and made our sandwiches for dinner with oven bottom muffins. Now we're both at home, we've been getting through much more bread so have a loaf a week plus the muffins.

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Re: Eating out-of-date stuff

Postby Stokey Sue » Wed Aug 19, 2020 11:42 am

northleedsbhoy wrote:I thought it was a given that most folks froze bread. When I was at work I ate very little bread at home, mainly for sandwiches at the weekend so if I hadn’t frozen the bread I would’ve probably ended up throwing the loaf away after only using about half a dozen slices…

No, someone on Twitter mentioned freezing bread and the main reaction was “Who would freeze bread?” - people who really surprised me as I knew enough about them to know that they are practical, well organised and in a couple of cases quite foodie. I explained.

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Re: Eating out-of-date stuff

Postby Sakkarin » Wed Aug 19, 2020 12:03 pm

northleedsbhoy wrote:I thought it was a given that most folks froze bread

Bear in mind that I didn't have access to a freezer until I was in my 30s. Until I learnt that it actually works, the idea of freezing bread seemed ludicrous to me so I avoided it, visions of sopping wet slices of white spongy stuff.

As far as space is concerned, I make batches of rolls, 5 at a time, so that's the most that will be in the freezer, and they go very fast. In some ways sometimes they end up BETTER than fresh.

Very occasionally I'll freeze something else bready - I bought a "bargain bin" pack of bagels for 30p the other day that went straight in the freezer and then reanimated them one at a time as I fancied them.

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Re: Eating out-of-date stuff

Postby Pepper Pig » Wed Aug 19, 2020 1:22 pm

I have two spice cupboards, a legacy from my being a cook and four twenty-somethings learning to cook. I clear and I clear but the latest incumbent always seems to double up on stuff already there. Number 4 is buying a flat and moves out next month. I bet he leaves the blooming lot.

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