Worth a few €uro?

oneweb

OK, so the other day someone in the house (who shall remain nameless), did a steak dinner. It was a bit over-seasoned but manageable.

The next day, however, my digestive system was not well Still pretty bad later that day, I checked the binned steak wrapper (yuk). Lo and behold, upon it was printed a "Use by" date. It was dated 3 days before the day we ate the thing. That explained the seasoning.

Needless to say I went bezerk at this person. The high-volume reply was "well I'm sure as hell not going to waste good money by throwing it away". So I sent said person out to get me a good bit more than €6 worth of stuff in the local chemist.


Anyway, I try to save a few cent wherever I can, but I know that I'd much rather write-off bad food than go through all that crap (omg, the crap :eek:) again.

So do you chance your luck with food like that or know someone who does? Gotta go...
...again

Gordon

The date is not a hard and fast rule - it has to be there to be legal. I'm always using milk that is past its sell by date, it can be many days. I tend to judge the food by sight and smell, if all is well I'll eat it.

However, meat tends to go off quite precisely by the date suggested so I wouldn't risk 3 days overdue thats for sure. ick

Anyone else tend to fart more if the meat is closer to the sell by date?

maxheadroom

My mum doesn't believe in use by dates... we always have to double check everything in the fridge...

ColinM

I remember seeing something like this written in something trustworthy: "Best Before" date is advice, "Use By" date is an instruction!

People who ignore the "Use By" date on foods like meat are taking risks with your health if they allow you to eat it. I would get very angry about this too. It's just cracked to think you are saving money by eating gone off meat!

Remember the episode of The Simpsons where Homer kept eating rancid shrimp because it was free? Even his brain was telling him to stop eating it because it made him ill, but because it was free he thought it had to be eaten!

To any reckless "Use By Date Ignorer": If you buy a half pound of mince and leave it in the fridge too long are you really going to run the risk of seriously damaging your health (or possibly killing someone who is old or in poor health) by cooking a meal from it? To save €3.50? When you're sitting on the toilet clutching your sides wondering why you haven't evacuated your insides by now will it bring a smile to your face to know that that was a good money saving idea you had? Plus you've lost pounds, and look visibly slimmer!

(Sorry if the graphic nature of that offended anyone)

Mercury_Tilt

This post has been deleted.

Gordon

you may be right merc. As for hulk I still want to see it but it's a bummer that it may not be that great (hey I won a prize yesterday!)

You make some good points ColinM but to be honest - you can have meat that is off before the use by date, I'd much rather trust my senses than something that has been printed by a computer*



*unless it was the winning lottery ticket

bonkey

Originally posted by ColinM
I remember seeing something like this written in something trustworthy: "Best Before" date is advice, "Use By" date is an instruction!

Which is still just a stronger form of advice.

Obvious example - I buy meat, I freeze it. Three months later, I take it out of freezer and use it. "Use By" is well past....so its clearly not an instruction.

Now, of course, we could just say that "use by" could be interpreted as "use or freeze by", which clears it all up...

but....in my fridge, anything put on the second shelf at the back will almost freeze. This is enough to ruin lettuce in about 2 or 3 hours, but will add a day to the expiration of most red meat.

It may do the same for poultry and fish, but I dont trust those.

Similarily, you will find different fridges have different ratings...just like freezers - all of which realistacally alters the "Use By".....as does the setting you have on your fridge (i.e. how cold it is).

And finally...if you ever ask a good chef about hanging red meat, you will be told that really good red meat is almost greyish-brown when you buy it....and the redder it is the worse it is from a taste/quality point of view. Really good meat has a slight "gamey" smell.

Most non-professional people take the first sign of discoloration ir the first slight whiff as the sign to throw the meat out - which is effectively whats being argued here - but those same people would probably die of shock if they saw and smelled a raw steak in their favourite upmarket restaurant.

If you think the meat is dodgy, throw it out.
If you wouldnt know good meat from dodgy meat, throw it out.
If its fish, or poultry, and youre not certain, throw it out.
If you know a bit about meat, types of meat, and cooking in general, then the "Use By" date is just another recommendation, although you will have to take the condition (and type) of the meat into account when deciding what to cook.

I wouldnt cook a blue steak unless I was absolutely 100% certain about the quality. On the other hand, I'd make a stew out of stuff that was past its Use By without any worry as long as I still felt the meat was ok.

As a quick tip to those who dont like throwing meat out : cooked meat will keep for at least 2 days in the fridge. If that beef isnt gonna keep, fry it up now, and make it into something tomorrow or the day after. I know people who say "but using good filet/sirloin in a stew is a waste", and I would normally agree, but its a damned smaller waste than binning it.

jc

oneweb

ok, so when was the 17th?*

I don't believe it. :mad: Sheperds Pie was the dish of the day. Lovely it would've been too, I'm sure :rolleyes:

*checked the binned wrapper before I sat down. I feel sick at the thought of what's going through this person's head. Something along the lines of "risk health, but saving three odd €uro".

GAAAAAAAAAAH :mad:

ColinM

Originally posted by ColinM
I remember seeing something like this written in something trustworthy: "Best Before" date is advice, "Use By" date is an instruction!
Originally posted by bonkey
Which is still just a stronger form of advice.

No, it isn't, it's a command.
From dictionary.com - instruction: an authoritative direction to be obeyed

Would a programmer expect a computer instruction to be executed (carried out) arbitrarily depending on whether the machine felt like it? Of course not.

Tsk.

I don't deny that there may be some lee-way to be had. But most people are too stupid to know the boundaries. I don't mind them booking themselves extended sojourns on the crapper, or perhaps even doing away with themselves altogether! Hell - this would be a good thing for the gene-pool. But you can't trust these retards not to take risks with your own health - and that is OneWeb's gripe.