General Chat

I do use fridge-type things after use by date, seem perfectly fresh - but I do find that if not promptly used up they mostly. go off very quickly

one of my tenants ran an all day breakfast bar aka greasy spoon. One day he had a stroke and died soon after. no will no rellies. As well as all the fittings etc there was a considerable stock of canned and bottled foodstuffs, margarine, smoked hams, ghee, rice, tea, coffee condiments etc. we are still eating some of this stuff 4 years on with no noticable ill effects.

the building ground floor, which had been a cafe for over 100 years is now a "beauty bar" selling nails , false hair and botox. sad.

A fortnight out of date is nothing, especially if it hasn't been opened.

Depends on the item, but some things I've used have been months over with no ill effects.

Go by look and smell. Obviously if it walks out of the fridge on it's own it's time to say goodbye.

However, some things seem to go off in our fridge even before the use-by date and bread doesn't keep well in our house however we store it. (Bread shop bread keeps better than supermarket bread, however).

My advice is

............If in doubt, leave it out.

I use things until they stink.

Dermots post reminded me of a neighbour when I was a child who had given my mother some fish for our cat
She told mum it wasn't off because she'd made Eric her husband try it first :-D :-D

There is no mould showing. I don't have a cat to test it on. it looks fine.
MargaretM, I'm not sure I would use it if it was that old but if you''re happy then I'm happy too.
Once again, many thanks.
Phyll

Sell by date means nothing especially for something like margarine. The one I'm using is dated May 2017, it's fine.
Sell by date is different from expiry date.

Offer a spoonful to the cat first & see if he/she likes it. ;-)

Yep if it looks okay.

As long as you scrape any mouldy bits off, there shouldn't be any problems.

I have a tub of Marg in the fridge from the day I bought it. It's dated 3.03.2018 (use by/sell by)? Can I still use it for cakes?
Thank you.
Phyll