Use by dates...

[Miss E]

Just wondering how everyone else understands Use by dates, particularly on meats and poultry...

Do you understand it to be 'cook by' - where as long as you cook it before the use by date, you can eat the leftovers after the use by date.

Or

Do you see it as truely 'use by' - must be eaten before then.

Just wondering, DH and I had a big debate over this one last night (our life is really interesting isn't it) and I'm still not convinced

[Traveller]

A use by date I would see as a cook by date, a best before date I feel free to ignore, depending on what it is

[Joeve]

:yeahthat:

[littlelara]

I take it as cook by. Or freeze by. Eat by has never even occurred to me

[*star*]

I take it as eat by! I don't really trust leaving meat in particular for longer than that. So if I have leftovers I would need to eat them by the use by date.

I'm glad some of us are debating the important things in life!

[MrsB26]

I also take it as a 'cook' or 'freeze' by date. If i cooked it though on its use by date i would still eat the leftovers like i would any other leftovers.

[Lisa]

I take it as 'eat by' but DH just ignores used by dates altogether. I swear I don't know how he hasn't been hospitalised yet.

[LimeSlice]

Use By dates on meat are for "use" - cooking, freezing.
So once cooked, they have extended life, so you do not need to consume the whole product on the day of the RAW use by date.
This is really only applicable to chicken/poultry and fish, as red meat keeps MUCH longer than the Use By dates they use and actually get better with age (this is why you don't by the reddest meat at the butchers, but the darkest).

If your chicken is use by 1.1.10, you cook it on this date (or freeze it) you can then consume it within 3 days (if the leftovers have been refridgerated.) You can also freeze the cooked meat and it will last for about 1-3 months in the freezer depending on what it is.

[Caz1971]

im abit confused? I will usually freeze meat then use say a few weeks later
(thaw out in fridge to eat).

[Early Kids]

Red meat I see as a 'cook by' or 'freeze by' date. I'm a bit funny with pork and chicken and won't eat them past use by date.
We won't drink milk on the day it's supposed to be used by either.

As for anything else, I use my own judgement on the item.

We don't have left overs. I cook enough for all of us and anything left on our plates is fed to the dogs.

*ETA* for anything that has been frozen and then thawed I use/cook/eat within 24 hours.

[Caz1971]

yeah sometimes I find with milk, it dont last till the use by date. esp when i lived in qld...

[Miss E]

It's funny isn't it, I've always done the cook by thing and figured that cooking it killed off all the bad bacteria so you had a few days to eat the left overs... Mind you with DS I always tend to do the eat by thing...

[toomanyshoes]

Use By dates on meat are for "use" - cooking, freezing.
So once cooked, they have extended life, so you do not need to consume the whole product on the day of the RAW use by date.
This is really only applicable to chicken/poultry and fish, as red meat keeps MUCH longer than the Use By dates they use and actually get better with age (this is why you don't by the reddest meat at the butchers, but the darkest).

If your chicken is use by 1.1.10, you cook it on this date (or freeze it) you can then consume it within 3 days (if the leftovers have been refridgerated.) You can also freeze the cooked meat and it will last for about 1-3 months in the freezer depending on what it is.

:yeahthat:

[~MummaBear~]

I take it as 'eat by' but DH just ignores used by dates altogether. I swear I don't know how he hasn't been hospitalised yet.

My DH is exactly the same and it ****s me soooo bad lol
I see the date as a cook by date but in saying that we dont normaly have left overs anyway.
milk i cant stand the thought of drinking it on the use by date oh and i dont like drinking the last little bit in the bottom of the carton either ROFL

[Pandora]

yeah sometimes I find with milk, it dont last till the use by date. esp when i lived in qld...

With milk, regardless of how far in the future the use by date is, 4-5 days is the maximum you should keep it for once opened