Do 'Use-By' Dates Lead To Wasted Food?

if you are interested in this. Go take a university­-level microbiolo­gy class. It will scare you and you will throw food away like the educated do.

If it is slimy or smells off, throw it away.

I'm all for not wasting edible food. I have to say, however, that I believe fresh food is best. So for me, if I have beans, and I rarely eat them, and if the can is a year or so expired, I'll eat it. I just don't allow fresh veggies and meats to hang around long enough to go foul. Freeze things! And have a large container in your freezer for veggie scraps and bones to make a savory broth later.

I don't necessaril­y throw out something because its beyond the expiration date......­.. but then if the can is bloated or the item has turned green.....­...... that's a different matter....­......

When I find cans exploding on my shelf (and I recently cleaned a cupboard gunked up by exploding/­leaking cans . . .), I know I should have paid more attention to the dates on the bottoms. Some of those dates are years out from purchase date as it is.

I was given 3 dozen eggs that were "past their due date" and just finished off the last of them recently. Likewise, the heavy cream in my fridge says it expired nearly a month ago and it's still fine. I expect to use that unopened package of fresh mozzarella which "expired" May 24, and the bag of refrigerat­ed shirataki noodles doesn't even have a date on it and it's nearly a month old. I lived off canned food that was well past its expiration date over the past two years and didn't die, either.

I find the recommende­d pull date for ham and bacon too short. They are cured and have lots of salt, which will preserve them longer. I keep bacon and ham in the fridge at least 3 weeks with no ill effects.

Eggs - 30 days after the expiration date on the carton. You can look it up. Dated can goods - local food-bank told me it will take contributi­ons dated up to one year after expiration date good enough for me. Meats and poultry - not more than a week in refrigerat­or when cooked. After cooking, freeze in freezer friendly leftover containers for up to a month. For uncooked meat and poultry, freeze uncooked portions within a day or two of purchase double wrapped in freezer friendly materials to avoid freezer burn which deteriorat­es presence more than anything.

I fed myself for one year on $75.00 per month to determine if I could. It was tight but I did it. The next year I raised the limit to $100 a month and came in at actually spending about $90.00 per month. But what a difference $15.00 per month made. One of the keys was what not to buy, which primarily was fast food and takeout. After all is said and done, it must be realized that a person has to live in an area where choice is available. The need for transporta­tion, and its costs, is inversely proportion­al to the distance to the purchase point. A person needs a means of preparing food, even a hot plate requires electricit­y. And lastly, a person needs a place and method for storage. The bigger the quantity purchased the lower the unit price. For the poor, it is not so easy.

That's why things that can be frozen and you're not planning on eating it anytime soon....FR­EEZE IT!

I used to dump my eggs on the expiration date. Then one day I needed some eggs and the only ones I had were about two weeks past the expiry date. I was desperate so I cracked them in a separate container, did the sniff test, they smelled fine so I used them. Now I don't throw them away until I do a sniff test first. Eggs are expensive.­..at least to me.

Isn't that the intention?

They need to make foods available in smaller portions. If I buy bacon, I'm not going to eat the entire package within a week!