I generally ignore the use by date and go by smell, look, whether it's fizzy (and shouldn't be) or whether the pack has blown. Hasn't steered me wrong yet!

Sell by, Best Before and Use by are all different. Sell by is not meant for the end user. Best Before is peak freshness and you can totally keep using it after this date (assuming it's not gone mouldy or smells bad). Use by, at least in certain countries, is a warning that it may be unsafe to use after this date, it may make you ill. Also, you may have to throw things away before the expiry date if it has been opened for a few days - again, this is the "is it green, does it smell bad" check. I know some people (often of the older generations) will insist food is still good long after the expiry dates, but food processing and preservation methods have changed, and no matter what, cranberry sauce shouldn't rattle, Louise! A bit of common sense goes a long way. Check out the egg freshness test online for examples of what to do if the green/smell check isn't possible.

Coming from a farming family I can tell you straight-up, there is some truth to his message but it isn't detailed enough. It's as brief as saying 'There is a difference between best before and use by'. What he says about the farmers market is true, We take our leftover stock that the commercial companies and local butchers didn't want and sell that. We actually get a really good mark up because they are popular at the moment. Judge your meat on it's appearance, although sometimes they add things that will alter the appearance (usually makes it look worse) but keeps it fresher longer. Most are in sealed packages so you can't go by smell but if the packaging has expanded/inflated, the meat is giving off gases, which means it's no good, but sometimes they inflate the packaging on purpose to stop it getting crushed during transit. Also there are different laws and by-law depending were the meat is coming from and going to and what route it's taking. So like I said, a little complicated.

I was told ages ago "best by" could be eaten past its date, but "use by" should be tossed if the date has passed. And to obey exp dates on grain foods like chips. I'll have to check out this fellow's videos.

If it smells/looks okay, I'll eat it.

We really need to stop using the phrase 'common sense'. Not everyone knows what bad milk smells like, not everyone knows what bad avocados look like or what spoiled cheese tastes like. For many, many reasons, there are people that just do not know. This doesn't even include people with varying opinions of when food is bad to eat (some people really think that 1 bruise on an apple = rotten). There is just so many reasons why this knowledge isn't common. We should say 'I use my [own] sense'.

Found out expired vitamins are shouldn't be thrown out, the vitamin content will erode very slowly, a year after the expiry you are just fine. The gov mandates expiry dates and I am not against them but safe with vitamins

True story, I once knew an ad man that had worked for a very well-known company that produces a food product used at Thanksgiving and Christmas... that company wanted more sales, so the ad man's brilliant idea was to just shorten posted the shelf life, so that the product you bought for Thanksgiving was supposedly no longer fresh at Christmas and you ended up buying it again.

After watching multiple episodes of Naked & Afraid..... I no longer just toss out items that are still safe & edible.... I mean, heck if what those folks have eaten didn't knock them off Mother Earth... I am pretty confidant in the food I have in my fridge.

Canned food is often good for a couple of years at least past the "best buy" date. It drives me crazy.

Smell it! If it's gone bad, you'll know! I once asked a butcher about expired meat. His reply was "if it's bad enough to make you sick, trust me- you won't have to wonder"

I've don't throw it out unless I can tell is soured. Duh.... I'm not wasteful

I had a pack of bacon in the fridge that I bought sometime last year. Opened it a couple of weeks ago, made a bacon sarnie, enjoyed it. No nasty after effects whatsoever. Yogurts - unless the pot has blown up and redecorated the inside of your fridge, they’re edible. Fresh meat such as minced beef or chicken - it smells OK to me but to definitely know whether it’s off or not is to give a little of it to Pippin the cat. If she sniffs at it and walks off it goes in the bin. If she eats is, then it gets cooked.

Blaming the over 40's ? the older set are more likely to have common sense which is absent in many young today

I’ve found milk and other dairy is usually okay for about a week after the date. Eggs I’ve used after and never had issues and cheese you just cut off the mold. The box foods is what gets me. I throw those away a lot of times and feel guilty almost always

I wish someone could get this idea into my daughter's head. She throws out anything if it's even close. What angered me one day, is that she went through my kitchen pantry and threw out about $50 in canned goods because they were past the "best by" date. I told her that I had looked into this, and canned goods, as long as they weren't dented, rusted, or in any other way compromised could be kept indefinitely. Arrghh. Could have killed her.

I work in a grocery store and I can tell you this is accurate. The company I work for has a great system that allows staff to take home "expired" food or damaged product (that is still fine to eat). I have never gotten sick from it, ever, and it makes up about 90% of my meals.

We just came back from a holiday to find milk in the fridge 9 days past it's expiration date. As it hadn't been opened yet, it was totally fine.

Former chef here, we always used the saying "When in doubt, throw it out".

Then you have the pre boomers and some boomers... With vienna sausages that expired in the 80s but they will not throw it out. They won't eat it, but they will not throw it out either because they cannot bring themselves to waste.