Dates & Savvy Storage

Dates

There are 2 dates to think about:

1. Best Before

Best Before date is on all sorts of food from tins of beans to fruit and veg – Best Before has nothing to do with safety and is just about quality. So, the thing to remember is it’s perfectly safe to eat food past its best before date.

Click here for how far past best before dates you can eat things.

Did you know

A packet of crisps will taste fine up to 6 months past its best before date.

Tinned food – as long as the tins are not damaged and they’re stored correctly the contents will be perfectly ok up to 3 years past their best before date.

Eggs – check out an egg box – there are usually 2 dates on them – Display until and best before. Eggs are perfectly ok up to 2 weeks past their Best before date. If you’re not sure, just pop an egg in a bowl of water. If an egg floats it’s no good but if it sits on the bottom ,it’s fine to use.

2. Use By

This is the date we should take notice of – you can eat food right up to its use by date but not past it. This date IS all about food safety.

If you’re not going to get round to eating something – freeze it and the good news is, you can freeze things right up to their use by date and save it for another day.

Savvy Storage

Spend a couple of minutes checking where and how you are storing stuff. Correct storage can keep food fresher longer – and massively reduces food waste.

Here’s a guide on the best place to store different foods.

Potatoes and onions both like cool dark storage – but store them separately otherwise the potatoes make the onions sprout.

Bananas produce ethylene which will ripen other fruit and veg – so store them separately if that might cause a problem.

Bread – store sealed and in a bread bin.

Leftovers – as soon as they are cool – put in an airtight container, label it and pop it in the fridge, use within 2 days.