Foods That Are Safe to Eat past Their Sell by Date
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Each year, a staggering 7.1m tonnes of food waste ends up in UK landfills, costing the average family hundreds of pounds, and the government millions more. While we’re all guilty of throwing away an over-ripe avocado or soggy packet of salad leaves now and again, there are some foods which are perfectly safe to eat beyond their ‘sell by’ or ‘best before’ dates. So, if you fancy being more mindful about food waste this year, here’s a handy list of ones which are safe to consume as long as they’re stored correctly…
The only thing I want eat past it's best before or sell by is meat. Anything else I will eat. I do the water test with the eggs, I don't buy prepared salad so no issues there and tbh apart from bread and crisps, most things in our house are eaten before the sell by or best before date.
We eat several things past their dates. Same as you with the floating egg test. Yoghurt - I think I've eaten them 2 months out of date without any problem. Sometimes we have tins out of date and have no problem with those either. 
My wife throws everything on or a day or 2 before its use by date, or we take it to my mother because she will use it.
tumblespots its quite funny actually my wife tries to throw it because its no good but i will take it to my mother. Then a few days later my wife will try something my mothers made for tea ‘oh thats nice’ my mothers like yeah its out of the stuff you were gonna throw 
Chocolate can still be ok sometimes , usually you can tell when it’s going out of date as it starts turning a light colour
Even after chocolate has started to turn a lighter colour (it's called blooming) caused by the sugar crystalising - it is usually still quite safe to eat. I found a block, at the back of cupboard, years out of date, it hadn't even started to "bloom".
davidstockport That makes sense, seeing as chocolate contains no water so therefore you don't get any bacteria growth. It may taste a little nasty, but it won't hurt you. Assuming of course that it hasn't been opened.
Thanks for sharing this bit of info. Some of it I didn't even know so that's been helpfull
You are welcome. We are all learning new bits of trivial information all the time.
Thanks for sharing this. Though I must admit, I still don't like to take any risks with milk and yoghurt passed their use-by dates.
I have to admit that I sometimes eat yoghurt well past it's date - as long as it looks & smells ok.
Il eat most stuff bt its sell by except meat & fish. Can usually tell by the look & smell if it's still good.
As long as it smells OK then it will get eaten some times items that are not past its sell by date don't smell good or look good (loads complained of Turkeys at Christmas) 30 years ago there wasn't no sell by date we just looked and smelled people are to fussy nowadays
Once the government deems that we, in this case, need a sell by/eat by date we do tend rely on it. As you say though, it is usually obvious when something is inedible an, yes, not always after the date stated.
The majority of people have sight and smell as senses, we just don't think to use them when it comes to food. It's only in the past few decades that Best Before and Use By dates have become a thing but they're only a guideline, people coped when there weren't any fridges or label printing and would never dream of throwing out food that looked and smelled OK. Archaeologists have dug up canned/tinned food in the past and it was still perfectly safe to eat. I've got tinned and jarred food in my cupboards that have 2014 dates on them (mainly because they are on the top shelf)
We have become such a wasteful society
I agree with you with almost all of it. However, Mr Tumblespots lost his sense of taste and smell through an infection we unwittingly 'collected' whilst visiting someone in hospital several years ago (thanks to the NHS!), so he can't judge anything foodwise. As you say even those who do have them intact don't use them anyway, but then they have no excuse!
tumblespots that's why I said majority, I know a few people without a sense of smell, (every time a cat uses the litter tray I wish I had) and I really feel for them
tumblespots that's something I totally forgot about if you haven't got the sence of smell it must be really hard and sell and use by dates for this reason can be so helpful
Will agree will eat anything apart from dairy and meat that’s past it’s date
As some others have already said only really Meat & Fish we avoid past it's use by date, thou even that if's it's only out by say a day or two we probably still us it unless it shows signs of deterioration . Other items we rely on our own common sense, to look at it , smell it and taste the product before actually eating it.
Fruits, veg, packet foods, tins and chocolate it's a guideline I never listen to. Dairy, fish, meat I'm pretty fussy about
Meat & fish is usually easily identifiable as 'off', I agree the rest seems pretty edible past the dates
tumblespots my problem is I can't smell anything so I have to "trust" the dates with meat and fish
rls Mr Tumblespots lost his sense of taste & smell several years ago and can't tell either, it can be a real problem!
Im a veggie I trust my eyes and taste haha. Eggs last for weeks after their date, just crack them separately. You know when an egg is off once cracked the smell is bad. I freeze bread and use as and when but if its a small bit of mold i pick it out. Fruit and veg you can use your own judgement. Yogurts last longer too the lid will bubble up if off and i know by taste
When eggs get near to their date I do the float test, any that are OK get hard boiled for sandwiches.
tumblespots yea i have heard of that egg test but have never done it, wasn't sure if it worked
KirstyW It does. If it sinks it's good. If it stands on end - use it soon. If it floats it's off - bin it!
In my family eveyrithijhg gets eaten before the due date 
but otherwise we est all food on the day it is due at the max.
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