Use by/sell by dates - will we die?

Flour is a tricky one as it can have mites in it. Always wise to check it if it's been in the cupboard for a while.

Good point Christine. We get pantry moths in the summer and they go for dry goods including dried fruit. I try to keep them in containers, but I've had to throw out a few things because you could see the webby things and sometimes tiny maggots - yuk!
Our supermarket has a section for out of date goods and it's very popular.

My MIL who worked for \Hovis in the 50`s said that flour which is more than three weeks from production has flour mites . It didn`t bother her , she still used it as she said the cooking process killed them !

Re flour, Christine, I lived for quite a while in the Middle East, where the flour nearly always had weevils in it.
I would just put the whole bag in the freezer for a couple of days, and then get rid of all 'foreign bodies' via a fine sieve.

What about the fruit and veg I grow, the preserves I make and the home-made ready meals in the freezer? None of them have use by dates.

Does that mean they will be safe forever

What about my 2014 chutney?

Still smells and tastes good!

My rule is:

If it smells OK, tastes OK and hasn't gone a funny colour then it's probably OK. Any doubt and I don't take the risk.

Total marketing ploy.

If it looks okay, smells okay and tastes okay- its fine!

It's fine, if it had dried out I would have been a bit hesitant about using it because it would have meant the seal had gone.
But the 'bubble' thing on the lid was still firmly depressed and it went 'pop' when I opened it.

So long as it's not bubbling Jalima.

The huge safety margins on foods cause huge amounts to be wasted. Many young people throw out anything past it's use-by date.
We oldies were brought up to never waste food and have more sense than to bin perfectly edible items. We probably shop more carefully too, not buying too much or items we won't use.
My vet said tablets last for years and when my mother worked at Boots she was told that you can safely double or treble the dose of over-the-counter medicines.
Our risk-averse culture has robbed people of common sense.

They found tinned food in the Antarctic left by Scott and his men which was apparently still edible.

But of course, probably preserved by the cold as well.

Just about to put a ready meal in oven yesterday's date!

Ohhhh dear have you written your will
My aunty couldn't see very well in her latter years and she would eat bread with green crusts she went on to 94
I think we re all way to precious about these things how did we manage before all these numbers arrived on our food

If in doubt, cook it thoroughly. I sometimes leave a saucepan of soup on the side for 24 hours as I cannot get the saucepan in the fridge. I put it on the stove the next day, bring it to the boil and leave it to boil for 5 minutes. Any bacteria are unlikely to survive.

I would not do this with any soup with a meat base, especially chicken or other poultry.