Yet Another Cycling Forum
Off Topic => The Pub => Food & Drink => Topic started by: andyoxon on 09 October, 2021, 12:48:16 pm
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Realising of course that certain items with an expired use by date possibly shouldn't be touched with a barge pole...
An un-opened pack of red lentils BBE Jan 2018. Worth currifying or not?
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That is positively new compared to my pack of chick peas which is dated June 2008. Dried foods I would have no qualms. I recently opened a can of tuna that was only 10 years out of date.
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I would have no qualms at all about using those lentils.
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Use by means it.
Best before is a recommendation.
(Just renewed my food safety certificate :smug:)
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Until recently I had some ketchup in the fridge dated 2012.
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That is positively new compared to my pack of chick peas which is dated June 2008. Dried foods I would have no qualms. I recently opened a can of tuna that was only 10 years out of date.
But did you eat it? ;D 13-14yrso is impressive.
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As long as they're dry and insect-free, great.
(Even if they have a few insects you might still be able to use them after washing, but you can pretend I didn't say this if you'd prefer.)
I once read of an amateur beekeeper who, finding they were required to put a best before date on jars of honey they sold to the public, asked their local apiarist association for advice, which came back as "Honey found in Egyptian pyramids proved to perfectly good to eat some four thousand years after it was buried. Err on the side of caution and label it 'Best before end of 3020'."
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:D Yep, honey doesn't sit around for long here.
Anyway looking forward to lentil curry (with extra garlic) later in the week.
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Dry goods last indefinitely but some things turn 'stale' and don't taste too pretty.
Tinned goods last forever.
Nuts can go rancid.
Spices can lose their spiciness.
My 'set' honey seems to be getting wet. I thought the jar was unopened but I wonder if D opened it.
Frozen stuffs is fine.
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The best before may refer to changes of things like flavour, texture or colour.
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Anything wet needs to be et.
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That is positively new compared to my pack of chick peas which is dated June 2008. Dried foods I would have no qualms. I recently opened a can of tuna that was only 10 years out of date.
But did you eat it? ;D 13-14yrso is impressive.
Yesterday's lunch included an individual Christmas pud that was BBE March 2007, along with the pot of Ambrosia custard that was lurking with it, BBE Nov 2005.
I seem to have survived ;D
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I can't remember how many years out of date our jar of Marmite (which was mostly used for kitchen pr0n) was before a visitor declared it 'off'. They were as surprised as we were that that could even happen to Marmite.
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Food writers, enviro activists and consumer mags: "Best Before" can be taken literally and food is still ok to eat after that date!
Sainsbury's: Quick! Change it to "Use By". That'll stymie the suckers and keep them throwing food away.
^^ not a joke, it really happened
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Furthermore, Sainos used to sell fresh food as Best Before (2) or Best Before (4).
The number in brackets was the number of days before the date that the item had to be sold at a reduced price. This minimised the risk that a customer took an item home and found they didn't have time to eat it.
Now it's all Use By and the bastards will sell it at full price up to the last day. You really need to check dates now, and rummage at the back for one that will last until mid-week.
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My tin of black treacle gets opened every other year whan I make two year's supply of Xmas pudds.
I think it is about 12 years old now, it will last longer than I can manage to stir up the pudds.
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My tin of black treacle gets opened every other year whan I make two year's supply of Xmas pudds.
I think it is about 12 years old now, it will last longer than I can manage to stir up the pudds.
A tin of treacle wouldn't last 12 hours in my kitchen! ;D
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It hibernates at the very back of the cupboard....
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I thought "best before" and "use by" were two different, legally defined, concepts.
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Anything wet needs to be et.
Unless it’s honey, that’ll last for decades, but texture can be improved by warming to liquefy then allowing to cool, should it start to crystallise.
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Anything with a very high sugar or salt content won't really go off, very few micro-organisms can survive the osmotic pressures and sugars are generally reluctant to oxidize at room temperature.
Though in some cases a layer of water forms on top that is lower in sugar and that can encourage microbial growth (hence the mould that can form on top of old jam).
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I thought "best before" and "use by" were two different, legally defined, concepts.
There's been a wholesale shift to "use by", which benefits the supermarkets. They prefer you to waste food as you'll buy more.
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My tin of black treacle gets opened every other year whan I make two year's supply of Xmas pudds.
I think it is about 12 years old now, it will last longer than I can manage to stir up the pudds.
Black treacle has (IME) a Dire Warning on the lid saying "dispose of after xxxyyyy date".
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Morrison's scraps use by dates on milk:
Morrisons will remove “use-by” dates from milk packaging at the end of the month in an attempt to save millions of pints from being thrown away unnecessarily every year.
The British supermarket is asking customers to use a simple and time-honoured test to work out if cow’s milk is usable: sniff it.
Bottles sold by the retailer will still carry “best before” dates that will give an indication of when the milk will have the best taste, but it can often still be used safely for several days after that point.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/jan/09/use-the-sniff-test-morrisons-to-scrap-use-by-dates-from-milk-packaging
I expect this will backfire as people throw milk out when it's passed the best before date instead. Also, the sniff test is widely variable from nose to nose.
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I have always used the sniff test on milk rather than rely on the best before / use by date. It hasn’t let me down yet although my nose and palette are finely attuned to even the slightest floral tang in milk. I was told years ago, though I can’t remember who by or whether they were qualified to make the assertion so please don’t take my word for it, that milk in particular will always smell / taste rank well before it will do you any harm which is possibly why it doesn’t require a “Use By” date.
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My son will reject milk as smelling or tasting "tangy" when I'm happy to use it and before it's passed the use by date. He's always been like that, I don't know if reflects a greater susceptibility to gone-off milk or is just a taste thing. He doesn't like cheese either.
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Sniff test is my go to test for my milk
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Be interesting to see how they react when people start using the sniff test BEFORE they've bought the milk.......
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Also, the sniff test is widely variable from nose to nose.
Wonder if anyone's studied the effects of COVID on food poisoning...
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Pasteurised milk goes off in quite a nasty, pungent way. It doesn't turn to cheese.
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Be interesting to see how they react when people start using the sniff test BEFORE they've bought the milk.......
:D
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Off milk makes great scones. I write on the container in fat black marker SCONE MILK just in case. My children tell me it's a favourite childhood memory- mum appears to be poisoning us with dodgy milk again. It didn't stop them eating the scones mind.
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Off milk makes great scones.
Ditto soda bread.
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Yesterday I whipped cream that had been open since its expiry date of 29/12/21. It took a bit longer to whip because a lot of the fat had formed a plug at the top of the bottle, but it worked and tasted OK. And neither of us has the runs this morning.
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Off milk makes great scones.
Ditto soda bread.
My mum would use it to make Devil's Food Cake. :P
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My tin of black treacle gets opened every other year whan I make two year's supply of Xmas pudds.
I think it is about 12 years old now, it will last longer than I can manage to stir up the pudds.
Black treacle has (IME) a Dire Warning on the lid saying "dispose of after xxxyyyy date".
Black treacle (and molasses) undergoes Maillard reactions over time, which can cause a lot of CO2 production, amongst other things. I'd recommend handling the tin carefully (don't take it from the cupboard & thump it down on a worktop) and opening carefully (safety specs not overkill). I remember a complaint demanding kitchen repainting after an exploding old tin covered the customer's ceiling with treacle...
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Anything with a very high sugar or salt content won't really go off, very few micro-organisms can survive the osmotic pressures and sugars are generally reluctant to oxidize at room temperature.
Though in some cases a layer of water forms on top that is lower in sugar and that can encourage microbial growth (hence the mould that can form on top of old jam).
With honey, the very top layer becoming dilute as a result of moisture absorption can quite rapidly ruin the rest of the tin - and I mean tin. When I kept bees, I lost at least one 44lb tin to this very annoying trait. There's probably a greater tendency for this to happen with rape honey: the glucose content is very high and it leads to early crystallisation. To get the stuff out of the comb, you have to put it in the extractor before the bees seal the cells. The usual test is to give the comb a shake. If a lot of nectar flies out, it's not ready. If only a couple of drops only do, that's the time to extract, but it will almost be a percentage point or two less concentrated than (say) rose bay willow herb or clover honey. Heather honey, being a thixotropic gel, won't come out of the comb via a centrifugal extractor, which is why it's usually sold as cut comb. If it's not cut comb, it's probably been extracted using an apple press, so the honeycomb can't be re-used.
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So who else has been known to
1/ buy sour cream as it's meant to taste like that
2/ scrape the mould of the top of the sour cream/yoghurt and use the rest. Or cut off the mouldy bits and eat the rest of the tomato/apple/etc
3/ same with jam
4/ re-boil jam that has gone alcoholic
5/ check whether the cat (other pets also available) will consume before using the rest
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So who else has been known to
1/ buy sour cream as it's meant to taste like that
2/ scrape the mould of the top of the sour cream/yoghurt and use the rest. Or cut off the mouldy bits and eat the rest of the tomato/apple/etc
3/ same with jam
4/ re-boil jam that has gone alcoholic
5/ check whether the cat (other pets also available) will consume before using the rest
All yes, apart from the cat bit. We don't have one. But I guess we could try it on the mice that are currently sharing our accommodation.
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Beware on the sour cream one, as an advocate of it's supposed to be sour, I once shoved a big spoon of well past its use-by sour cream into my mouth to demonstrate the fact. This proved to be a significant and foolhardy mistake.
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Wet dairy stuff can grow all sorts of nastiness and I avoid old things. I don't want Listeria…
Had a flapjack bite for supper's afters, BB 24 November 2021.
I think ice-axe incisors might have been useful...
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With the milk, I find the time the bottle’s been open as important as the date stamp. We don’t drink if fast enough to get through the enormous bottles the supermarket seem to prefer.
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Which is why we buy ours in glass pint bottles.
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I think also it's 'fridge dependent. We normally buy skimmed milk, which last ages, much longer than the 3-4 days it takes us to go through 4 pints. My wife has been drinking full milk as well recently, and an opened 4 pint bottle is lasting nearly 2 weeks with no ill effects.
My view is that the supply chain for supermarket milk is much, much better controlled in terms of termperature than that for bottled milk via dairies, and throughput is also much higher.
Plus all supermarkets still sell 2 pint containers, which are hardly huge.
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I only get through a single pint a week and 1-pint wossnames of Mr Sainsbury’s House of Toothy Comestibles' own-brand semi-skilled have been thin on the
ground shelf since the plague hit our shores. I usually end up having to buy Graham's – either regular or organic – which is more expensive and thus hurts my Yorkshire soul.
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I think also it's 'fridge dependent.
Very much so. Mrs barakta's-mum's former residence had a fitted fridge which, like all fitted appliances, was kept in service well beyond its best before date on account of being such a pain to replace. Milk would keep for a couple of days, which was consistent with it barely feeling cold inside.
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We have two pint bottles of each of semi and skimmed. They last 3, maybe 4, days before they fail my smell test. Though supply to the local supermarket of the smaller bottles seems to be about once a week, judging by the regular empty shelves and dates on the bottles.
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I mostly get milk in glass bottles from the milkman.
The date embossed on the foil lid is 'optimistic' but we usually finish the milk long before it.
I also keep Sainsbury's two pint plastic semi-skimmed milk bottles in the freezer for top-ups.
This lasts longer than the glass bottles.
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We got milk delivered for a while. But the milkman comes here shortly after our bedtime (I hear them delivering to next door if I've stayed up late), so it might well be sat on the step getting warm for 8 hours before anyone gets it in. The prompt to stop getting it delivered was the second time the milk was taken, along with the bottle holder. Going to the shop before breakfast isn't something I'm enthusiastic about.
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We (there are only 2 of us, no pets no visitors) get through 4 pints of full fat in just over a day.
https://youtu.be/29bR_PM37kU
:-\
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We (there are only 2 of us, no pets no visitors) get through 4 pints of full fat in just over a day.
I think I'd be stuck on the loo if I drank that much milk...
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D is sufficiently nocturnal to take in the milk the milk before bed for most deliveries.
We've had milk nicked and there have been unexpected non-deliveries.
I don't go to bed without there being assured milk for breakfast - either a doorstep delivery or the rescue bottle I'd extract from the freezer.
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Six pack of UHT, lasts forever, even when opened in the fridge – we don't use much, breakfast cereal for my wife and coffee for me. Occasional cooking.
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UHT has the added bonus of tasting nicer than normal milk...
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We buy Cravendale, or supermarket own-brand versions of filtered milk - it definitely lasts longer after opening. Coffee and porridge is all we really use it for (and I'm the only porridge eater in the household), so a standard 4 pint would generally go off before we'd get through it.
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We buy Cravendale, or supermarket own-brand versions of filtered milk - it definitely lasts longer after opening.
I suspect that lactose-free goes through a similar filtering process because it lasts for ages too.
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i don't like the taste of UHT milk.
We get through exactly a pint for breakfast every day and a bit more, for drinks, sauces and custard.
We have 8 pints delivered per week and use frozen supermarket milk, in 2 pint bottles, as needed.
Milk only goes off if delivered stale or left out in summer.
Supermarket milk NEVER goes off here; it's either frozen or finished.
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UHT has the added bonus of tasting nicer than normal milk...
I'm not much of a milk drinker, but even so...
<Ack ack ack> in a non-TCP sense...
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I'm from the generation that thanked Maggie the Milk Snatcher that we no longer had to drink the lukewarm boak-juice every afternoon. She was our saviour.
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I'm from the generation that thanked Maggie the Milk Snatcher that we no longer had to drink the lukewarm boak-juice every afternoon. She was our saviour.
That was what put me off drinking milk.
During my primary school years, we had no fridge at home.
Occasionally, my dad would bring home ice cream in the evening, and this was placed in the bath until it was time to eat it.
My Aunt who lived with her mother, my Grandma, had a fridge.
I went to live with them for a week or two every year as a small, and I remember the sheer joy of cold milk, something I'd never experienced before.
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It used to sit in the corner of the classroom until afternoon break, at which point it would be lukewarm and claggy. You'd try to get a straw through the worst of it. Then St Maggie rode in and they replaced it with something dangerous and orange, some kind of industrial precursor of Sunny Delight an basically kiddie methamphetamine. It also came in tetra paks, so basically all shirts and blouses from that point trended towards orange with red bloodstains from running into all the walls.
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I think my fan-dom of all things dairy dates from being responsible for getting it out of the cows. I don't remember liking it at school, and loathed hot chocolate as a child.
Squirted straight into your coffee was fantastic, skimming the top layer off the tank made your frosties a gourmet delight and making your own yoghurt and soft cheese just played into the Little-House-On-The-Prairie vibe I ran with in my 20s.
It's a superfood. Just ask baby cows.
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This weeks bag of porridge oats has a Best Before date of October 2019. I'm not ded.
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...yet!
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The worst that will happen to oats, if stored dry, is that they'll go a bit stale. That's more of an issue with wholegrains which contain more fat (it's the fats oxidizing that gives rise to the stale taste). That's why wholemeal flour has a shorter shelf-life than white.
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Found some Halls pastilles and various Japanese confectionery items under the pile of "papers which might be important" dating back to up to 10 years ago.
I'll probably risk them before another ten years or I expire.
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Similarly I found a >6 year old opened bar of dark chocolate in a pile of "papers which might be important". It dates from Suffolk- we've moved twice since I bought it. I didn't fancy it, it smelt unappealing.
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This issue was being discussed on Radio 3 this morning.
(Don't know why I need to share that, but...)
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I used some Brufen Retard prescribed for D's Dad in January 2003e, earlier this week. (D's Dad could no longer use it and I hate to see stuffs thrown away.)
D went to Aldi earlier this week and bought a 25p pack of crumpets that were 30%off as it was their Use By date that day.
There was early mould growth today, so D gave me the mouldy one.
I'm still alive...
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There was early mould growth today, so D gave me the mouldy one.
Early Valentine. :D
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That was the Covid...
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If it's blue or green it's probably penicillium.
Don't eat black or white mould, of course, as that's aspergillus.
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Or mucor...
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My mum offered me some capsaicin cream for post walk pain relief. It was disappointingly non burny on rubbing in. Even the open skin on my over rowed hands was OK.
Dated 2016. BBE Feb 2019. Volatiles lose their volatility, quelle surprise.
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If it's blue or green it's probably penicillium.
Don't eat black or white mould, of course, as that's aspergillus.
I'm now telling myself that the white accretion on the outside of the 2% fat salami MrsT inflicted on me was KNO3.
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Tonights feast was a tin of M&S Hot Beef Curry. Best before before June 2017...... must be from the first batch of my Brexshit stash.... :jurek:
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Marks & Spencer is taking "best before" dates off more than 300 fruit and vegetable items to tackle food waste.
They will be replaced by a code that M&S staff can use to check freshness and quality.
I'm curious what this code will be other than a best before in a format that the public can't read. Any ideas?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-62199657
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Marks & Spencer is taking "best before" dates off more than 300 fruit and vegetable items to tackle food waste.
They will be replaced by a code that M&S staff can use to check freshness and quality.
I'm curious what this code will be other than a best before in a format that the public can't read. Any ideas?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-62199657
[old git mode]
When bread stopped coming in waxed paper and instead came in plastic bags, the tag used to tie the bag was colour-coded so the shop owner knew which was the oldest. It wasn't long before everyone else knew the secrit mnemonic "Buy Our Perishable Goods Yesterday" = Blue (for Monday), Orange, Purple, Green, Yellow.
I assume the modern version will be a QR or Bar code that employees can scan, but will equally take no time at all for apps to be available for anyone who cares.
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Yeah, so that QR code or whatever they use is actually a best before code. But is there another way to "check freshness and quality" using a "code" that isn't in effect a date?
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I bought milk from Asda and the four pint bottle went off before the use by date. I assume it is the hot weather. My brother had the same problem.
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Yeah, so that QR code or whatever they use is actually a best before code. But is there another way to "check freshness and quality" using a "code" that isn't in effect a date?
Sure, the code could be a meaningless unique ID that can be looked up in a database to obtain salient information such as date and place of manufacture, batch number, when it was put on the shelf, etc. Some of that might even be useful - I'm imagining being able to flag a batch for early removal across all stores.
Bonus points if the code is also read at point of sale. Then you can do statistical analysis and determine how long they're spending on the shelves, and buy someone else's carrots next year if it seems that for some unknown reasons customers don't like the ones from CDC Farms Ltd.
I'm not sure removal of best before dates is actually a good idea, given all the anosmia from COVID-19. I've seen what happens in Postman Piers's fridge when he doesn't have someone with a working nose around...
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Wowbagger's post about finding a pack of couscous eight years past its best-by date reminded me about the jar of asafoetida I finished in a veggie curry the other night.
Best before the end of December 2002. ;D
Yes, I know, some people say you should replace your ground spices on a yearly basis, but I go with a smell test - if the aroma hasn't faded, why chuck it out? Put it like this, asafoetida used to be sold double-packed in miniature plastic tubs with screw-on lids inside the jar, because it's pretty pungent stuff (IIRC it's used as a garlic substitute in some Indian recipes) and it was still minging quite strongly years after its nominal best-by date.
Looks like the oldest thing in the kitchen cupboards is the tin of Colman's mustard powder, which was best before the end of March 2004. Not sure about the jar of Szechuan peppercorns, but they might be of a similar vintage...
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I threw out the gluten free flour which was BBE July 2020 not because of the date but the fusty smell.
However the vegan 'butter' was best before 17/10 despite being purchased 28/10 and I used it. Hydrogenated Veg Oil doesn't go off that quickly, and it didn't smell.
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I threw out the gluten free flour which was BBE July 2020 not because of the date but the fusty smell.
However the vegan 'butter' was best before 17/10 despite being purchased 28/10 and I used it. Hydrogenated Veg Oil doesn't go off that quickly, and it didn't smell.
Vegan "butter"?? What's wrong with vegetable margarine....
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I think most margarine/butter substitutes still contain some dairy products.
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I threw out the gluten free flour which was BBE July 2020 not because of the date but the fusty smell.
However the vegan 'butter' was best before 17/10 despite being purchased 28/10 and I used it. Hydrogenated Veg Oil doesn't go off that quickly, and it didn't smell.
Vegan "butter"?? What's wrong with vegetable margarine....
99.99% of what I eat contains butter. But if you're catering for vegan/gluten/dairy free it is polite to use the best alternative for their dietary needs.
https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/plant-pioneers/plant-pioneers-vegan-slightly-salted-block-250g
It was for a lemon buttercream style frosting. The recipients pronounced the cake covered in it 'f*cking delicious' and we plan to have our next van signwritten appropriately.
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Slightly salted block sounds wrong. Like someone has got the hots for brutalist architecture.
In other news, asafoetida* is a bit stinky, but I use the smell test with spices. The whole nutmeg I think dates back to 2002.
*a woman at the market once sold me some jars of curry sauce that didn't, she explained, for reasons too long for me to document and containing the entire religious history of the Indian subcontinent, contain any alliums. I was a bit dubious since any curry I make will include basically at least half a garlic head. They were actually very nice though.
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It's not something I've heard of previously, and I've never seen it on sale in Matta's, though they do list it. Perhaps they keep it in a fume cupboard at the back ?
https://www.mattas.co.uk/product/compounded-asafoetida-100g/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asafoetida "In French it is known (among other names) as merde du Diable, meaning 'shit of the Devil'.[6] In English it is sometimes called Devil's dung "
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I threw out the gluten free flour which was BBE July 2020 not because of the date but the fusty smell.
However the vegan 'butter' was best before 17/10 despite being purchased 28/10 and I used it. Hydrogenated Veg Oil doesn't go off that quickly, and it didn't smell.
Vegan "butter"?? What's wrong with vegetable margarine....
99.99% of what I eat contains butter. But if you're catering for vegan/gluten/dairy free it is polite to use the best alternative for their dietary needs.
https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/plant-pioneers/plant-pioneers-vegan-slightly-salted-block-250g
It was for a lemon buttercream style frosting. The recipients pronounced the cake covered in it 'f*cking delicious' and we plan to have our next van signwritten appropriately.
Sorry - I wasn't commenting on what you chose to use - just that AFAIK margarine made from hydrogenated vegetable oils = vegan "butter".
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asafoetida "In French it is known (among other names) as merde du Diable, meaning 'shit of the Devil'.[6] In English it is sometimes called Devil's dung "
A syllable swap in Manoir du Braconnier results in it being called "foetid arse".
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*a woman at the market once sold me some jars of curry sauce that didn't, she explained, for reasons too long for me to document and containing the entire religious history of the Indian subcontinent, contain any alliums. I was a bit dubious since any curry I make will include basically at least half a garlic head. They were actually very nice though.
For some reason, I thought the prohibition of eating alliums (and assorted other foods) was to do with the Ayurveda woo/philosophy, but it's from the Sattvic diet, which looks like yogic eating to align your chakras or something like that:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sattvic_diet#Tamasic_(sedative)_foods
Nomnomnom mani padme hum...
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Or the Catholic version, In nomnomine potatis, et fusilli, et spiritus sanctus, amen.
In the absence of spiritus sanctus, communion wine may be substituted.
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Or the Catholic version, In nomnomine potatis, et fusilli, et spiritus sanctus, ramen.
In the absence of spiritus sanctus, communion wine may be substituted.
;D
Minor edit made, though... ;)
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*a woman at the market once sold me some jars of curry sauce that didn't, she explained, for reasons too long for me to document and containing the entire religious history of the Indian subcontinent, contain any alliums. I was a bit dubious since any curry I make will include basically at least half a garlic head. They were actually very nice though.
For some reason, I thought the prohibition of eating alliums (and assorted other foods) was to do with the Ayurveda woo/philosophy, but it's from the Sattvic diet, which looks like yogic eating to align your chakras or something like that:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sattvic_diet#Tamasic_(sedative)_foods
Nomnomnom mani padme hum...
She explained it as connected to Sikh langar - basically the communal kitchen and recipes that offered food to all faiths and castes, so everything on the menu has to offend no one. Which, given the region, is quite the culinary challenge. There was more detail.
Anyway, I wasn't convinced by the jars of sauce she persuaded me to buy, since there weren't many ingredients left after they'd taken out the onions, garlic, and dairy. But surprisingly good. Hope you like them, she said, because I'm retiring and not making any more.
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Sorry - I wasn't commenting on what you chose to use - just that AFAIK margarine made from hydrogenated vegetable oils = vegan "butter".
Margarine must contain at least 80% fat. Most of these vegan 'butters' are less than that.
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Or the Catholic version, In nomnomine potatis, et fusilli, et spiritus sanctus, ramen.
In the absence of spiritus sanctus, communion wine may be substituted.
;D
Minor edit made, though... ;)
✔️
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I threw out the gluten free flour which was BBE July 2020 not because of the date but the fusty smell.
However the vegan 'butter' was best before 17/10 despite being purchased 28/10 and I used it. Hydrogenated Veg Oil doesn't go off that quickly, and it didn't smell.
Vegan "butter"?? What's wrong with vegetable margarine....
See 'Food Crimes' thread for my views on margarine...
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Day before yesterday I found a sachet of dried "cup a soup" in my office desk drawer, with bb date of June 2016. Tasted fine (as far as these things go) and I live to tell. To the amazement of my colleagues ;D
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Day before yesterday I found a sachet of dried "cup a soup" in my office desk drawer, with bb date of June 2016. Tasted fine (as far as these things go) and I live to tell. To the amazement of my colleagues ;D
Given progressive recipe 'improvements', there's a good chance it tasted better than a new one would.
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The other day I had a packet of instant noodle, best before Oct 2019.
I've got a few of these packets, one has been opened before 2020 with half of the noodle inside, I'm not sure if I should eat it.
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David used some onion powder in the Bolognese on Sunday.
Best Before ** 1997.
We ain't DEDD yet...
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Found an unopened tub of Low Fat (1.4%) natural yoghurt Use by 20 Dec. (~22 days over date) in back of fridge. Lid not under pressure, no bubbles, smelt good, tasted fine - with blueberries/muesli/maple syrup. :thumbsup:
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A bit late to mention this but my xmas pud was 2016 vintage. Tasted good.
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Milk datestamped 15 January and kept in fridge immediately after its 1am Monday arrival tasted distinctly stale earlier today.
Not impressed!
D decided he wanted marmalade the other night. He doesn't usually eat marmalade.
Told him there was some Rose's at the back of a cupboard.
BBE **2015. It's gone a bit brown but was otherwise fine…
D's developed a penchant for Golden Syrup over the Festive Season. Seems some of our tins are 10 years old!
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Truffling around in the back of the camping cupboard I found a half dozen freeze dried meals, mostly with use by dates of 2015, so bog knows when I bought them.
In the interests of science I've just eaten one*. It seemed perfectly OK, but if i stop posting you'll know what happened.
https://basecampfood.com/products/real-turmat-reindeer-stew Bloody hell. I must have been feeling flush!
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We’ve got a couple of tins of soup that predate the pandemic.
Probably safe, but a tin of something else that old was noticeably stale.
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I recently tarted up a tomato sauce with some sundried ones from a plastic tub found at the beack of the 'fridge (still sealed at the time of opening) with a BBE Jun 2022. They were fine.
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I found 2 jars of Huntley Herbs Hot Lemon Relish in the back of the cupboard. We used to get through quite a lot of it but not so much when we stopped having meat & cheese based sarnies. End date of 2018. Suppose I should toss it.
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It might be even better, years of extra maturing... ;)
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I found 2 jars of Huntley Herbs Hot Lemon Relish in the back of the cupboard. We used to get through quite a lot of it but not so much when we stopped having meat & cheese based sarnies. End date of 2018. Suppose I should toss it.
I'd just eat it.
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Wowbagger's post about finding a pack of couscous eight years past its best-by date reminded me about the jar of asafoetida I finished in a veggie curry the other night.
Best before the end of December 2002. ;D
Yes, I know, some people say you should replace your ground spices on a yearly basis, but I go with a smell test - if the aroma hasn't faded, why chuck it out? Put it like this, asafoetida used to be sold double-packed in miniature plastic tubs with screw-on lids inside the jar, because it's pretty pungent stuff (IIRC it's used as a garlic substitute in some Indian recipes) and it was still minging quite strongly years after its nominal best-by date.
Looks like the oldest thing in the kitchen cupboards is the tin of Colman's mustard powder, which was best before the end of March 2004. Not sure about the jar of Szechuan peppercorns, but they might be of a similar vintage...
I found some Silver Jubilee Colman’s mustard powder in my inlaws’ larder…
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Asafoetida is like nuclear waste, it doesn't go off quickly.
I find most of the spices in the little pots from the supermarket start out pretty bland so aren't worth keeping around; it's better to get the stuff from an Asian supermarket, the downside of which is that you end up with half a kilo of cloves and I don't plan to be cooking curries for the next five hundred years.
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I had some apple juice (from concentrate) which were a few years past the date, it tasted off and unpleasant.
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Not food but don't try hay fever/allergy tabs which have and exp. 2003. They will not relieve your symptoms and will make you feel worse for the next few hours. Ooops.
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I had some apple juice (from concentrate) which were a few years past the date, it tasted off and unpleasant.
Top quality Jail Juice, though. It'll make you popular, in the right way, if you ever have to do a stretch.
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I'm working my way through a kilo of dried figs, with a use by date of June 2020 on the packet. Perfectly tasty & no side effects other than the expected ones....
https://www.costco.co.uk/Grocery-Household/Grocery-Delivery/Sunny-Fruit-Organic-Sun-Dried-Figs-113kg/p/1298243
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Apparently sciatica laughs at Cocodamol dated 2020.
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Foraging in the back of the freezer I’ve just found a sealed pack of osso Buco with a “use by” date of June 2020……. Should I …… ?
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Well into the new century :demon:
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David wanted something to flavour the plain kefir he'd bought, after listening to some trendy Late Book on Radio 4.
He found a hitherto unopened bottle of Crusha milk shake syrup, with a 2008 Best Before date.
Seems fine...
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I have just taken a couple of Boots Paracetamol and codeine tablets.
Use by date on the box is April 2015.
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David wanted something to flavour the plain kefir he'd bought, after listening to some trendy Late Book on Radio 4.
He found a hitherto unopened bottle of Crusha milk shake syrup, with a 2008 Best Before date.
Seems fine...
I'm sure it's absolutely fine. But I'm equally sure that Crusha-flavoured kefir is not fine at all.
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David wanted something to flavour the plain kefir he'd bought, after listening to some trendy Late Book on Radio 4.
He found a hitherto unopened bottle of Crusha milk shake syrup, with a 2008 Best Before date.
Seems fine...
I'm sure it's absolutely fine. But I'm equally sure that Crusha-flavoured kefir is not fine at all.
LURID PINK sweet synthetic raspberry yogurt - acceptable in the circumstances...
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But sweet kefir? No thanks!
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Someone further up the street has put some boxes of Ryvita on the wall. BB 07-12-2022; way too recent to be of concern. The boxes are unopened and inside, the Ryvitas are in little sealed plastic packets. And as far as I know, there are no Russian dissidents in the neighbourhood... I have eaten four slices (one packet).
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A bit late to mention this but my xmas pud was 2016 vintage. Tasted good.
Christmas pud lasts ages. I posted a 2007 pud back on page 1 of this thread (in 2021).
Christmas cake lasts very well too. Should there still be any (un-iced) in the post-Christmas sales, I'll buy a stock and use them for cycling food. That has been known to take them 5 years past best before. The current oldest says BB 26/01/2021.
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Unopened 'fresh' Aioli / Garlic mayo. Use by 10 July. Looks Ok, film lid not under pressure, but maybe not...
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Christmas cake lasts very well too. Should there still be any (un-iced) in the post-Christmas sales, I'll buy a stock and use them for cycling food. That has been known to take them 5 years past best before. The current oldest says BB 26/01/2021.
Weren't wedding cakes, which are like Christmas cake, designed to feed the family when the inevitable baby emerged n months after the wedding?
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Decided I wanted fruity jam on my rice pudding tonight.
Sainsbury's 'Taste the Difference' Raspberry Conserve.
BBE APR 2013
Very nice it was too!
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Rice pudding is always improved with a little raspberry wine.
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Rice pudding is always improved with a little raspberry wine.
;D ;D ;D
No sign of fermentation. Lid button was down.
Sugar content in preserves is too high for fermentation anyhow...
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I've just retrieved from the fridge, where they've been since I took them home from a party the Monday before Christmas (Monday is the start of the weekend among the circles I move in*), two flapjacks and two energy balls. All homemade, so no BB dates. Flapjacks obviously last forever. The energy balls are a mixture of seeds, cocoa, sugar, and butter or oil or some sort of fat. They're every bit as tasty as they were three weeks ago.
*It ends on Sunday, if you were unsure.
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‘Dry’ foods (<10% water) will last indefinitely, though oils/fats way go rancid and flour taste ’stale’ after a few months.
This won’t kill you but might be unpleasant.
Crisps and similar snacks, once opened, absorb moisture from the air and go soft.
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‘Dry’ foods (<10% water) will last indefinitely, though oils/fats way go rancid and flour taste ’stale’ after a few months.
This won’t kill you but might be unpleasant.
Crisps and similar snacks, once opened, absorb moisture from the air and go soft.
Suddenly, I need Pringles.
I know they are bad for me.
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Bad for the planet.
Much unrecyclable waste.
Will not buy...
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Found today Cloves BBE 2000. 24yrso. ;D
Beat that if you can... ;)
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53522338107_7980fdfe4a_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2pxzYqT)cloves (https://flic.kr/p/2pxzYqT) by ao (https://www.flickr.com/photos/145942400@N06/), on Flickr
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I have older!
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Impressive. :) Which year?
Breaking news. Have a new jar of cloves BBE Dec 2025. I reckon the yr 2000 cloves, may have been bought in 1998 ish.
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A spice rack, fixed to the kitchen wall, pre-dates my moving here in 1999.
Even the salt bears a ‘use by 1999’ marking.
I’ve never had the tuits to do anything with the spice rack...
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I don't suppose anything's going to happen to salt. It's several million years old already. And the cloves will be harmless, but also, I suspect, fairly useless.
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I don't suppose anything's going to happen to salt. It's several million years old already. And the cloves will be harmless, but also, I suspect, fairly useless.
Cloves aren't harmless.
Eugenol, Iso eugenol and β-caryophyllene are all respiratory and skin irritants, and not volatile enough to be gone yet.
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What does the panel think on the longevity of hot chilli sauces, stored in fridge. e.g. Encona hot pepper sauce (BBE4 wks) @4 months, Sriracha (BBE 6wks) at 7 months?
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What does the panel think on the longevity of hot chilli sauces, stored in fridge. e.g. Encona hot pepper sauce (BBE4 wks) @4 months, Sriracha (BBE 6wks) at 7 months?
Are they mouldy? Taste ok? Then they are. Dates are legislative, by and large.
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Item:
Whitbread "Best" Bitter, BBE of Aug 2003
Probably undrinkable even when fresh, but how about after 20 years?(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20240305/dc9aaba8f9ba336dadd57e75a254d6f9.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20240305/3a410af8ba41a3d19b107814b198795e.jpg)
Sent from my Pixel 6a using Tapatalk
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The boiled egg I ate last night was from a box with the eat-by date of 28th December. It floated a bit but was OK.
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A jar of Aldi Bockworst with a best before date of June 2020. I think these must have dated from my original Brexit stash....
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We finished the old 950g jar of Nutella today. It was delivered in April 2022.
I tried to read its ‘Best Before’ date.
It was illegible as many of the dots had worn off.
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I miss nutella (I'm not really allowed to eat it cos it's full of whey powder, therefore is lactose DETH, but the 'vegan' alternatives are NOT the same or as nice). Maybe my best lactose-pills test :demon:
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I was going to say this one is delish (https://www.goodfoodproject.co.uk/products/essentials-dark-chocolate-spread-400g) but it's also made with skimmed milk powder so...
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We had roast chicken for dinner on Friday. To accompany it I got some of our home made
power port, orange and cranberry sauce out of the fridge. Made December 2019.
Edited to correct the autocarrot error ::-)
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We had roast chicken for dinner on Friday. To accompany it I got some of our home made power and orange cranberry sauce out of the fridge. Made December 2019.
My bold.
That sounds like a bathroom cleaning product.