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Foods You Can Eat Long Past Their Use By Date

Throwing away food that seems perfectly good but has passed its use-by date feels like such a waste, and there are some items that you can relax the strict rules on without risking food poisoning

It's common knowledge that best-before dates on packaging are conservative estimates of how long your food will last.

But even if you've gone past the use-by date it doesn't mean you always need to be 'safe rather than sorry' as some foods last far longer than manufacturers suggest.

If you hate wasting food - and 15 millions tonnes goes to waste every year in the UK - there are better ways to tell if it's safe to eat than a number on the pack.

Smell and texture are some of the key measures of whether food is OK to eat. Any kind of fermented alcohol smell coming from your fruit, for example, is sign to throw it away. And if chicken or fish has a slimy texture, bin it.

Other ways to tell include:

Eggs
Put them in water to see if they float. If they do, don't eat them! This shows that gasses have built up in the shell and the egg is bad. If it sinks, regardless of the date on the side, it should be fine. Most will last four or five weeks beyond their use-by date.

Lettuce
As long as it's not slimy, leaves are usually fine to eat beyond the use-by date. If they're wilted, try soaking them in ice water for 10 minutes to bring them back to life.

Pasta
If it doesn't smell funny and you've kept it in its packet or in an air-tight container and it's still hard it's fine, whatever the sell-by date says.

Crisps and crackers
If they've gone a bit sale and soft, try crisping them up in the oven, but if they smell 'farmy', the oils have gone rancid and they need to go.

Tinned goods
Cans of food usually have an average of three years shelf-life according to use-by dates, but usually they'll taste fine well beyond that. Experts suggest if you keep them cool you can eat them up to seven years after you've bought them.

Bread
In the freezer this will last several months beyond its sell by date, provided it's not mouldy.

Flour
If kept dry and in an air-tight container flour can last around eight months beyond it's use-by date. But keep an eye out for pock marks or bugs in the flour, which may be weevils. If you discover these throw out the flour (in your outdoor bin) immediately and disinfect your kitchen as the little blighters can spread.

Milk
If you store it at the back of the fridge rather than in the door it can last up to 50 per cent longer, as the temperature there is cooler. And the best way to tell if milk's bad is to smell it rather than go by dates.

Meat
Processed meats such as ham and sausages should be eaten as soon as possible after purchase as the processes that go into creating them can leave them open to bateria exposure. Poultry and pork are the biggest causes of food poisoning in the UK so don't risk it.

Fish
People are worried about eating bad fish (for good reason) but white fish actually lasts about four weeks after landing. Unfortunately there's no way to know when it was caught or how long it took to get to the shelves so check it doesn't smell and isn't slimy to touch. If not, it's probably fine.