Recipes

[PA Mom-mom]

@Maggie Nolia  If it smells sweet, it's fine. If it's putrid, you will know. it.

[Nonametoday]

My family was in the grocery and restaurant business.  Meat is meant to be sold by a certain date and it is figured you will hold on to it to cook it the next day or so.  I cook hamburger meat a few days after but I am careful with poultry and pork.  That is how we were taught.   Beef is a meat that has better resistance to bacteria than pork, poultry or fish.  However, I would use either 24 hours after that sell-by date, but hamburger I think is safe for 3-5 days.

A friend who was in the meat market business for Kroger once told me he never bought steak or hamburger until the day past the sell-by date because that is when it is the best, that the brown meat is better than the red.  Don't know if I would do that, but he was in the hierarcy of Kroger's meat business.  I have been a guest in their home and they served it and I did not die.  In fact, I did not even get sick.

[DearPrudence]

I personally would not use it.  But I'm the type who throws out milk on the expiration date.

[house_cat]

This is a timely post.  I do my shopping on Friday or Saturday for the upcoming week.  I was at Ralph's (Kroger) yesterday and all the beef was marked "sell by 11/30".  Many of the packages were already gray, which I know isn't necessarily bad, but it sure looked awful in the showcase.  I asked the butcher if he could grind me some fresh beef and he suggested I "come back later in the week".

I went to a different store.

But, to answer your original question, I would use it if I knew it was in my fridge all the while, very cold, no temperature fluctuations.

[x Hedge]

   I trust myself.

Going by the adage,

"When in doubt, throw it out",

I'd inspect it and smell it and use my best judgement from there.

if you want to be the guinea pig, I suppose you could make a mini-burger, cook the rest of it in crumbled form thoroughly, then maybe eat the burger before mixing with the rest of the recipe.

[x Hedge]

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@DearPrudence wrote:

I personally would not use it.  But I'm they type who throws out milk on the expiration date.

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In my state our dairy is good for a week past the expiration date.

[Silver Fox1]

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@Maggie Nolia wrote:

Thinking of browning it tonight to add to soup that I will put in crock pot in the morning. 

TIA.

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My Mom always said "when in doubt throw it out" so that's the rule I've always followed.  

[RedTop]

Yes.

[KathyM23]

No, I would not.  I am very picky about expiration dates.  I had a severe case of food poisoning that took a long time to resolve, ended up in the hospital.

For foods with a long expiration date, I won't even use them close to the expiration date. 

For meat if it says sell by 11/30, I would use it up to the 29th, but that is just me.

[Carmie]

The sell by date is placed on perishable products by the grocery stores so they know when to mark the item down to clear it out quickly or when to remove it from the shelves.

It is not a date to be used by consumers.  You can consume a product past it's sell by date as long as it has been properly stored and is fresh.

Food that has a use by date is not supposed to be consumed past that date.

Best before date is a guideline in helping you know that your product is getting old.

These are all guidelines.  If a carton on eggs say use by Dec. 31...they aren't going to be unsafe to eat at midnight on the 31st.

Yes, I would eat beef on 11/30 with a sell by date of 11/27.  Absolutely.