This is true. I worked at a grocery store for 5 years and constantly ate expired food. Never got sick once. Of course use common sense (off taste, odor) to avoid getting sick, though.

But seriously, about time. Maybe this will cheapen all food, as grocery stores won't need to throw out "expired" food and can just sell it to these guys or sell it themselves!

It may be so but it is still a hard premise to swallow. ( pun intended ) I have been laughing at flea market food for years.

Smashed can stores are full of win.

Latest find - Pepperidge Farm cookies - regularly $3.39/package, 99 cents.

Their expiration date was 11/30/08, but they weren't stale, and had no bad peanut butter in them. So I eated it.

Along the same lines, you can also get perfectly good meats and breads if you shop later in the day, when the stores want to break even on freshly prepared items they'd otherwise be throwing away.

Wow. Obviously there's a demand for less expensive food. There's a supermarket near my dad that sells stuff like this. I was in there once. It was depressing as all hell. Old people, obviously poor people, and it smelled bad in there. But the prices were good.

Even before the economy decimated our budget, I was a bargain food shopper. I 'favorite' all the local store circulars on my computer and check them twice a week. I don't really use coupons, since we don't buy processed foods or soda.

@parkavery: Yes! We do this all the time. Heck, half the meat/poultry/seafood we buy is on "Manager's Special" at Kroger. Just make sure you fix it that night, and you're fine.

Woo Hoo! Cheap meat.

Within some limits this is what I consider ok. We used to have a place like this in town. They would have things that were fine and thing you probably shouldn't be eating but they sold things until they were gone.

I just look for managers specials at the regular grocery. If they have a surplus of a type of meat or it is getting close to the sell by date it usually shows up there. I frequently get turkey breast for 99 cents a pound after the holidays. I grab all they have and throw them in the chest freezer.

@parkavery:
I know if I hit up Albertsons about 8 or 9 am, they put out the meat expiring that day for about half off. I usually check their expiring foods cart for cookies and Cinnabuns marked down to a dollar or two from $4 and up.

As a Canadian public health inspector the only true expiration dates we really come across is on baby food and canned goods.

I got two pounds of beef last week for $3.50 because the expiration date was a day or two before the "sell by" date. It was perfectly fine, but I wouldn't have done it if I wasn't going to be using it that day.

It helps when you're going grocery shopping to be flexible on what meals you make.

I shop for the expiring meat all the time.. mainly for the 2 dogs :)

that about to go green steak that's been marked right down to get rid of it is normally cheaper than canned 'Prime Dog Food' and a hellva lot better for them :)

being single and male i usually buy a bag of carrots or milk or what have you and throw out half the stuff because i can't eat all of it before the expiry date.. being near or past expiry date wouldn't be saving me any cash unfortunately..

There's a dollar-store type place called "Good Stuff Cheap" near me that has a large isle full of food, much of it expired. They have a sign reminding people that food is often good long after it's sell-by date, and they will give you your money back if you aren't satisfied.

They have some weird stuff there - regional brands from other regions and stuff in restaurant/institutional packaging, but occasionally you find, well, good stuff cheap.

I buy much of my British food this way. The shop has a table of recently expired candy, tins of spaghetti, etc. which is way cheaper than the in date stuff. Haven't got sick yet!

big lots near me sells many name brand canned soups that are about a month out before their 'best buy' date and i buy them all the time and rarely finish eating my purchases before they expire.
the food bank near me won't even take them but i haven't had any trouble so far as long as i avoid the dented or rusted ones

At the grocery store near me. They have a section where they put the meat that they are about to put out. I check in twice a week and have gotten some great deals. As soon as I get home it goes in the freezer and works just fine. The last deal I found was roasts for $3.50 a peice. Lots of leftovers too.

GB is the ultimate nanny state. Don't expect this site to last long, it will soon be banned because of "Health and Safety" concerns.

Maybe a US version would last, it's a good idea.

@B: Stomach churning. Bowels clenching. Must... finish... spoiled... meat.

@B: Cheap meat was my college nickname.

@Skeetz: Why don't you buy less of each, or eat more of what you buy? Or when you buy it, divy up half and donate it to a food bank or shelter?

I wouldn't be alive if I hadn't had a store like this nearby when I was younger, and that's no exaggeration. Unfortunately, the neighborhood association got it closed down because they thought it was lowering property values. $1 trays of gray cold cuts and cheese with dry edges is the difference between eating and not eating for some people.

Big Lots - I have no problem buying food there. I've never gotten anything spoiled, a few things were weird but safe to eat, and a surprising amount of stuff that was top-notch, off brands or foods normally sent to restaurants, not sold to grocery stores.

We definitely need stores like this here - we throw away more than enough food to feed all of our hungry here in the US, and it would empower some people to feed themselves again so they could be weaned off of charity. And it has got to be safer than dumpster-diving.

@pecan pi: i know you're right.. and i make purchases intending on eating everything and not wasting.. but it just doesn't work out lol.. i'll keep trying tho.. at least i have a dog now to take care of the carrots.

I would have to say that would be a good way to save some money. For most packaged goods, the "use by" date is only there to indicate when the product tastes best. Obviously, common sense is in order...I would avoid rusty or severely mangled cans, Chinese toothpaste, expired milk and putrid meat, but I would think most products that are slightly outside of the "use by" date would be perfectly edible.

I regularly eat food that's just a little past it's expiration date. I am pretty wary of dairy and mayo though. I've had some bad experiences there. Otherwise it's all good.

Although once I tried cooking a box of Mac and Cheese that I didn't realize was almost 3 years past it's exp date. Noodles cooked fine, but when I opened the cheese powder it was rust orange and smelled to high heaven.

I wasn't hungry anymore after that.

@Skeetz: I have the same problem, but unfortunately my dog won't eat carrots

@Benguin: Isn't the Mac and Cheese powder normally that color?

@skeksis: No, usually it's more like highlighter orange.

@jamar0303: Exactly. We're talking almost red here.

But the smell. Oh Lord the smell. Just thinking about it brings back painful memories...

I owned several retail stores that sold Scratch N Dent Food. Over a period of 10 yrs we ate from the worst to the best and never lost a day to food illness' from out of date products. True the texture or color may change but, the wholesomeness is rarely affected. In Fla. there are a few things that cannot be sold out of date, Oysters, Milk, yogurt, sour cream, cottage cheese and a few others that contain a live bacteria culture, other wise it is sellable. My customers saved significantly and we provided jobs for a lot of people. I would call that a Win-Win situation. I wish I still had my stores today.

@YNinja: Many chains already either donate food to a local shelter or food bank, or it will end up at a discount food store (which sells things that are either expired but still edible, or just flopped). If anything, one would think they may RAISE prices to make up for the merchandise they have to unload at a steep discount.

Expiration dates are way too conservative (except for eggs and dairy).

Their site [www.approvedfood.co.uk] has company trademarks pasted all over -- Coke, Pepsi, Heinz. This small flash of notoriety may get them squished by the trademark lawyers.

Bought premade sushi from WinnDixie for $1 (was $4). Looked clean, no odor, and was on ice. After opening, it was slimy to the touch, so I gave it to my neighbor's cats. They seem to avoid me now...

@pecan pi: It's hard to donate opened food packages. You would probably need to develop a good relationship with a shelter for them to take food like that. Food banks can't usually manage opened bags, especially large facilities.

@Hoss: Shows the difference in the way things are handled in UK vs. here. You almost never see Coke or Pepsi donated by stores to food banks because the bottlers stock and manage the inventory themselves.

@FuryOfFirestorm: I'm not sure I'd ever buy discount sushi. That seems like a recipe for disaster.

I don't see a problem with discount boxed goods, most canned goods (as long as they aren't years out) or manager's special meats (I buy them all up and toss them in the freezer -- cryogenic meat anyone?)

I'm not afraid of milk passed the date unless it smells and it's my personal opinion that eggs take FOREVER to go bad, (besides it's not like you won't smell a rotten egg!)

I have forgotten how long I've had juice in the fridge and drank it nearly a month passed the date and lived. It didn't even taste bad. Maybe if I had kept it longer I would have had vinegar or wine. LOL.

On the other hand I've bought fruits and veggies that looked great at the store (and weren't on the clearance rack) and had them wilt and brown in no time.

It's kind of a crap shoot. Really it comes down to your sense of taste and smell. Our bodies are programed to avoid food that will make us sick which is why rotten food smells better to the dog than you. The expiration dates are just loose guidelines.

I suspect that "expiry dates" on some products are intended to make people feel the food is unsafe and not fit to eat, thereby forcing them to throw them out and buy more.

Most notable to my mind are canned foods. If a can has a pull top, I tend to stick by the "best by" date on the logic that the seal isn't as solid as regular cans. I usually give vacuum sealed glass jars about a year, the same as when my parents did canning of foods when I was a kid.

Cans that require an opener, on the other hand, can last for years, maybe even decades if they don't rust. I've bought some cans of foods they were no longer being made and they were still good. I ate them until I ran out of them, as long as five years after purchase.

I also find that dried foods don't last more than six months, whether spices in jars or dehydrated foods.

@Benguin: You would eat the "noodles" in a "Mac&Cheese" box? Even if the box was new?

Ugh. I'll pay through the nose for imported Italian pasta before ever eating stuff made with North American wheat.

Actually, some of you have mentioned that one shouldn't mess with expiration dates on eggs. Not so. Eggs are usually fine up to 3 weeks after their expiration date. Rule of thumb: if the uncooked eggs start to smell like cooked eggs (that characteristic "eggy" smell), or they look a little funny for any reason, THAT is when you need to throw them out. I use expired eggs all the time, and am still standing.

@P_Smith: I saw Army canned C Rations being eaten by soldiers who were born after the food was packaged.

@JamieSueAustin: you can also float eggs to test - put them in a deep bowl of water and if they float they are very old. not necessarily dangerous but losing moisture and the membrane is shrinking from the shell, leaving a larger air pocket. they could be dangerous because the more air that gets in there the higher the chance of bacteria too. but mostly they are just tough at that point and won't make a nice souffle

I had a college job working at a gourmet cheese store where I acquired a taste for some mighty fine cheeses. The best part: I was encouraged to sample so I could talk knowledgeably about the cheeses with customers. I can't afford that sort of thing these days, but whenever I'm in an upscale market I'll swing through the cheese aisle looking for older cheeses that have been marked down. Most have weeks of life left in them, and a little mold can always be safely scraped away. The one to watch out for is bad brie. Tell-tale odor is cat urine. Trust me, you do no want!

My mother has always been thrifty with her money. She lives in a small town in Central Wisconsin as a home health aide, driving around to people's homes for their required medical routine. She stopped off at several Mennonite stores whose specialty is dented and expired foods. She brings home tons of stuff that are on average cheaper than ALDI(or the like) and its name brand stuff.

There is a huuuuge market in the USA for businesses like this. I went one time with her and those stores are making a KILLING!

This will never happen in the USA since it lowers prices for everything. Producers and retailers would rather see the products destroyed

@Skeetz: Well depending upon how you're storing those carrots they should last you a while. We buy them and a lot of times they sit a while before we remember to dig through the fridge for them. At most they are usually a little dried out. I take a bunch then soak them in water briefly to 're-hydrate' them and they're fine.

I'm confused...if it's British, what does the FDA have to do with anything?

@Plates: Spaghetti comes in tins? Doesn't it come in boxes? The only spaghetti tins I know of are the DeCecco gift tins: [www.rosafoods.com]

They make a wonderful bowl of pasta.