Wednesday 31 January 2018

Sell by dates

I have friends coming for the week end and am greatly looking forward to it.   It will be my first staying guests since I moved into the bungalow.
I thought I ought to do a bit of tidying round in the kitchen today before I put away my Tesco order which I had delivered this morning.

The first thing I did was to empty the fridge and wash it out.   In the process I removed the following from the top shelf.   Jars of mint sauce, tartare sauce, lazy garlic, Dijon mustard, and horseradish sauce.    Oh dear reader, I am ashamed to say that apart from the lazy garlic all were well past their sell-by dates.   All jars have been emptied and put into the dishwasher prior to going into recycling.

I then took the drinks bottles off the bottom shelf of the tea trolley - drinks bottles I hear you say.  Drink doesn't have a sell by date.   But my bottle of Campari said use before 2015!!! so it too went the way of all flesh.

So in the morning it is out with the vacuum cleaner and the spray polish as my cleaning lady is unable to come this week. Not easy for me these days.   It is fine getting down onto the carpet to dust the bottom shelf it's just that it is absolutely impossible to get up again.

26 comments:

Rachel Phillips said...

All condiments are kept in my cupboard, not fridge. It is a modern myth that such need to be refrigerated.

Gwil W said...

Some sell by dates are useful. But many are useless. I bought a jar of honey with a sell by date. This had me perplexed. Honey keeps forever. Perhaps it's a EU rule? We have shops for poor people like refugees and so on and a lot of expired sell by date produce like honey goes there and gets sold very cheaply. My nose is my date detector when it comes to what I put in my mouth. Having evolved over millions of years it ought to know by now . . .

crafty cat corner said...

I'm with you on the not being able to get back up. lol
Im still trying to understand what went wrong. Why on earth can't I just spring up like before?
It's like standing on a chair. I used to just step up to maybe reach something but oh dear however much I try to lift my leg it will not go. LOL
Briony
x

Living Alone in Your 60's said...

Hope the visit goes well.

Unknown said...

Sell by dates are for stock control, food quality might be affected by the date but it's not dangerous to eat. Use by dates are the important ones. Personally I like sell by dates, I don't mind keeping something in my cupboard for 5 years and using it well out of date but I don't really want to be sold something that's already 5 years old :-)

Granny Sue said...

Can't get on my knees at all, the pain is terrible. I think I could get back up but can't test that theory.

Good luck with the cleaning. One thing about visitors is that we get to doing the things we've been putting off.

The Weaver of Grass said...

Agree largely with comments above but hardly like to inflict such produce on visitors staying.

Joanne Noragon said...

I cannot get to my knees, either. No worry about getting up, though.

jinxxxygirl said...

Oh Pat.. Do have fun with your guests.. I clean alot less often than i used to but as long as hubby and i are comfortable what does it matter.. lol If company calls before they come then i make an effort to make it tidy .. if not... they get what they get.. :)

Psssst... Pat i just put a letter in the post to you.. I hope i got the addy right.. We shall soon see... :) Hugs! deb

Mac n' Janet said...

I'm a bit of a bear about sell by dates. I know that for the most part they're just suggestions, but it totally wigs me out when I find a can of milk or other such thing 2 years out of date.
I know what you mean about the getting back up again, that's the pain.

Cro Magnon said...

I don't take too much notice of 'sell by' dates; food doesn't get that chance, but I did find an opened jar of Marmalade recently (obviously one that my wife didn't like) which had a thick layer of blue mould on the top. Shame!

Derek Faulkner said...

I think that you have hit on a modern day trend, we often buy more than we can properly use in a given time and end up wasting food by throwing it away. Not so bad in your case but some people throw away fruit and vegetables because they overbuy and the stuff simply rots through not being used.

John "By Stargoose And Hanglands" said...

Like you I find that visitors always make me smarten up my act. I think I'm quite good at using things in order, though everybody must have problems with those little items that get used infrequently. I usually have some cranberry sauce hanging about till November the next year.

Librarian said...

I am sure you and your visitors will have a great time! As for sell-by dates, I agree with what nearly everyone here has said. Sometimes they seem to be there just for the sake of it, but some stuff really can not be kept long, and in the end it is always better to be safe than sorry.

potty said...

It's the jams & marmalade that get put in the fridge after openning from when the last guests were staying. There is quite an array of glass jars (including the savoury) that should be turfed out now. The stuff goes down the sink, with a minimal rinse out but the glass goes straight to the bottle bank.

Heather said...

I sometimes find it difficult to use things up before the sell by date arrives. Sometimes I take a little taste to see if the item is usable, or if it is well out of date it gets thrown out and the container recycled. I cannot understand why so many things which we once kept in a cupboard, now have to be refrigerated. Even jams! We never had to keep jams in the fridge years ago.
Like you I can get down but find it very hard to get up again.
Have a lovely weekend with your friends.

angryparsnip said...

The only thing I take notices of is meat from the market.
I try not to have too many jars of stuff in the frig.
Have a wonderful time with your friends !

cheers, parsnip and mandibles.

Lucy Corrander Now in Halifax! said...

Not convinced anything needs a use by date. Noses and common sense do pretty well for most things. Perhaps ham is an exception.

The Weaver of Grass said...

Debs I really will write back this time I feel ashamed of neglecting you.

John Going Gently said...

I'm with Rachel we worry too much

Alphie Soup said...

Lazy garlic? I'm intrigued!

Alphie

thelma said...

It reminds me of my first mother-in-law, who never threw food away, if it couldn't go in the daily soup then Swiss ham and cold meats, even if turning green with age, were put on the table to they were eaten! But war had taught her that.

Meanqueen said...

I had a friend come for coffee the other morning, I got the dyson out and whizzed round the bits of carpet where crumbs/threads/cat hairs and other grunge could be seen. I said, don't look out of the windows, I haven't cleaned the outside in ages.

Virginia said...

Sometimes - when I'm 'in the mood' I remember to decant into small jars, label each with product and date, and freeze what I' not going to use in good time .... then the problem is remembering to check the list on the fridge door telling me what i've got stored in the freezer! Sometimes it's just All Too Hard!!

Meanwhile, enjoy your guests - who won't give a toss whether there's dust on the lower shelf or not!! And I'll bet they would happily drink the out-to-date alcohol too!!

Gabrielle Howard Gengler said...

After getting food poisoning a few times, cheese ravioli being the culprit one of the times was out of date. If the date is up, out it goes. My stomach will get queasy, if a egg is boiled to long and has a sulfur smell.

Elizabeth said...

Hope you enjoy your guests. Fun to show off your new home.

I almost wish clothes had expiration dates.....
it would help with de-cluttering.
Just threw away some pickling spice - sell by June 2016 -I had grand plans to make my own pickled onions - obviously, since I had not managed it in 2 years, it is not going to happen.

Very horrid and cold here but off to my granddaughters' birthday party. Both Feb 1st - but three years apart!
Think of you often though I really don'r blog much any more.