14 foods you can safely eat past their best before date

But sometimes, a random takeaway or an unexpected meal out means you don’t get time to eat everything from your food shop as and when you’d originally planned.

Fortunately, it’s not the end of the world, as you might still be able to eat it a day or two later – if it’s definitely a best before date (a guide to food quality) and not a ‘use by’ date (there for food safety reasons).

Here, we explain which foods it’s generally seen as okay to eat after the best before date.

Plus why it’s a different story for the ‘use by’ date.

Technically, anything frozen, dried or canned should be fine to eat just after the best before date. Again, it’s more of a guide, and the food might taste slightly different.

Here are a few examples:

This is all based on proper storage, mind, not just stuff you’ve left shoved half-open in the back of the cupboard.

If something is past its best before date, pay attention to how it looks, smells, and feels before you go to eat it. Food waste isn’t ideal, but don’t eat anything you’re not 100% sure about.

The above shows examples of things you can, if they seem OK, eat after the best before date.

However, you shouldn’t eat anything after its use by date has passed, says the UK Food Standards Agency.

Source of data and images: metro