YOU might not realise it, but chances are you’re tossing hundreds of pounds worth of perfectly good food into the bin every year.
Confusion over food labels costs households up to £450 a year, says food-saving app Too Good To Go. Here our top experts reveal how to stop throwing your money away.
Shockingly, households are responsible for 70% of the UK’s 10.7million tonnes of food waste each year, says food waste charity WRAP.
One of the main reasons why is that a lot of shoppers don’t understand the difference between “Use-By” and “Best Before” dates , leading to piles of edible food being needlessly tossed out.
It’s a costly habit. And with 65% of Brits admitting they don’t fully trust their own common sense when it comes to judging food, it’s time to get savvy.
Here’s what you need to know to protect your health and your wallet.
‘I save £560 a year by trusting my senses’
FOR clinical psychologist Dr. Marianne Trent, 41, food date labels are a guide, not a gospel.
The Coventry mum saves at least £560 a year by using her intuition to decide if food is safe for her family.
“I was raised to not necessarily take sell-by or use-by dates as gospel and to use your eyes and your nose,” Dr. Trent says.
“We can empower ourselves to use the senses that our ancestors have used for generations to keep ourselves safe.”
While she is always strict with the Use-By dates on fresh meat, for most other groceries she trusts her judgment.
If an item “isn’t mouldy, it looks the same colour as it did when it was freshly bought, and it smells okay,” she’s happy to use it.
She believes this common-sense approach is more effective than chasing bargains. “I think yellow sticker deals can be a huge mistake,” she warns, citing how they can encourage shoppers to buy unnecessary processed items they don’t need.
By planning meals and trusting her senses, Dr. Trent avoids waste and keeps her family’s food bills down. To her knowledge, she has never been sick from eating food past its date.
“The only time I’ve ever had food poisoning was from a slightly dodgy prawn sandwich I bought from a shop,” she admits.
“And that was supposedly in-date.”
Foods to NEVER eat past their Use-By date
When it comes to food safety, the “Use-By” date is a strict deadline.
Eating foods after this date can expose you to harmful bacteria like Salmonella, E. coli, and Listeria, even if the item looks and smells perfectly fine.
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) warns that you cannot see or smell the bacteria that can make you seriously ill.
“When it comes to food safety, the use-by date is not up for negotiation,” warns nutritionist Jenaed Ruddock.
Jenaed and other food safety experts are clear on the high-risk foods you must discard once the use-by date has passed:
- Fresh meat, poultry, and fish: These are prime breeding grounds for dangerous bacteria.
- Pre-prepared chilled meals and deli items: Ready-to-eat meals, cooked leftovers, and items from the deli counter are particularly susceptible to Listeria.
- Soft cheeses: Varieties like Brie, Camembert, and blue cheese should not be consumed past their use-by date.
- Dairy products: Fresh milk and unpasteurised dairy products carry a higher risk.
- Bagged salads and cut fruit: Once packaged, these items spoil quickly.
- Cooked sliced meats and pâté: These can contain harmful bacteria without any obvious signs.
- Cold-smoked fish and cooked shellfish: These also fall into the high-risk category.
As Tessa Clarke, Co-founder of the food-sharing app Olio, puts it: “The Use-By date is about safety, which means you shouldn’t eat anything beyond this.”
“The sniff test should never be applied to these high-risk foods.
“Dangerous bacteria can be present without any smell or taste.”
Apps to help you cut food waste and save money
LOOKING to reduce food waste and save money?
These seven apps are leading the charge in tackling food waste, helping you make a difference for your wallet and the planet.
Too Good To Go
Pick up discounted “magic bags” of surplus food from restaurants, cafes, and bakeries near you.
Free to register, it’s perfect for grabbing a bargain while reducing waste.
OLIO
Share unwanted food and household items with neighbours for free.
From leftovers to surplus groceries, Olio fosters community sharing and cuts down waste.
Karma
Rescue meals from eateries at discounted prices – with full transparency on what’s available.
Perfect for saving money while preventing food waste.
FoodCloud
Connects supermarkets with charities to ensure surplus food feeds those in need rather than going to waste.
NoWaste
Track your groceries, meal plan, and get expiry reminders with this handy app that helps you stay organised and waste less at home.
nosh
AI-powered food tracking highlights expiry dates, suggests recipes, and helps you prioritise what to use up first.
Kitche
Scan receipts, track food, and get creative with leftover recipe ideas to make the most of what’s already in your kitchen.
Foods you CAN can eat past their Best Before date
This is where you can make some serious savings.
A “Best Before” date is simply the manufacturer’s guarantee of peak quality.
After this date, your biscuits might be a little less crunchy or your crisps a bit soft, but they are generally perfectly safe to eat.
Shefalee Loth, Which? nutritionist, said: “In recent years, many supermarkets have actually removed best-before dates from fruit and vegetables and improved packaging information, in an attempt to reduce food waste.
“Use-by dates on some milk and cheese products have also been changed to best before dates.
“While the quality may deteriorate, these products can still be safe to eat.”
Richard Price, a grocery industry expert with 25 years of experience added: “The key is to use your senses: look, smell, and taste before binning it.”
This is the principle behind Too Good To Go’s “Look-Smell-Taste” label, now found on over six billion products, which reminds shoppers to trust their judgement.
Here are some of the foods you can rescue from the bin long after their ‘best before’ date:
- Dried goods: Pasta, rice, lentils, oats, flour, and sugar can last for months, even years, if stored in a cool, dry place.
- Tinned foods: Cans of soup, beans, and tomatoes are safe for years, as long as the can isn’t rusted, bulging, or dented.
- Biscuits, crackers, and cereals: They might lose their snap, but they’re still good to go.
- Chocolate and sweets: That white “bloom” on old chocolate is just fat or sugar separation – it’s harmless.
- Hard cheeses: Unlike their soft cousins, a small patch of mould on cheddar can simply be cut away.
- Long-life condiments: Ketchup, mustard, soy sauce, and vinegar can last for a long time.
- Butter and yogurt: These often last a week or more past their date. Just check for a sour smell or mould.
Remember this simple rule – Use-By is about safety, Best-Before is about quality.
“If more shoppers understood this,” Richard adds, “they could save a small fortune and help cut down the UK’s enormous food waste problem.”
FSA advice on meats, dates and cooking
THE Food Standards Agency (FSA) provides clear, science-based advice to keep you safe in the kitchen.
Here’s their essential guidance on date labels and cooking meat.
“Use By” vs “Best Before”
The most important rule is understanding the two key date labels on food packaging.
- Use-By: This date is found on foods that go off quickly, such as fresh meat, fish, and ready-to-eat salads. It is a strict deadline. Do not eat, cook, or freeze food after the “Use By” date. It is not safe, even if it looks and smells fine, as you cannot see or smell the harmful bacteria that cause food poisoning.
- Best Before: This date relates to when the food is at its best in terms of flavour and texture. 3 It appears on a wide range of products, including tinned, dried, and frozen goods. After this date, the food is still safe to eat but may not be at its peak quality. The “sniff test” can be used for these items.
Freezing and defrosting rules
Freezing acts as a “pause button,” stopping bacteria from growing.
You can freeze food right up until midnight on its “Use By” date.
Once defrosted, food must be cooked and eaten within 24 hours.
This is because the “pause button” is off, and bacteria can begin to grow again.
Always defrost food safely in the fridge, in cold water, or in the microwave – never at room temperature, which is a “danger zone” for bacterial growth.
Safe meat cooking
Cooking food to the right temperature for the correct time is crucial for killing harmful bacteria.
The safest way to check if meat is cooked is with a food thermometer.
The middle of the food should reach at least 70°C for two minutes or an equivalent combination, like 75°C for 30 seconds.
The following must always be cooked thoroughly all the way through, with no pink meat remaining:
- Poultry (chicken, turkey)
- Pork
- Minced meat products (burgers, sausages, kebabs)
- Rolled joints
- Offal (liver, kidneys)
Steaks and whole joints of beef or lamb can be served rare or pink in the middle.
This is because harmful bacteria are generally only found on the outer surface.
Searing the outside at a high temperature is enough to kill these germs. However, rolled joints must be cooked through, as bacteria from the outside can be transferred to the inside during rolling.