I’m with Ergates on using a marker pen. If anything is decanted from its original packet into, for example, another container for ease of storage I always mark the best before date. I write the date on eggs too.
The thing is with sunscreen, marmite,. gardening potions - how do you know it's not a marketing ploy? Have tomato ketchup , pickled onions, plastic cheese , marmalade or whatever changed their formulation so that they can only be kept for a limited time and in the fridge after opening? Our homes are warmer than in the past but surely an indication of the maximum safe temperature would be sufficient. Why does stuff pickled in vinegar supposedly only last a couple of weeks after opening now?
@B3 we've been having a laugh at the information on pickles too. In the past we've had bottles of Branston pickle discovered in the back of a cupboard and consumed with no ill effects. Now they say keep refrigerated and consume within 6 weeks of opening. Likewise on pickled onions. I haven't looked but I would be surprised if even bottles of honey don't have a best before date.
Mine does @KT53, 2015! I'm assured however that honey lasts forever so it's back in the cupboard.
Most makeup is recommended to be binned after either 6 months or 12 months, there should be a little symbol on the pot to tell you - which is useless unless you can remember when you first opened it. Another EU rule I believe.
I ignore most use by dates on sauces, pickles etc. unless they contain cream or oil. However did we manage before they were mandated.
We keep a few hives of bees, and sell our surplus honey at the end of our drive from an honesty box. There are very prescriptive regulations about the wording for the labels on the jars, including a requirement for a best before date. We asked our beekeeping association what this should be. They told us that everyone just makes a date up. So that's what we do.
Honey that is not used soon can crystallise (how quickly depends on the type of honey). But is still perfectly edible, and can be made liquid again by putting the jar on top of an Aga, or with a quick wiz in a microwave.
It is said that honey found in the pyramids was still viable .... I can't vouch for that.
Probably other foodstuffs have "finger in the air" best before dates.
Bee x
Gardener and beekeeper in beautiful Scottish Borders
A single bee creates just one twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime
Things like pickled onions and pickled cabbage don’t ‘go off’ but they do soften over time and become less than perfect to eat.
Best Before dates mean exactly what they say … they are better eaten before they deteriorate … but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be eaten after that date.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Unfortunately, a friend of ours insists that 'best before' and 'use by' mean the same thing. The amount of stuff she throws out is ridiculous but she won't listen. She even pours milk away when it hits that date. A quick sniff works for me.
Posts
Have tomato ketchup , pickled onions, plastic cheese , marmalade or whatever changed their formulation so that they can only be kept for a limited time and in the fridge after opening? Our homes are warmer than in the past but surely an indication of the maximum safe temperature would be sufficient.
Why does stuff pickled in vinegar supposedly only last a couple of weeks after opening now?
Most makeup is recommended to be binned after either 6 months or 12 months, there should be a little symbol on the pot to tell you - which is useless unless you can remember when you first opened it. Another EU rule I believe.
I ignore most use by dates on sauces, pickles etc. unless they contain cream or oil.
However did we manage before they were mandated.
I can answer the question about honey.
We keep a few hives of bees, and sell our surplus honey at the end of our drive from an honesty box.
There are very prescriptive regulations about the wording for the labels on the jars, including a requirement for a best before date.
We asked our beekeeping association what this should be. They told us that everyone just makes a date up. So that's what we do.
Honey that is not used soon can crystallise (how quickly depends on the type of honey).
But is still perfectly edible, and can be made liquid again by putting the jar on top of an Aga, or with a quick wiz in a microwave.
It is said that honey found in the pyramids was still viable .... I can't vouch for that.
Probably other foodstuffs have "finger in the air" best before dates.
Bee x
A single bee creates just one twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.