Every week, millions of people throw away perfectly good food because of a date printed on the packaging. Yoghurt that smells and looks completely fine gets binned because it is two days past its best before. Bread that is not even stale yet goes in the bin because the date says yesterday. Eggs that would be perfectly safe to eat for another week get thrown away because someone glanced at the box and decided not to risk it.
This is one of the most widespread and easily fixable causes of household food waste — and it starts with a simple misunderstanding about what those dates actually mean.
The three types of date labels — and what they actually mean
There are three different types of date labels on food packaging, and they mean very different things. Most people treat them as interchangeable. They are not.
Use by is the only date that is actually about safety. This is the date after which food may be unsafe to eat, regardless of how it looks or smells. Use by dates appear on highly perishable products — raw meat, fish, ready meals, some dairy products. This is the one date you should always pay attention to. Do not eat food after its use by date.
Best before is about quality, not safety. Food past its best before date may have lost some texture, flavour or nutritional value, but it is not dangerous. Best before dates appear on dry goods, canned food, frozen food, eggs, and most packaged products. Pasta, rice, canned tomatoes, frozen vegetables, biscuits — all of these are safe to eat after their best before date. They might not be at peak quality, but they will not make you ill.
Sell by and display until are not for consumers at all. These are stock management labels for retailers. They tell the shop when to rotate their stock. You can ignore these completely when deciding whether food is safe to eat.
The foods you are almost certainly throwing away too early
Armed with the distinction between use by and best before, here is a list of foods that most people throw away before they need to:
Eggs last three to five weeks from the date they were laid, regardless of the best before date on the box. A simple freshness test: place the egg in a glass of water. If it sinks and lies flat, it is very fresh. If it sinks but stands upright, it is older but still fine. If it floats, discard it.
Bread goes stale before it goes bad. Stale bread is not dangerous — it is just dry. It can be toasted, turned into breadcrumbs, used for French toast, or revived in the oven with a splash of water. Mouldy bread is a different matter — mould can penetrate soft bread — but day-old or two-day-old bread is perfectly fine.
Hard cheese can be eaten after its best before date. Hard cheeses like cheddar, parmesan and gouda develop mould slowly and only on the surface. Cut off any visible mould with a generous margin and the rest is safe to eat. Soft cheeses are more perishable and should be treated with more caution.
Yoghurt is often safe for one to two weeks past its best before date if it has been kept sealed and refrigerated. Use your senses — if it smells sour beyond the usual tanginess or has visible mould, discard it. Otherwise it is fine.
Dry pasta, rice and grains have best before dates that are often years in the future, and they remain safe to eat long after those dates have passed. The quality may decline slightly over many years, but a bag of pasta from six months ago is completely fine.
Canned food is safe for years past its best before date as long as the can is undamaged — not bulging, not rusted, not dented along a seam. The best before date on a can is a quality indicator, not a safety cutoff.
The foods you should always respect the date on
Not everything is flexible. Some foods have use by dates for good reason and should be treated accordingly.
Raw meat and fish should always be used by their use by date. Bacteria multiply rapidly in these products and the risks of food poisoning are real. If you cannot use raw meat before its use by date, freeze it — freezing stops bacterial growth and extends the life of the product significantly.
Ready meals and pre-prepared salads carry use by dates because they have already been handled and processed. Follow these dates.
Unpasteurised dairy products — some cheeses, some milks — are more perishable than their pasteurised equivalents and should be treated with care.
How to use your fridge to extend food life
Where you store food matters as much as the date on the packaging. Most fridges are not set cold enough — the ideal temperature is between 0°C and 5°C. Every degree above that accelerates bacterial growth and shortens the life of perishable food.
Store raw meat on the bottom shelf, in sealed containers, to prevent cross-contamination. Store dairy and leftovers in the coldest part of the fridge, usually the middle shelves. Store fruit and vegetables in the crisper drawer, which maintains slightly higher humidity. Store eggs in the main body of the fridge, not the door — the door fluctuates in temperature every time it is opened.
First in, first out: when you bring home new groceries, move older items to the front of the fridge so they get used first. This simple habit alone can significantly reduce how much food you throw away.
The real problem — not knowing what you have
Understanding expiry dates helps. But the deeper cause of food waste in most households is simpler than that: people do not know what they have, so they cannot use it in time.
The chicken at the back of the fridge has a use by date of tomorrow. You did not notice because it was behind the leftovers. The yoghurt is three days from expiring. The salad leaves are wilting. None of this is visible until you do a full audit of the fridge — which most people do not do every day.
This is the problem that what2cook is designed to solve. The app tracks what is in your pantry, knows when things are likely to expire, and surfaces the ingredients that need to be used first when suggesting recipes. So instead of discovering the chicken tomorrow when it is too late, you see it today and cook it tonight.
A simpler way to think about food dates
Use by: follow it. This is about safety.
Best before: use your senses. Look, smell, taste. If it seems fine, it probably is.
Sell by: ignore it. It is not for you.
Most food waste from date labels comes from confusing best before with use by. Once you understand the difference, you will throw away less, spend less, and feel more confident about the food in your kitchen.