sell by dates

[Tarrel]

The only dates that matter are "Use By" dates, placed on perishable foods. However, according to an interview I heard a few years ago with the founder of Asda, even these have a leeway of several days, to account for the risk that someone may buy the product, leave it sitting in a warm car for a few hours before taking it home and putting it in the fridge.

"Best Before" and "Sell By" dates are at best irrelevant and at worst a con, leading to massive food-waste as we throw away millions of tonnes of food that we don't need to.

Our favourite trick is to buy things on their last "Use By" date from the "reduced" counter in Tesco, take them home and put them in the freezer. 7.00 to 9.00 in the evening seems to be the optimum time!