Get to know your dates

Not using food “in time” accounts for 44% of the 4.7 million tonnes of edible food that is thrown away in UK homes each year.

A lot of that waste could be avoided if we were in the habit of more regularly checking the date labels on our foods, and taking appropriate action; for example by cooking, eating or freezing perishable foods before they go ‘out of date’ or otherwise become inedible.

Of course, regularly checking the date labels of your foods will only work if you know what the labels mean. It is estimated that 50% of people in the UK don’t properly understand what the date labels on our foods mean.

Understanding food date labels

There are four types of labels you will generally see on your food: use by, sell by, display until and best before.

A “use by” date is a safety measure. You shouldn’t eat food past its use by date unless it was frozen before the use by date.
A “best before” date is a guide to food quality. Foods might not be quite as tasty past the ‘best before’ date, even if stored in ideal conditions, but they will still be safe to eat. The best course of action with these foods is to use your senses to determine if the food is still palatable (nice enough to eat by your own standards). If it looks, smells and tastes ok, don’t waste it. The only exception are eggs, which have a best before date but which should be eaten by that date, especially if you are pregnant or have a health condition which weakens your immune system.
“Sell by” dates and “display until” dates are rarely seen these days. Neither is intended for the consumer, but instead for the shops to help stock rotation. You can ignore both.

Check your date labels

It’s a good idea to go through your fridge and cupboards / pantry to check the labels on your foods every so often. Aim to check your fridge twice a week and your cupboards every 6 months.

There’s no need to check the date labels on your frozen food. The freezer acts like a ‘pause button’ for food.

What to do with food past or nearing its ‘use by’ date

If you find anything past its ‘use by’ date, discard it. Please separate out the food from any recyclable packaging and be sure to rinse and drain recyclable items covered with food residue before putting them in the recycling bin. Any food waste you can’t compost should be placed in your rubbish bin (usually your black bin) along with non-recyclable packaging. If you aren’t sure what you can / can’t recycle in Leicestershire check this guide.

If you find foods approaching their ‘use by’ date keep them in the fridge but aim to place them altogether on one shelf or area of the fridge – a “Use me up quickly area”. You could:

Eat them – you can do this right up to and on the ‘use by’ date.
Cook with them – you can do this right up to and on the ‘use by’ date. Cooking kills bacteria and adds an additional two to three days of useable life to the food. If you don’t eat what you have cooked immediately you can safely store whatever you’ve cooked in an airtight container in the fridge and use it within the next couple of days. If you freeze whatever you cook, the food will last indefinitely whilst in the freezer but should be consumed within 24hrs of defrosting. Cool whatever you cook before you freeze it in a suitable container, and don’t forget to label the container before you put it in the freezer.
Freeze them as they are – it’s ok to freeze most foods up to and on the ‘use by’ date. Keep in mind that sometimes it’s better to portion / separate some foods before putting them in the freezer so you can take out and defrost just as much as you need.
Give them away – offer the food to anyone who might want it – friends, neighbours, nearby relatives. Alternatively, offer the food on the food sharing platform Olio, or look for nearby food sharing groups on social media. Some Community Fridges may accept the food but check with them first – most would prefer ‘use by’ labelled foods with a few days of useable life. You’ll find a map of community fridges with contact details and addresses here: https://www.hubbub.org.uk/the-community-fridge

What to do with foods past or nearing it’s ‘best before’ date

Look, smell, taste. If it’s palatable, it’s ok to eat it. If not, discard it / compost it.
Give it away if it’s something you’ve not eaten because you don’t like it, pass it on to someone else. Community Fridges are likely to accept foods that are approaching or past their ‘best before’ dates if they have been stored according to on pack instructions and are unopened.

While you are in the fridge – Check your fridge temperature!

The ideal temperature of your fridge is between 3-5°C. Higher temperatures give bacteria a chance to multiply and can cause food to go off faster, leading to it being thrown away unnecessarily, and in extreme cases can make your foods unsafe to eat. Setting the fridge temperature too low is likely to make your fridge work unnecessarily hard, shortening its life and increasing your energy bill. Anyone who’s retrieved a half-frozen cucumber from the fridge will confirm that setting the temperature too low can also render foods unpalatable, also leading to waste.

Get the temperature right

If your fridge has a digital temperature display, it’s straightforward to change the temperature to the recommended 3-5°C. However, many models have a dial, and it can be difficult to work out what the numbers on the dial means.

There’s no need to search for your fridge manual, instead visit the Chill The Fridge Out tool on the Love Food Hate Waste website. This gives advice, based on the make / model of your fridge, that will help you set it to a safe temperature of below 5°C.

Check with a thermometer

Even after checking and setting the dial / display in your fridge, keep in mind that the temperature on different shelves and in different areas inside your fridge is likely to vary. A thermometer will help you to figure out where the best places are to store different foods in your fridge.

Tip – the fridge door is not necessarily the best place to store milk as it warms slightly every time the fridge door is opened. Instead, put the milk on an inside shelf and use the shelves on the inside of the door to store items that are less likely to spoil such as jams, canned drinks, mustard and pickles.

Do your fridge a favour

Most household fridges are controlled by a thermostat that switches on the cooling system when the temperature is too high and switches it off when the air inside the fridge cools to the right level. This means that the harder your fridge has to work to maintain a safe temperature, the more energy it uses.

Tip: Let food cool before putting it in the fridge and use a cool bag for chilled food when you do the weekly shop. A study by WRAP found that the temperature of some foods could increase by up to 11°C on the journey from shop to fridge and could take 15 hours to reach a safe temperature again.

Don’t overfill the fridge

Your fridge needs air to circulate inside it to maintain a safe temperature. Packing food too closely together means the air inside the fridge can’t circulate freely. If your fridge is looking too full, take out the things that don’t require constant chilling (like wine, beer or pickles) until more room is freed up.

Shut the door

Opening the fridge door even for a short time can raise the temperature inside the fridge by a few degrees. The longer the door stays open, the more energy your fridge will use trying to get the temperature back down to below 5°C. Keep door opening to a minimum to protect the food inside the fridge and keep your energy bills down.

Foods you shouldn’t store in the fridge

Some foods shouldn’t be stored in the fridge if you want to get the best out of them, for example bananas. For information about where’s best to store a specific item of food you’ll find guidance at: https://www.lovefoodhatewaste.com/article/food-storage-a-z

Don’t forget the freezer

Make sure to label everything you put in your freezer so you know what to take out to defrost.

Freezers act like a pause button for food. Food can remain frozen indefinitely and won’ t be a danger to your health as long as it remains wrapped while in the freezer, and you thaw / cook the food properly afterwards. However, the quality of some foods might degrade over time. Even if you find something in the freezer that’s been in there for years, it’s likely safe to eat – it just might not be at its best when thawed out.

There’s a lot of misunderstanding around frozen food; what can and can’t be frozen, when and how to best freeze something, how long it can remain frozen, and how best to defrost food.

If you really aren’t sure, here are some resources you can turn to for advice: