How long past the "best by date" is acceptable?

[retrieverman]

My mother has completely ignored best buy or expiration dates my whole life, and I’m still here. After being raised that way, I tend to ignore them too.

 

[Firpo]

Pour it in a glass and see if it smells sour. If not give it a taste. I say use a glass because sometimes it can smell off around the rim of the container but the milk inside is fine.

 

[HoLeChit]

A lot of it depends. If it’s something frozen, I’m not worried about expiration. If it’s some fresh/cooked chicken, I’ll typically go a few extra days, or until it looks/smells like something’s up. I haven’t been able to drink milk in 12ish years, so it all smells bad to me. I think my canned green beans expired back in 2019 or so. They don’t taste great, but they haven’t killed me yet. I buy a lot of bulk too. I think my 2ish gallon ton of soy sauce expired back in 2021, but it’s just fine. I have maybe 2-3 serving bottles worth of refills left in it and I have no issues with using what’s left. I think my last jar of mayonnaise expired 2 years before I finished it.

 

[Shadowrider]

Pour it in a glass and see if it smells sour. If not give it a taste. I say use a glass because sometimes it can smell off around the rim of the container but the milk inside is fine.

I've had this conversation with my mother and sister too many times to count.

Them: It's only bad around the rim at the top, the milk below is still good.
Me: Y'all go ahead because you can't get it out of there without it going through that funky **** at the top. Nope, I ain't touching it.
Them: ....

 

[Chief Sapulpa]

SMMMELL IT!

With most proteins, if it smells or tastes funky just add hot sauce…

 

[Bocephus123]

With most proteins, if it smells or tastes funky just add hot sauce…

Frank's

 

[John6185]

The way I look at it, if a lb of bacon is on sale and expires in a week, I buy it! I put it in the freezer and it locks the date and if I pull it out in 2 months it' still edible. Hamburger meat as long as it is frozen is good-any beef and if there is any freezer burn, I cut it off before cooking.
Food is too costly to simply throw away because of an ambiguous date.
When I was a kid and there was mold on the top of jelly, my mother would spoon it off and give us kids the jelly. Same thing with cheese, cut off the mold and eat the good part.

 

[Preacherman]

Frank's

This is my go to hot sauce and wing sauce.

 

[SoonerP226]

Just remember: that which does not kill you can make you wish it had...

 

[dennishoddy]

You can vacuum pack and freeze pretty much anything except leafy vegetables and then expiration dates are irrelevant.

Canned goods is what freaks most people out. The date says July 1, 2023. They will eat it on June 30, but throw the can in the trash on July 2.
As has been earlier posted in the links, it's only a suggested date where it will taste the best, not the date where it will be rancid.