Food · Advice & Questions · Oct 15

My partner uses a sniff test for everything in our UK fridge. How can we agree on date labels without wasting food?

Food

"It smells fine," my partner said, holding a packet of chilled chicken whose use-by date was yesterday. In the same fridge check, I was about to throw out an unopened yogurt with a best-before date two days ago. We'd both been treating the printed dates as if they meant the same thing.

We live in the UK. The chicken had stayed refrigerated and hadn't been cooked or frozen before its date. He wanted to use it for dinner; I wanted to discard it and order something. Our grocery spending has been creeping up, and he says my habit of clearing the fridge on Sunday contributes to that.

After checking the guidance, I'm not proposing to use the chicken. [UK food-labelling guidance](https://www.gov.uk/understanding-food-labelling/best-before-and-use-by-dates) distinguishes use-by dates, which concern safety, from best-before dates, which concern quality. The [Food Standards Agency also says a sniff test cannot establish safety for food with a use-by date](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/home-food-fact-checker/home-food-fact-checker).

I want us to check each label and its storage instructions rather than repeat this argument every Sunday. He wants a plan that starts when we shop, not when I decide to clear a shelf. What would a small shared routine look like, and how do I admit that my yogurt rule was too broad without making the chicken decision negotiable?

Discussion

3 community replies

@AlixB

You can correct one rule and keep the other decision: "I treated best-before yogurt like use-by chicken. That was too broad, but I still won't use this chicken." The [UK guidance](https://www.gov.uk/understanding-food-labelling/best-before-and-use-by-dates) distinguishes quality from safety and also requires attention to storage instructions. Checking the yogurt's actual label and condition is a different decision from ignoring a missed use-by date.

@JulesAfterDark

Put an item on the dinner plan when it enters the fridge, especially if its date is close. For this household, a small note saying 'chicken: Tuesday dinner' could be enough. If Tuesday changes, the person changing the plan should flag the ingredient too. Your partner is right that a Sunday clear-out comes late for food nobody planned to cook.

@MorganSays

For future purchases, check whether the packet permits freezing and make that decision by the use-by date. The [UK guidance](https://www.gov.uk/understanding-food-labelling/best-before-and-use-by-dates) explains that food cooked or frozen on or before that date is handled differently, with further storage and thawing instructions to follow. That option doesn't rescue the uncooked, unfrozen packet described here.

My partner uses a sniff test for everything in our UK fridge. How can we agree on date labels without wasting food?

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