A shelf life guide to the foods in your fridge

If you keep your kitchen well-stocked, you may have found yourself extracting tins from the back of the pantry or grabbing a tray of meat from the freezer and wondering ‘how long has this been there?’. Or more to the point: ‘is this safe to eat?’

Once opened, the quality of packaged food begins to deteriorate and knowing how long it can last in the fridge or cupboard can be the difference between delicious and dangerous.  

In addition to shelf life, storing your food correctly is also important. While best before and use-by labels are an excellent guide, a carton of milk left on the bench instead of the fridge is going to spoil regardless of the use-by date.

In this guide, we’ll discuss the difference between use-by and best-before dates and explain how long you can keep food in your fridge, freezer and cupboard before it starts to spoil.

What’s the difference between use-by and best-before dates?

While they can sometimes be confused, there is an important difference between use-by and best-before dates.

A use-by date means food should be eaten or thrown away by the use-by date. Once the use-by date has passed, it is no longer advisable to consume the product because it may have spoiled to the point where it’s not safe to eat, or the flavour or texture may have changed. Manufacturers determine the use-by date based on food safety as well as flavour and quality.

A best-before date is more flexible. Best-before dates are designed to encourage you to eat a product while it is still fresh. However, food marked with a best-before date will typically keep for some time after the best-before date has passed.

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Is it safe to eat frozen food past its use-by date?

Fresh food that has been frozen before the use-by date can be safe to eat for months after, however, the flavour, colour or texture may deteriorate over time. And while bacteria cannot grow in frozen food, if the product was contaminated at the time of freezing, it will still be contaminated when you thaw it.

Follow the guide below if you’re unsure about whether or not your food is safe to eat after thawing.

When to toss thawed frozen food:

•       Smell: If the food smells rancid or ‘off’, discard it immediately.
•       Texture: If the food is slimy or crumbly when it shouldn’t be, throw it away.
•       Freezer burn: While the food may still be safe to eat, it will be dry and the texture will have changed.
•       Colour: Changing colour isn’t always a sign food has gone bad, but if it’s coupled with a change in smell or texture, toss it out.

A shelf-life guide to the food in your fridge, freezer and cupboard

To help you better understand how long you can keep food before it goes off, we’ve put together a comprehensive shelf-life guide for fridge, freezer and cupboard items. These are recommended storing times and while food may still be safe to eat past the recommended shelf-life date, it may not taste the same.

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The shelf life of meat products

Meat is highly perishable, so it’s important to eat it or freeze it before the use-by date. Once frozen, meat can last up to six months depending on the type.

General meat products

Fish products

Poultry and other products

The shelf life of dairy products

Dairy products typically have a short shelf life and should be consumed by the use-by date. Most dairy products can safely be frozen, however, the texture may change when thawed.

The shelf life of fat products

Many cooking oils can safely be stored in the cupboard for months after opening. Other fatty products, such as chocolate and peanut butter, can last up to two years if unopened.

The shelf life of grain, flour and wheat products

Some cupboard staples, such as flour, rice and pasta, can last up to two years if they’re properly stored. Other everyday items, such as bread and pastries, need to be consumed within a week or by the use-by date on the packaging.

The shelf life of canned and bottled goods

Fruits and vegetables have a short shelf life and most should be eaten within a week of purchasing. Some vegetables, such as potatoes and onions, can last up to two months, if stored in the fridge.

The shelf life of fruits and vegetables

Eating fresh produce is a requirement of a healthy diet, yet a lot of people end up throwing away rotten fruits and veggies due to the rate at which they expire. To avoid this, consult the following two tables below, separated for fruit and vegetables.

Fruit

Vegetables

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In addition to this information above, there are a number of things you should know that are often necessary to maintain the lifespan and quality of your fruit and veggies:

• Store apples in plastic and separate them from other fruits and veggies in the fridge. Apple gas turns things brown.
• Keep all citrus fruits in plastic bags or containers, separate from other fruits and veggies.
• Keep grapes in a covered bowl to retain their moisture.
• Wrap melons tightly in cling wrap so their odour won’t contaminate other foods.
• Wrap all tomatoes in paper if you want them to stay fresh in the fridge.
• When storing veggies in plastic bags, poke a few holes in the bags to provide air circulation.
• Always keep fruits and vegetables in separate produce sections of your fridge.
• Never store potatoes and onions together, as they give off gases that can cause rapid decay of the other.
• Don’t wash the veggies prior to putting them in the fridge. Only do this once you’re ready to eat them.

Eating foods that have passed their shelf lives can lead to food poisoning,  salmonella poisoning and other illnesses, so it is best you avoid doing so. Knowing the shelf life and expiry dates of the foods in your fridge is an easy way to avoid illness, although you can always learn to recognise the signs that your food is off as well.

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Original Author: Tahnee-Jae Lopez-Vito