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Best Before or Use By?

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Food packets on a kitchen counter beside clear USE BY and BEST BEFORE cards.

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Introduction

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Before you begin

Warm-Up Questions

Look at your kitchen. Can you name one food you have at home that has a date on the packet?
Why do you think food packets have a date on them?
Have you ever looked at a date on food and felt unsure what to do? What did you do?

A fresh-looking sealed salad beside a red warning symbol, showing that looks alone do not make food safe after a use-by date.

Reading

Part 1: The Use-By Date — About Safety

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Check your understanding

Check: Use-By Date

1. Why must you not eat food after its use-by date, even if it looks and smells fine?

Sample answer

Because harmful bacteria can be present even when there is no visible or smell sign. Follow the use-by date, not your senses.

Reading

Part 2: The Best-Before Date — About Quality

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Check your understanding

Check: Best-Before Date

1. What is the difference between a best-before date and a use-by date?

Sample answer

A best-before date is about quality. The food is usually still safe after it, but it may not be as good. A use-by date is about safety. Do not eat food after it.

Sealed meat and a ready-to-eat salad stored inside a cold refrigerator.

Reading

Part 3: Storage Matters

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Check your understanding

Check: Storage

1. Why is it important to store food correctly, not just check the date?

Sample answer

The date works as expected only when you store the food correctly. Food kept in the wrong place can become unsafe or lose quality early.

A person puts sealed raw chicken into a freezer beside a calendar with a green check.

Reading

Part 4: Freezing and Cooking Before the Use-By Date

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Check your understanding

Check: Freezing and Cooking

1. You buy raw chicken on Monday. The use-by date is Tuesday, but you cannot cook it until Wednesday. What can you do?

Sample answer

You can freeze the chicken on Monday or Tuesday — on or before the use-by date. If the packet allows freezing, this is safe. Do not wait until Wednesday.

What you can do now

Final Reflection

You see two items in your kitchen: a tin of beans that is two weeks past its best-before date, and a pot of yoghurt that is one day past its use-by date. What do you do with each one, and why?

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Best Before or Use By?

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Listening

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Reading

Part 1: The Use-By Date — About Safety

A use-by date is about food safety.

Do not eat food after this date, even if it looks and smells fine.

Food can contain harmful bacteria that you cannot see or smell.

In the UK, meat products and ready-to-eat salads are two examples of foods that can have a use-by date.

You can eat them until midnight on the date if you stored them correctly.

You can also cook or freeze the food on or before that date.

After the date, do not eat, cook, or freeze it.

Reading

Part 2: The Best-Before Date — About Quality

A best-before date is about quality, not safety.

It tells you when food may start to lose its best taste, texture, or colour.

Frozen peas and dried pasta are two examples of foods that often have a best-before date.

After the date, the food is usually safe to eat, but its quality may be lower.

For a best-before food, you can use sight, smell, or taste to help decide.

For example, check bread for mould, or taste a crisp to see if it is stale.

Also check that you stored the food as the packet says.

Reading

Part 3: Storage Matters

The dates work as expected only when you store the food correctly.

The packet may say “keep refrigerated” or “store in a cool, dry place.”

It may also tell you what to do after you open it.

For example, a chilled food can become unsafe before its use-by date if you leave it out of the fridge.

Dried food can lose quality early if it gets wet.

Read the storage instructions every time, and follow them.

Reading

Part 4: Freezing and Cooking Before the Use-By Date

If you cannot eat food before its use-by date, you may be able to cook or freeze it in time.

You can freeze food on or before the use-by date.

Keep the freezer at −18°C and follow the packet’s freezing and defrosting instructions.

After you defrost the food, use it within 24 hours.

You can also cook food on or before the date.

Cool it, keep it in the fridge, and eat it within 48 hours, or freeze it.

For example, if raw chicken has a use-by date of Tuesday and you cannot cook it by then, freeze it on Monday or Tuesday—not Wednesday.

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