Groceries and the Dating Game: What Expiration Dates Really Mean

Food packaging labels have become their own dialect.
Groceries and the Dating Game: What Expiration Dates Really Mean
"Use by" usually means the manufacturer can't guarantee safety after the printed date. Towfiqu ahamed barbhuiya/Shutterstock
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If I had a dollar for every time someone asked me about food expiration dates, I could afford to buy a lot of the milk that gets tossed each week just for being one day “past.”

These questions come in by the dozen—from readers, neighbors, and once from a stranger in the dairy aisle holding a suspicious-looking yogurt cup like it was a ticking time bomb.

Mary Hunt
Mary Hunt
Author
Mary invites you to visit her at EverydayCheapskate.com, where this column is archived complete with links and resources for all recommended products and services. Mary invites questions and comments at https://www.everydaycheapskate.com/contact/, “Ask Mary.” This column will answer questions of general interest, but letters cannot be answered individually. Mary Hunt is the founder of EverydayCheapskate.com, a frugal living blog, and the author of the book “Debt-Proof Living.” COPYRIGHT 2022 CREATORS.COM