Stafford shops closing - Turning into a ghost town?

tek-monkey

tek-monkey

wanna see my snake?
ClearanceXL said:
Hi cj1,

Information on the difference between "best before", "use by", "sell by" and "expired by" dates can found on the Food Standards Agency website here:

https://www.food.gov.uk/science/microbiology/use-by-and-best-before-dates

The key difference is that a "use by", "sell by" or "expired by" date is an indication of safety and food or drink passed this date should not be consumed or sold, whereas a "best before" date is an indication of quality and food or drink passed this date is still good to consume. We serve thousands of customers throughout the UK, some from the Staffordshire region, who we certainly would not agree with you that they are "foolish enough to buy it". In fact, anyone who saves a minimum of 70% on their weekly shopping bill whilst having perfectly good and perfectly priced clearance products delivered to their home or work is quite the opposite.

Hope this helps!
The ClearanceXL Team
Click to expand...

To add to this, I don't believe in dates on most things. They are useful when buying as it gives you a vague idea of freshness but once at home work on your own senses. I've had beef thats turning before the use by, and other packs that are fine a week past this which I'll still happily use. When it comes to best before you just try it and see what its like, crisps for example start to deteriorate pretty quickly but a pot noodle will not. The idea that something is fine for up to 2 years then suddenly becomes indeible overnight is rather amusing.
 
proactive

proactive

Enjoying a drop of red.
I
tek-monkey said:
To add to this, I don't believe in dates on most things. They are useful when buying as it gives you a vague idea of freshness but once at home work on your own senses. I've had beef thats turning before the use by, and other packs that are fine a week past this which I'll still happily use. When it comes to best before you just try it and see what its like, crisps for example start to deteriorate pretty quickly but a pot noodle will not. The idea that something is fine for up to 2 years then suddenly becomes indeible overnight is rather amusing.
Click to expand...
It's all just a marketing ploy IMO.
 
tek-monkey

tek-monkey

wanna see my snake?
proactive said:
I

It's all just a marketing ploy IMO.
Click to expand...

That is certainly an aspect, if you think its gone off you think you may need to replace it even though its not yet finished.

The biggest kicker for me was when they dropped the sell by dates. You used to have a sell by and a use by, ensuring you always had a few days that a product was fresh after buying. But apparently this was too confusing for some (who?!?!?!) so they dropped the sell by dates, allowing shops to sell you something that could actually be legally inedible the very next day. And apparently they did it to help the poor confused shopper? Bollox!
 
  • Like
Reactions: cj1
proactive

proactive

Enjoying a drop of red.
tek-monkey said:
That is certainly an aspect, if you think its gone off you think you may need to replace it even though its not yet finished.

The biggest kicker for me was when they dropped the sell by dates. You used to have a sell by and a use by, ensuring you always had a few days that a product was fresh after buying. But apparently this was too confusing for some (who?!?!?!) so they dropped the sell by dates, allowing shops to sell you something that could actually be legally inedible the very next day. And apparently they did it to help the poor confused shopper? Bollox!
Click to expand...
Decisions like that are all to help big retail and hidden behind the fairly transparent veil of being of benefit to the consumer.
 
C

cj1

Well-Known Forumite
ClearanceXL said:
Hi cj1,

Information on the difference between "best before", "use by", "sell by" and "expired by" dates can found on the Food Standards Agency website here:

https://www.food.gov.uk/science/microbiology/use-by-and-best-before-dates

The key difference is that a "use by", "sell by" or "expired by" date is an indication of safety and food or drink passed this date should not be consumed or sold, whereas a "best before" date is an indication of quality and food or drink passed this date is still good to consume. We serve thousands of customers throughout the UK, some from the Staffordshire region, who we certainly would not agree with you that they are "foolish enough to buy it". In fact, anyone who saves a minimum of 70% on their weekly shopping bill whilst having perfectly good and perfectly priced clearance products delivered to their home or work is quite the opposite.

Hope this helps!
The ClearanceXL Team
Click to expand...
completely agree with what you said here. I was replying to a poster who said they called trading standards on a company and that they were warned for selling post-dated food. I was using you as an example that this practice is legal. the other poster has since clarified that the warning was for not declaring the fact.
 
Gramaisc

Gramaisc

Forum O. G.
Some mineral waters - e.g. Volvic - make a big thing about them being filtered through rocks for thousands of years, then they put a sell-by date on the bottle, a few weeks into the future.


..or, so I hear..
 
PeterD

PeterD

ST16 Represent.
Bought some cooked ham on the 21st of December, it was dated 9th of december it was fine, bought some milk from tesco dated 4th jan, bought it between christmas and new year and it was off in a day. Dates dont really mean much if the items are stored well. Tesco had a faulty fridge.
 
Last edited:
E

EasMid

Well-Known Forumite
The dates are primarily for the retailer's benefit to help with stock control/rotation. "Use by" dates are the only ones to concern the consumer & even then its down to common sense really.
Regarding milk, we've recentlt started having it delivered & the date is at least 2 weeks from the day we get delivery. Prior to this we used to get it from Tesco & it usually only had, at best, a week or so left & often it wouldn't last till the date.
 
Last edited:
Gramaisc

Gramaisc

Forum O. G.
EasMid said:
The dates are primarily for the retailer's benefit to help with stock control/rotation. "Use by" dates are the only ones to concern the consumer & even then its down to common sense really.
Regarding milk, we've recentlt started having it delivered & the date is at least 2 weeks from the day we get delivery. Prior to this we used to get it from Tesco & it usually only had, at best, a week or so left & often it wouldn't last till the date.
Click to expand...
These days, milk is pasteurised at a much higher temperature than it used to be, hence the homogenisation of all of it, it the lack of cream floating to the top. It is feasible, if you pick up the milk last thing and get it straight home and into the fridge, to have it still usable after fourteen days.
 
proactive

proactive

Enjoying a drop of red.
Gramaisc said:
These days, milk is pasteurised at a much higher temperature than it used to be, hence the homogenisation of all of it, it the lack of cream floating to the top. It is feasible, if you pick up the milk last thing and get it straight home and into the fridge, to have it still usable after fourteen days.
Click to expand...

Only fourteen days! Not afraid of a bit of lumpy milk are you?
 
Studio Tan

Studio Tan

Well-Known Forumite
Milk life: Just thought I'd add a couple of tips for prolonging the life of milk

(1) Try and ween yourself off regular milk and use fully skimmed (if you don't use it already). It doesn't go off as quick - and it's healthier too.

(2) After pouring milk, squeeze the container to expel as much air before replacing the cap (rather like one of those self-collapsing wine boxes works).
 
proactive

proactive

Enjoying a drop of red.
Studio Tan said:
Milk life: Just thought I'd add a couple of tips for prolonging the life of milk

(1) Try and ween yourself off regular milk and use fully skimmed (if you don't use it already). It doesn't go off as quick - and it's healthier too.

(2) After pouring milk, squeeze the container to expel as much air before replacing the cap (rather like one of those self-collapsing wine boxes works).
Click to expand...
Fully skimmed milk is like drinking whitewash.
 
E

EasMid

Well-Known Forumite
proactive said:
Fully skimmed milk is like drinking whitewash.
Click to expand...
We have skimmed milk but never having tried whitewash I couldn't comment on any possible similarity. It definitely keeps longer than full fat milk though. Not as long as whitewash perhaps.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top