# about to expire milk and salad dressing

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-to-expire-milk-and-salad-dressing/83942>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 26, 2001, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-to-expire-milk-and-salad-dressing/83942 "2001-09-26T17:21:12Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![tamster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a6a055/32.png) [@tamster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tamster)\
**Post date:** [September 26, 2001, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-to-expire-milk-and-salad-dressing/83942/1 "2001-09-26T17:21:12Z")

</div>

I made some ranch dressing from the packet and used milk on it’s expiration date to make it. Will the dressing mix keep the milk okay for a week or two, or will it spoil and screw up my dressing?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\
**Post date:** [September 26, 2001, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-to-expire-milk-and-salad-dressing/83942/2 "2001-09-26T18:34:35Z")

</div>

The date on milk is a “sell-by” date, and the milk should be good for 7 days after that.  
A lot of people think it is an expiration date, but it’s the date by which it has to be sold.

As for the dressing, I would use it up within a week.