# Am I a jerk for taking the milk with the latest expiration date? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 22, 2004, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-jerk-for-taking-the-milk-with-the-latest-expiration-date/265499 "2004-09-22T15:33:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2004, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-jerk-for-taking-the-milk-with-the-latest-expiration-date/265499/41 "2004-09-23T21:49:54Z")
> [@BiblioCat](#): > > Yes, it’s a **“Sell By”** date, not an “Expiration Date” as I have to explain to my husband whenever he goes to the store with me. It should be fresh for a week after that date. I absolutely disagree with this. I’m positive that the milk I buy begins to go off around the expiration date. Since a gallon normally lasts over a week in our house, there’s no way we’re going to consider that a “sell-by” date. [/quote] As for the OP, I try to buy the fresher stuff, too, and will often reach around to get the milk that is dater later, too, even though a gallon lasts about a day in my house. I buy three gallons at a time. [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![fortytwo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f9ae1b/32.png) [@fortytwo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fortytwo)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2004, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-jerk-for-taking-the-milk-with-the-latest-expiration-date/265499/42 "2004-09-23T21:56:55Z")
> [@cards](#): > > I get the freshest milk. > > But it all evens out. > > I buy the oldest scotch. > > 😉 I like the cut of your jib,sir (or madam 🙂 ) It’s what I do too. In fact in the case of the milk I’d be crazy to anything else,seeing as we only use a pint a week. You have to make sure it’s going to last the week. ---
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2004, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-jerk-for-taking-the-milk-with-the-latest-expiration-date/265499/43 "2004-09-24T01:09:28Z")
> [@BiblioCat](#): > > Yes, it’s a **“Sell By”** date, not an “Expiration Date” as I have to explain to my husband whenever he goes to the store with me. It should be fresh for a week after that date. Unless there’s a strike going on. Seriously, during the supermarket strike last year, all the milk I bought would go bad a day or two _before_ the expiration date. It was like that until the strike ended. I had a roommate who was a total priss and refused to drink milk after the expiration date. His excuse was that ALL milk tasted sour to him (due to a traumatic childhood incident I never did understand) so he had no other way of knowing if it was really good or not. Strange, I would think the opposite would apply in that case. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2004, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-jerk-for-taking-the-milk-with-the-latest-expiration-date/265499/44 "2004-09-24T01:31:22Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > I understood that the date was the “Sell by” date as opposed to “Unfit for human consumption” date. I seem to recall that if kept properly refrigerated, milk should be good for a week after the sell by date. > > Or did I just imagine that? When I threw my milk, which was about a week past the sell-by date, in the trash today, I thought, “Wouldn’t it be ironic if I found out that milk is still good a week after the sell-by date”, and here we are. Although, this milk (Shamrock Farms or some such) seems to be noticeably bad a couple of days afterward, as I have experienced with prior purchases of it. I exclusively buy this brand, exclusively in half-gallon jugs, because I exclusively shop at the U-Mart (mini grocery store on campus) and that’s the only milk they sell. ---
**Author:** ![TastesLikeBurning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@TastesLikeBurning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TastesLikeBurning)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2004, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-jerk-for-taking-the-milk-with-the-latest-expiration-date/265499/45 "2004-09-24T04:47:53Z")
I think nothing short of a public stoning will suffice for your misdeeds. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2004, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-jerk-for-taking-the-milk-with-the-latest-expiration-date/265499/46 "2004-09-24T04:58:47Z")
> [@Blalron](#): > > Yes. > > I imagine if everyone acted like you businesses would be forced to charge more for milk because a lot more of it would go bad. Driving the milk prices higher just because you want slightly fresher milk is just a tad bit selfish. In order for this to be the case, you’re making the assumption that: a. Everyone knows that everyone else is doing this b. They won’t buy milk anyway. In reality, if there are 20 gallons of milk, and Crafter\_Man buys the two with the freshest dates, the next person isn’t even going to be aware that there was once fresher milk to be had, so they’ll happily make their selection based on what’s on the shelf, and so will everyone else after them while the milk is still fresh. What’s left over will be the milk that’s too close to the date for anyone to buy ever. The worst case senario if everyone started doing it is that the truly paranoid will be staking out the milk case waiting for the new stuff to be shelved. ---
**Author:** ![mouthbreather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a698b9/32.png) [@mouthbreather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mouthbreather)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2004, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-jerk-for-taking-the-milk-with-the-latest-expiration-date/265499/47 "2004-09-24T04:59:47Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > I understood that the date was the “Sell by” date as opposed to “Unfit for human consumption” date. I seem to recall that if kept properly refrigerated, milk should be good for a week after the sell by date. > > Or did I just imagine that? IANAmilkologist, but in my experience the milk I buy is always sour 2-3 days past the exp. date – It’s never been ok a week after. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2004, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-jerk-for-taking-the-milk-with-the-latest-expiration-date/265499/48 "2004-09-24T05:14:02Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > No but you sound like kind of a pussy for even asking. If you want to whine about someone else’s thread, do it in The BBQ Pit, not here. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2004, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-jerk-for-taking-the-milk-with-the-latest-expiration-date/265499/49 "2004-09-24T06:29:36Z")
> [@fetus](#): > > When I threw my milk, which was about a week past the sell-by date, in the trash today, I thought, “Wouldn’t it be ironic if I found out that milk is still good a week after the sell-by date”, and here we are. Sometimes it is, and sometimes it isn’t. I learned that in college, the hard way. ---
**Author:** ![FilmGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@FilmGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FilmGeek)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2004, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-jerk-for-taking-the-milk-with-the-latest-expiration-date/265499/50 "2004-09-24T15:44:24Z")
> [@Ferret Herder](#): > > I grab one that has a decent expiration date but without actually having to shuffle a lot of items around or block someone else’s attempts to buy milk. My husband and I don’t use up milk that quickly, while I know some families with kids might go through a gallon of milk in a couple days. If I knew the milk was going to be gone in a couple days anyway, I would only care that the date hadn’t passed yet. With kids? Heh. My house (just me and Ardred) goes through a gallon every three days. I don’t drink milk. 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-jerk-for-taking-the-milk-with-the-latest-expiration-date/265499.md?page=2)