hi, I’m new here so hello to everybody and my apologies if this question has been asked before.
When I buy something from the shops, say a pasta sauce, that is suitable for home freezing it always says to freeze on the day of purchase.
So if I buy something and put it in the fridge then realise it’s about to go out of date, can I no longer put it in the freezer for fear of catching some horrible disease. What’s the difference from me buying it at the supermarket and then freezing it a few days later?
My girlfriend says it’s OK but she could be just trying to poison me!
I assume the product was made the same day as the day of purchase or the next day at most. Freezing the day of purchase then protecs the product for use a few days or maybe a week or so later.
There is no reason to put it in the fridge instead of the freezer as soon as you get it home. Why risk any possibility of spoiling of the produce?
Anything else reeks of either utter stupidity or rank obstinancy. :rolleyes:
“So if I buy something and put it in the fridge then realise it’s about to go out of date…”
How is this different than buying something, getting it home, looking at the date on the container, and realizing that you bought it on the ‘sell by’ date?
One refrigerator is pretty much like any other refrigerator.
I bought pasta sauce ten days ago and it’s been in my fridge since then, it’s out of date today and I don’t know why I can’t put it in my freezer now, I mean it would have been in the fridge in the store up until today anyway, BUT it says on the package… suitable for home freezing, freeze on day of purchase
I’m afraid I don’t have an answer, but a sort of variation on the question. Does the ‘sell by’ date mean that it shouldn’t be eaten after that date or does it just mean that it should be frozen on or before that date? I guess I’m just wondering what the distinction is, if any, between ‘sale by’ dates and expiration dates.
Here in the UK at least, products will either have a “Best Before” (or “Use By”) date only; or a “Sell By” date and a “Use By” date. You won’t find products with only a “Sell By” date, as that is ambiguous.
The “Sell By” date is for the store. As it implies, the product should be sold by then. The “Use By” date is when the product should not be consumed after. It is usually 2 or 3 days after the “Sell By” date. If a product does have a “Sell By” date only, then I can only assume that it also says something like “Use within three days of purchase”.
Which brings me to the OP. The manufacturer says “Freeze on day of purchase” because then you will be freezing it on or before the “Sell by” date. They don’t want you leaving it until the last moment, then freezing it, then defrosting it, and tthen thinking “Hey, I have another 3 days now”.
But no, there’s no difference between leaving it in your fridge and leaving it in the store fridge. It’s just common sense to freeze it as soon as you can, but there is nothing magical about the day of purchase. Don’t think of it as a hard and fast rule.
The Sell By date is just that. The store must sell the product by that date to insure that the procuct will be usable some unspecified time later.
The Use By date or Best If Used By date is also just that. Beyond that date the procuct has reached a point of changing by age to where it could be unsuitable for consumption.
The system encourages stores and shops to put the freshest or newest product to the back of the shelf and sell the oldest product first.
WADR, nonsense.
The goal is have the <whatever> in the best possible condition when you actually eat it. Deciding the best way to achieve this involves balancing several factors, such as when you plan to eat the <whatever>, the nature of the <whatever>, and which forms of degradation affect the <whatever> the most.
You can start from a few givens:
Fact: almost everything tastes best when it is freshly prepared. Some exceptions: stews and chilis and many soups will taste better after a day in the fridge and then reheating.
Fact: all foods contain substances that will degrade (spoil, dry out, rot, mold, stale) over time at room temperature.
SubFact: this damage happens at different speeds and with different degrees of dangerousness depending on the food stuff. Example: whole fruits and vegetables are essentially still living, and can fight off most spoilage causing contaminations for quite a while. In particular, leaving tomatoes at room temperature is splendid. Assuming they weren’t bruised or frozen in shipment, they will be perfectly fine for a week or so. Example: animal products spoil much more rapidly. A gallon of milk left at room temperature for even a day will probably be undrinkable. Example: an uncooked egg is alive, and can be safely left on the counter for several days. A cooked egg is dead, and should be tossed out if left at room temperature for more than a few hours.
Fact: the exact same changes will happen in the fridge, but at a slower rate. OTOH, refrigeration itself can cause unpleasant changes in some food stuff. For example, bread will go stale faster, tomatoes can develop an ‘off’ taste, banana skins go black.
Fact: freezing food stuffs stops the ‘normal’ degradation process (actually, just slows it way, way down). OTOH, freezing means the formation of ice crystals, meaning burst cell walls and other mechanical damage to the foodstuff which can alter its texture. And texture matters a lot when eating. Compare eating nice piece of grilled steak with a bottle of pureed beef baby food. Some foods are basically destroyed simply by being frozen. For example, mayonnaise just ain’t mayonnaise once it’s been frozen and thawed. It turns into a really nasty oily slime. So just don’t freeze things with mayonnaise in them, like tuna, or sandwiches with mayo spread on them.
So, turning to the OP’s tomato sauce. It will never taste better than the day he buys it.
It’s ‘dead’ from being cooked/pureed, and so will quickly start to spoil if left at room temperature. (As in, toss after, oh, four hours, MAX).
It will spoil much more slowly if refrigerated. As in, I’d expect it to be safe for up to a week, though it will taste better on day two than day three, better on day three than day four, adn so on.
It will last, oh, six months or more if frozen BUT the sauce’s texture will be slightly to majorly different after being frozen/thawed. (A bigger change if the sauce was ‘chunky’, a smaller change if it was fine ground.)
So what should OP do with his sauce? It depends on when he’s going to eat it.
If he intend to eat it within 2-3 days, just refrigerate. The ‘spoilage’ from those days will be less than the damage from the freeze/thaw cycle.
If he knows he won’t be eating it for four days or longer (or, really, has no particular idea when he might be eating it) put it in the freezer immediately. You’ll get the freeze/thaw damage, but minimize spoilage.
What you really want to avoid is having the worst of both situations. As in, leaving it to sit and ‘spoil’ for nearly a week in the fridge and THEN freezing it. Freezing stops further spoilage, but won’t undo what has happened already.
I think this is the key point, and the reason food manufacturers say “freeze on day of purchase”. Otherwise, people might leave the food until it’s already on the turn and then freeze it (cos freezing preserves stuff, right? :dubious: ). This would be A Bad Thing.
