"R. Fizek" > wrote in news:T2Dfj.74$sH.64@trnddc04:

> Even think of what people did when there weren't any "use by" dates on
> things?.....

Back then, people actually did more cooking from scratch, and as such "sell
by/use by" dates were irrelevant. Until I started working nights, I bought
25# bags of flour and would go through that in a bout 2 weeks between
making sandwich bread, rolls, cakes, cookies, etc. That use by date was
irrelevant to me.