"M. Halbrook" ) writes:
> "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.

No, I suspect it's more they actually trusted their senses. Remember,
"before" is a long time. There was a time when in various situations one
had to stock up for the year. There was also no central storage facility, so
once the harvest was over, there was no more until the next year, so the
clock starts ticking.

So if that bag of flour was really rancid smelling, then they might discard
it. If there were bugs in there, they might discard it. They looked, and
touched, and smelled, and used that to decide whether the food was useable
or not.

They likely also knew the tricks to compensate, so if that baking soda
wasn't as potent as it used to be, they knew what to do to ensure the
flapjacks were still good.

But, I get the impression they also weren't as fussy. "A bit of mold on
that cheese? No problem, we'll eat around it. We can't afford to waste it."

They also were likely more careful about keeping food. They knew
the harvest had to keep until next year, so they put in the effort to
store it properly, for the least food wasteage

The "best before" is a result of an isolation from the food, or at
the very least an isolation of the food from where it comes. Let someone
else take care of the problem.

Michael