Noticing the "Best By" Date

One of the best ways to get the most food storage bang for your buck is to notice details. If you have invested the time to shop the sales, it is a real tragedy to buy a bunch of an item and then realize as you are putting away that it will expire three months later. Or maybe you won't even notice the date on it until you go to get it out, and it has changed color and just doesn't look right. Most canned food doesn't have an "expiration" date, but rather a "best by" date. Instead of this date being a hard and fast rule, it is a guideline. Your spaghetti sauce will probably still be good a month after its best by date (provided it looks and smells right - when in doubt, throw it out!), but how frustrating it is to have 20 bottles of spaghetti sauce all right at their best by date. The easiest way I have found to handle this issue is to take a couple of seconds at the store and check the best by date. If I'm not happy with it, I will check another flavor or variety. Often by just taking a couple of seconds, I can find a product with a best by date that suits my needs.

And as always, make sure you are rotating your food storage!