The Best Way to Track Food Expiry Dates at Home

You know the moment. You reach to the back of the fridge for the yoghurt and find a second, older tub hiding behind it, three days past its date. Is it fine? Is it not? And how did it get back there in the first place?

Tracking expiry dates sounds like a chore, but it doesn't need to be. Once you understand what the different dates mean and set up a simple routine, most of the guesswork disappears. Let's start with the labels themselves.

Use-by vs best-before: the one distinction that matters

Most date labels around the world fall into two camps: dates about safety and dates about quality. The UK government's guide puts it neatly: "Use-by dates relate to the safety of food, whereas best before dates relate to quality."

Use-by dates (safety)

You'll find use-by dates on perishable foods such as fresh meat, fish and ready-to-eat salads. Treat them seriously.

• In the UK, official guidance warns that eating food after the use-by date could make you ill. It also notes that if you freeze food before its use-by date, bacteria can't grow while it's frozen. That makes the freezer your best friend for anything you won't get to in time.
• In Australia and New Zealand, Food Standards Australia New Zealand says foods should not be eaten after the use-by date and can't legally be sold after it.

Best-before dates (quality)

Best-before dates are about flavour and texture, not safety. They're common on tinned, dried and frozen foods.

• The UK guidance says food is usually safe to eat after the best-before date but may not be at its best. Use your senses: look, smell and check for staleness or mould.
• FSANZ agrees that food should still be safe for a while after its best-before date, and notes that it can legally be sold after that date as long as it's fit to eat. It also mentions a couple of quirks: bread with a short shelf life may carry a "baked on" or "baked for" date instead, and foods that keep for two years or more don't need a date at all.

In the US: "Best if Used By"

Date labelling works a little differently in the United States. According to the FDA, "except for infant formula, manufacturers are not required by Federal law or regulation to place quality-based date labels on packaged food." The FDA describes "Best if Used By" as the date when a product will be at its best flavour and quality, and suggests checking food past that date for changes in colour, consistency or texture.

You'll also see phrases like "sell by" on US packaging. These are generally for the shop, not for you.

In the EU

Across the EU you'll usually see the same two ideas: "use by" for safety and "best before" for quality. Wherever you live, the principle holds: use-by means act now, best-before means check and decide.

The FIFO habit: first in, first out

The single most useful habit for cutting waste is one that restaurants and supermarkets use every day: first in, first out, or FIFO.

When you unpack your shopping, move the older items to the front and put the new ones behind them. That's it. The oldest milk, the nearest-dated yoghurt and the open jar of pesto are always the first thing you see, so they're the first thing you use.

It feels fiddly for the first week. By the third, you'll do it without thinking.

A simple system that actually sticks

You don't need labels on every shelf or a spreadsheet on the fridge door. You need a few small habits that work together.

1. Make a "use it up" zone

Pick one spot in the fridge, a shelf or a clear tub, for anything that needs eating in the next two or three days. Opened sauces, half a capsicum (bell pepper), leftovers, the chicken that's dated for Thursday. When you're deciding what to cook, look there first.

2. Check dates when you unpack, not when you cook

The best time to notice a short date is at the counter with your shopping bags, not halfway through a recipe. As you put things away, glance at the date and do one of three things:

• Long date: put it away behind the older stock.
• Short date: put it in the use-it-up zone.
• Won't get to it in time: freeze it now, before the use-by date.

3. Label your leftovers and freezer bags

A strip of masking tape and a marker is enough. Write what it is and the date you made or froze it. Future you won't remember whether that container is Tuesday's curry or last month's.

4. Do a two-minute fridge check before you shop

Before you write a shopping list, open the fridge and scan the use-it-up zone and the front of each shelf. Plan at least one meal around what's there. It stops you buying more of what you already have.

5. Keep your fridge cold enough

Dates assume food has been stored properly. The FDA recommends keeping your fridge at 40°F (about 4°C) or below. A cheap fridge thermometer takes the guessing out of it.

Where paper systems break down

A whiteboard on the fridge works well, right up until it doesn't. The usual problems:

• Nobody updates it. One person keeps it current, everyone else forgets.
• It only covers the fridge. The tin of coconut milk in the cupboard and the mince in the freezer get forgotten.
• It doesn't tell you what to cook. Knowing the spinach needs using is half the battle. Knowing what to make with it is the other half.

That's where a shared app can take over the boring bits.

How an app helps

The best tracking system is the one that takes the least effort to keep up. Here's what to look for in an app, and how Pantry Bliss handles it.

• Quick ways to add food. Typing every item in by hand is where most people give up. Pantry Bliss lets you scan a barcode (products are looked up via Open Food Facts), snap your receipt, or take a photo of a shelf to add items in one go.
• Expiry dates at a glance. Each pantry item can carry its date, with clear badges for things that are expiring soon, so the "use it up" zone lives on your phone as well as in your fridge.
• A daily nudge. A daily reminder notification lets you know what's coming up, so the chicken gets cooked on Thursday instead of discovered on Saturday.
• Ideas, not just warnings. The "Use it up" feature suggests recipes built around the ingredients that need eating first, and you can ask the AI to create a full recipe from whatever you have.
• One list for the household. Everyone shares the same pantry, so whoever does the shopping can see what's already there.
• A widget on your home screen. The "Use It Up" widget keeps the most urgent items in view without opening the app.

None of this replaces the basics. You'll still want FIFO, a cold fridge and a quick look before you shop. But an app makes those habits far easier to keep, especially when there's more than one person in the kitchen.

The short version

• Use-by is about safety: eat, cook or freeze before the date.
• Best-before is about quality: after the date, look, smell and decide.
• First in, first out keeps older food at the front.
• A use-it-up zone and a quick fridge check before shopping do most of the work.

If you'd like to try the digital version of this system, Pantry Bliss has a free plan for iPhone and iPad. Scan in what's in your fridge this weekend and see what it suggests you cook first.