Originally Posted by gfunkdave

Disagree on all this. I routinely use 1 week as my rule of thumb for most things. I also ignore "sell by" dates, which are often little more than guesses from the packager and its lawyers looking to avoid liability costs. Milk (especially lower fat) is usually good for a week past its date. I have had seafood in the fridge that I've used after 5 days without issue, as well as meat and just about everything else.

If I suspect a piece of food to be bad, I throw it out. I use my senses to determine if it's OK to eat. Does it smell the way I expect it to? Does it feel the way I expect it to? Is it slimy? Does it look like it should? I tossed a red bell pepper last night because it had gotten soft and wrinkly, and when I cut it the cut edge felt slimy. I bought it about 4 days beforehand.

Either I have a cast iron stomach or food poisoning concerns are overwrought, because I don't think I've ever gotten food poisoning.