With me, it depends. Last week, my husband got a bad cold. He needed a good night's sleep, so I got the NyQuil. I checked the exp date, and it was 12/10. I gave it to him anyway. I figured a couple of months wouldn't kill him, and it didn't. I bought a fresh bottle the next day and tossed the older one.

With food, I'm careful to pay attention to the "Sell By" and "Use By" warnings. Sell by gives the consumer more time. My husband wants to use anything, no matter what, lol. If it passes the sniff test, it's good, according to him. We have more stupid kitchen squabbles over exp dates, lol.

Eggs and milk are my biggest concern.

When eggs and milk go to 2 weeks past experation/sell by dates...they get discarded.

With OTC meds, I'm like Janice. If it's within a few months I go with it. With food, I'm more strict - 98% I immediately toss the item.

:lol: Yep - I usually strictly ignore them!

All my life I've eaten salad dressing that's oh anywhere from 3 to 5 yrs old!!!!! No kidding!

Actually the odd time, but I've seen it where milk has gone bad like 2 weeks before the expiry date so ya never know! Life's one big crap shoot in my books! ;)

I try to be careful when it comes to expiration dates. I don't like to use something if it's past the expiration date.

Eggs and milk are my biggest concern.

When eggs and milk go to 2 weeks past experation/sell by dates...they get discarded.

lol. That's like in the Punky Brewster episode. Henry offers Punky two kinds of juice, brown and green. She asks what's the difference and he tells her "about two weeks." :lol:

Sometimes I do but usually I pay attention to the expiration date when I am cleaning out stuff and I look at the expiration date to see if it expired or not so I throw it away if it is expired

I am - definitely.

OTC meds I'll take up to 30 days after the expiration date

Most foods I usually toss 2 weeks - a month after they expire. The only exceptions are meat, eggs and dairy which I get rid of immediately

Snack foods such as chips, cookies and crackers will often remain fresh for several weeks after the best by date. Of course this isn't a guarantee but I've never had a problem.

Expiration dates can also work to your advantage, I buy most all of my snacks at Big Lots and when the product gets within 2 weeks of the expiration date, it goes to half price and that's when I load up. I save a ton of a money at Big Lots and the products I buy are just as fresh as anything from the grocery stores

One of my best deals was on Beneful dog food, my dogs love it but at $2.19 a bowl, I can't always afford it. Big Lots got it in for $1 a bowl and 2 weeks before it expired, it was marked down to .50 each and I bought 8 cases which was 96 bowls and with my rewards card, I actually got it for .40 each and paid about $39 before tax. If I had bought it at the grocery store, the cost would've been just over $210 before tax.I saved just over $170.00, I was happy and my dogs ate the stuff for over a month and there was no problems.

One thing I hate is companies that put the expiration date in a code that you need a rosetta stone to decipher. I was told by one of the stock clerks that the codes were there for them to go by, not the consumers but that I could I call any company that used codes and they would send info on how to decipher it. This made no sense, looks to me like just putting the date on the product in plain easy to understand simple english would work just as well.

this thread reminds me of that scene in "THE ODD COUPLE" (the movie, not the TV show).
Oscar and Felixes friends are all sitting, playing poker when Oscar comes out of the kitchen with some sandwiches:

Oscar: "Who wants a sandwich"?
Murray: "I'll take one. What do you have"?
Oscar: "I have...let's see..some brown stuff and some green stuff".
Murray: "What's the brown"?
Oscar: "It's either very new meat or very old cheese".
Murray: "I'll take the green".
Roy: "Are you crazy? You're not gonna eat that"?
Murray: "But I'm hungry".
Roy: "His refrigerator's been broken for 2 weeks! I saw milk in there that's standing up by itself"!
Oscar: "Who are you, the board of health"?:lol:

I never check. lol

i all ways check lol

Sometimes. On certain products. But not everything.

Dairy items yes, other things not really

OTC meds may not work as well past the expiration date, but typically are not harmful to take. This is what my pharmacist told me once when I called to ask if it would be okay to take one past the expiration date. So, I will usually take it and then go out to buy a new bottle when I have the chance. I won't give the kids expired medicine though because it worries me even though it probably is safe.

Food doesn't last long enough to expire in my house! :lol:

Food and dairy items, totally check.

For many items, it doesn't matter if it's gone past the date somewhat -- manufacturers know they can increase sales by setting the date short of where it might otherwise fall. As others have said though, for things like dairy it's best to chuck it (and you will know when milk, etc. starts to turn).

Storage conditions can make a big difference -- if something is kept in cool or frozen conditions, the rate of decline is really slowed. Some people even freeze their chips if they have a surplus.

With me, it depends. Last week, my husband got a bad cold. He needed a good night's sleep, so I got the NyQuil. I checked the exp date, and it was 12/10. I gave it to him anyway. I figured a couple of months wouldn't kill him, and it didn't. I bought a fresh bottle the next day and tossed the older one.

With food, I'm careful to pay attention to the "Sell By" and "Use By" warnings. Sell by gives the consumer more time. My husband wants to use anything, no matter what, lol. If it passes the sniff test, it's good, according to him. We have more stupid kitchen squabbles over exp dates, lol.

That's my philosophy, too. With food, be paranoid. With other things like medicine, I'm more flexible.

I have Sudafed that is like two years old and I still take it LOL

Milk can be good for awhile, to me those dates are just guidelines

I do the smell/taste test. Certain things yes, but i have uneaten cakes mixes dated 2008. ***** Galore I have done the same with un eaten salad dresses but you have to look at the top. Sometimes the oil reaches the top and it gives off a strange odor . Lately , I date my opened products to see how long I have had it. I just finished a container of bread crumbs I opened in jan of 2009