Puff pastry past its date: will you get sick after 4 days or save £3? 7 must-know checks today

A rogue roll of puff pastry lurks behind the milk. Waste beckons, so does worry. Your next move matters.

You glance at the label, sniff the pack, and hesitate at the bin. Dates tell one story, your senses tell another. Here’s how to read both, stay safe, and stop tossing money with your dinner plans.

Use-by or best-before: the label that decides the rules

Start with the wording on the date. A use-by date is about safety. A best-before date is about quality. Many UK supermarket puff pastries carry best-before; some chilled, fresh versions carry use-by. The difference changes everything.

Rule one: never eat puff pastry past its use-by date. That date means a hard stop for safety.

When the pack reads best-before, you can judge the pastry with a few checks. Flavour and texture may have dipped, yet safety can still be intact if storage stayed cold and the pastry shows no signs of spoilage.

The 4-day tolerance, explained

People ask for a number. A pragmatic ceiling is up to 4 days beyond best-before, but only if the pastry has been kept at