I know that these dates shouldn't always be treated like gospel. But I'm paranoid just because a couple of years ago I got horrible food poisoning from something that I don't think had even reached its date yet and had to spend a night at the hospital. So I'm traumatized..

Oh my gosh!!!  I would definitely be religious if I were you!! That sounds horrible!!

I think I read that same article. I'm really weird about food safety so I pretty much follow expiration dates religiously. I had food poisoning once and my hubby had it last year so now I'm even more vigilant about it.  It drives my mother crazy around the holidays as they like to just sit around after we eat the big holiday meal and I'm trying to get everything put away in the fridge before it goes bad.  She's always like "Oh just put the turkey on the counter and I'll wrap it up later after everyone leaves". Ugh, I can't deal with that. I'm hopeless!

I guess I am the exception here.  I'm not going to throw something out that is past the expiration date unless I can tell that it is bad.  Dairy, meat etc show that they are spoiled by their smell or with visual signs.  The sell by date is simply a "guarantee" from the manufacturer to the buyer that the product is at their standards up to that date.  So in my experience, I've found that the product can still be perfectly good if stored properly, even past the expiration date.

I also will freeze things that are approaching their expiration if I know I can use it soon enough, even dairy items like certain cheeses and sour cream freeze well.

Slafla: I'm with you!  I'm not very picky... as long as it's not moving or turned green or fuzzy, I'm pretty much going to try it. Thank goodness I've never had food poisoning like stealthisdress.  I must have built up an immunity to the germs.  :}

I freeze a lot of things too, like cheese, butter, and meat if it's close to the expiration date. Or if I get a really good sale and stock up on stuff that will expire before I can use it all.

There was a bakery near an old job that basically sold expired goods on discount. It was a work favorite!

I go to a Sara Lee bakery that sells almost expired bread, and we buy like 5 loaves for $4 and bagels and stuff like that, and freeze them! Saves us so much and not one time has it went moldy taking one loaf out at a time :-)! Milk I will do maybe the next day then pitch. If it hasn't been frozen out to the garbage it goes! I am sooo weird about food! I never want Food Poisoning!!!!!! @StealThisDress I am sorry to hear of your experience!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When my husband and I were first married, I would buy the discounted meat and whatever else. I would always do the "sniff test" and sometimes it would be kinda on the fence. Luckily, neither one of us ever got sick, knock on wood. On all fresh stuff, I think you have to be careful. On dried goods, I think it's your call.

So what are the best ways for storing food?  Anybody have any secrets to share?

I use Ziploc fresh shield bags and freeze my food. No problems.

My friend sent me an article about food and expiration dates:

http://www.slashfood.com/2010/02/19/ignore-use-by-dates/?ncid=webmaildl5