Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

I probably wouldn't eat meat or fish that was past its expiration date, but otherwise I tend to trust my eyes and nose above the date on the packet. That said, I grew up in a family that was fairly scornful of expiration dates (my ex boyfriend wouldn't eat anything out of the fridge at my parents' house unless it could be demonstrated to be unexpired). So that's probably where my laid-back attitude comes from.

I too am somewhat lackadaisical about expiration dates. I concur that pickles etc. are fine basically forever...I find the dates on sour cream to err way to far on the side of caution... I live on the edge with salad dressings too. Hmmm...come to think of it, as long as it tastes/smells okay, I pretty much eat it. Friends of mine have been disgusted that I cut the mold off of cheese and eat the good parts. Learned that trick from my dad, for whom wasted food is the biggest sin!

I always cut mold off cheese if it's a hard cheese. Soft cheese, no. But any hard cheese with a little mold on its rind? No problem. Anything else, if it smells OK and doesn't have mold, I eat it.

I also always cut the mold off the cheese, it's still perfectly good. I completely ignore recommendations for how long produce lasts also. It's all about the smell test.

@caley- You throw me off everytime, because my name is Caley also! I seldom meet anyone with the same spelling!

Not technically "expired," but certainly past their prime: I love really stale spice drops!

Eggs. They are good for a week or two after they expire. I learned this after a friend of mine told me about being a grocery store clerk as a teenager and having to change the expiration dates for eggs when they met their original date.

Haha none. Not after the time in college that I made a chinese chicken salad with dressing that had expired two years ago. My roommate and I were near death for a few days. You know how there are some items that stay good until you open them? Salad dressing is not one of them. :-)

When I was a kid things like mustard and catsup didn't even have expiration dates. I pay no attention to most condiment dates. The same with canned goods, if the can isn't swelling, the inside of the can isn't showing signs of degradation and the food inside still smells and looks good, I'll eat it.

I'm pretty cautious with dairy, although an expiration date for cheese, especially hard cheeses or unopened packages, is just silly. You pay more for aged cheeses! Cream, sour or otherwise, usually lasts longer than the date, but non-fat milk usually doesn't make it TO the expiration date. It starts to taste "off" a couple of days early. Buttermilk seems to last forever.

Meats are a whole other thing. I pay close attention to the dates for meats. Even cured meats get eaten or frozen before the expiration date. Exception to that rule is the dry aging of good beef.

In high school, my boyfriend's dad was the head of the dairy science department at the university in my hometown, and he always said "sell by" or "best before" for dairy meant you can use it for about a week after the date. I definitely "follow my nose" with these things, as I hate wasting food. I've also read that it's okay to cut mold off of hard/semifirm cheeses, as long as you cut off 1/2" or so around the moldy spot...that's definitely something I did growing up as well...but you shouldn't do this with soft cheese, as mold spreads throughout them much more rapidly.