By Belinda Castles
Researcher | Kairangahau
With food prices high, you’ll be wanting to get the most out of the food in your fridge and avoid throwing any food out.
Best-before and use-by dates give you useful information about when you should open and eat food by. But once you open the packet, the countdown is on – for example, bacon should be eaten within 7 days of opening, cottage cheese within 3 days, even if the best-before dates are further in the future.
New Zealand Food Safety deputy director-general Vincent Arbuckle said several factors influence how long it’s safe to keep a particular food for.
“The appropriate length of time depends on storage conditions, the potential for cross‑contamination with other foods, and food‑preparation hygiene. Always follow the dates and instructions on the product label, as they reflect the specific composition of the food, such as its protein and water content.”
Our table provides a guide to how long some common foods remain safe to eat in your fridge once the packaging has been opened.
These dates assume food is handled hygienically, stored appropriately, and not cross-contaminated. Always follow the manufacturer's storage and use instructions.
How long can you keep leftovers in the fridge?
This depends on what’s in the leftovers.
Rice-based leftovers: Eat within 2 days. Rice leftovers are risky, because uncooked rice can contain bacterial spores that survive cooking. The spores then germinate and produce toxins that cause food poisoning.
Cooked food eaten cold and not reheated: Eat within 2 days. Examples include pasta salad and potato salad.
Leftovers eaten hot: Eat within 4 days. Reheat until piping hot before eating.
What do the dates on food packaging mean?
Use-by dates
These are required for health and safety reasons, to reduce the risk of people getting sick from food that’s gone bad. You’ll find use-by dates on perishable foods such as deli products.
As long as food is stored correctly and hasn’t been opened, it should be safe to eat before its use-by date. However, after that, a food can’t legally be sold and shouldn’t be eaten.
Best-before dates
These provide information about food quality. Most packaged foods will have a best-before date.
Food can be sold and eaten after its best-before date as long as it’s been stored properly. However, it may have lost some nutritional value and might not taste the best.
Products with a shelf life of 2 years or more don’t need a best-before date. Examples include canned foods and some frozen products.
Baked-on and packed-on dates
Breads with a shelf life of less than 7 days can have a baked-on date.
Packed-on dates on other foods tell you how long the product’s been sitting on the shop shelf. Including this information isn’t mandatory, but it’s handy for products where freshness is important, such as coffee beans.
Products that deteriorate, such as olive oil, may have a pressed-on or harvested-on date. This information lets you know how old the oil is – the fresher, the better.
For more information about use-by and best-before dates, read our article: Use it or lose it? What the date labels on your food mean.
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