How long past sell by date?

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mrad

Meat Mopper
Original poster
SMF Premier Member
Sep 27, 2012
288
45
Princeton, MN
I picked up two pre- cut prime ribs at costco today with a "sell by date" of 12-18. these are not the cryo-vac packers but the ones that are cut in half and plastic wrapped. Can I keep these until December 25th, or should I freeze them ?

Has anyone noticed COSTCO's meat quality has gone down the last year? Today was first time in 6 months I found a prime brisket in MN. On th eway home I stopped at a local grocery store and found packer Prime ribs for $8.99 lb. Cut prime ribs for 9.99lb and cut and seasoned for 10.99lb. All looked to be better quality that what i had just purchases at COSTCO for 13.99 lb. They were from SWIFT packaging.
 
I picked up two pre- cut prime ribs at costco today with a "sell by date" of 12-18.
The link that chopsaw chopsaw provided is a good example of how easy it is to get confused when you do your best to pay attention to labels. The X-factor is the temperature of your home fridge, verses the temperature of your garage fridge, because meat (like beer) likes cold temperatures.

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The other thing that most people don't realize is that box beef (aka cases of meat) do not come with individual items that are labeled. The case has the 'pack date' on the box... and when a meatcutter removes items from the case, they print a label and place the meat in the display case.
 
The case has the 'pack date' on the box.
Right . I buy a lot of vac'd primals . They have a pack date and a sell buy date . Beef is sometimes 40 days , and that is still a " sell by " date .
OP mentioned it was store packed , so I would take that into account .
 
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according to my thermopen and a can of beer, my basement fridge is 37 degrees. I turned it to one notch colder.
 
and when a meatcutter removes items from the case, they print a label and place the meat in the display case.
Also, on vac sealed meats, a butcher at Winn-Dixie (no longer in business here) told me that their labeling system limited how far out the "sell by" date could go, so they just took vac sealed stuff in the back and relabeled it with a new "sell by" date if it was still within safe selling limits.
 
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Freeze them. Too many variables out of your control. Cryovacs retard microbe growth, but do not stop it. The cryovac was broken, microbes already introduced prior to packing are now in overdrive, as were any microbes introduced when the cryovac was broken and the ribs cut.
 
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Freeze them, they are good for as long as they smell good when you open them. I just bought a prime rib roast for Christmas, it was vac sucked and dropped in the deep freezer. Take no chances.
 
I bought a standing rib roast on sale and had the same question. They dont put a "best by" or "use by" date, only a "sell by". Most guidelines are for maximum safety because no one want's to be blamed for someone getting sick. FDA guidelines cause a lot of food waste.

But here's the thing, people intentionally leave beef, exposed to air in the refrigerator to dry age it. It even starts to smell funky but its considered "gourmet".

My roast has a sell by date of today. I may go ahead and freeze it for the heck of it. it's a lot of money in a hunk of meat and would hate to discover it smells weird on Christmas Eve when I plan to roast it. My personal belief is that freezing meat also tenderizes it. As the cells expand and some burst, I think it breaks down the tissue some and adds to tenderness. That's a personal belief but I came to this conclusion after bieng shocked to learn that a lot of sashami fish meat is purposely frozen for exactly this reason, a tender bite-through texture. It's actually better than fresh off the bone.
 
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"sell by".
You make valid points . That's mostly used by the store for reordering , so they have a target date . That's one reason I check dates on things , make note of it and come back on that day to see if any are marked down .

My personal belief is that freezing meat also tenderizes it.
I'm with you . I like to season and freeze certain things .

In the case of the original question I would be inclined to freeze .
 
I love vac packed because the info I usually much more clear. Store wraps like that I only go a couple days past sell by and then I either use or freeze.
 
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But here's the thing, people intentionally leave beef, exposed to air in the refrigerator to dry age it
I will air dry (not really dry age) thick steaks for 12 to 24 hours. That's my limit.
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My personal belief is that freezing meat also tenderizes it. As the cells expand and some burst, I think it breaks down the tissue some and adds to tenderness.
I can confirm that slow freezing fish fillets will burst the cells, and change the texture. Flash freezing eliminates this.
 
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