Slate had an interesting article on this topic not all that long ago. It's here. And, for the record, the author recommends following the same approach as the Slate writer.

Perhaps it's why I'm still alive, but my partner is the kind that will toss milk the minute the expiration date arrives. With that comes an amazing sense that tells him when something needs to be tossed. All that said, I don't even bother reheating something I know will cause more discussion than eating.

The sniff-test is my rule of thumb, and I am very strict about it (no "well it smells aaaaalmost fine"), but I'm sure I've never let something go without eating it longer than maybe eight days. And I always reheat very well, to hopefully kill anything that's begun to lurk. I haven't gotten sick yet, nor accidentally killed a roommate!

The historic record shows that my preferred method is to keep looking dolefully at the dubious item, thinking I might eat it later, until any reasonable person would agree it's past being safely edible.

Yes, my refrigerator always contains a few dubious items that are aging.

Honestly, I pull off moldy parts (of jam, bread, salsa...) and eat the rest. It grosses out my boyfriend, since there are still mold tendrils in the food, but I don't care. If it smells fine and tastes fine, I don't care.

And the only times I've gotten food poisoning were from cafeteria food when I was a kid, so it can't be all that bad!

My obvious response when asked about eating questionable food, "Hey, I got health insurance."

I'm pretty adventurous when it comes to this stuff. My schedule can be hectic and unpredictable, and I hate wasting food, so leftovers often linger longer than planned in my refrigerator. I've successfully used milk more than two weeks past its expiration date: it didn't look or smell bad, so why waste it? And nope, I didn't get sick. If something looks or smells off, I'll toss it, but tend not to use time as an arbitrary criteria.

My grandmother is 85 and from the old school. Something has to be completely rotten for her to not use it. She claims that expiration dates were invented for manufacturers to sell more food, since they weren't around when she was a kid. Arguments about advances in microbiology don't phase her; she simply says "I've been eating this stuff for years and look how healthy I am!" She's right. She's the most active, healthy, independent 85-year-old I know, so maybe she has a point.

I pretty much follow Emma's approach, and the only time I've had food poisoning has been at catered events (at least 3 times), a restaurant (once), and my mother-in-law's cooking (once).

I find that purchased items are fine most of the time--they're usually so processed. The reason catered food, a restaurant's buffet food, and my mother-in-law's food all made me sick--I'm certain--is because they make big batches and then don't cool them down in a water bath before putting them in the refrigerator. I read that big pots can take many hours to get below 40 degrees if not chilled thoroughly in a water bath.

Seven days? Leftovers get 3 days in my house. Maybe 5 if they are vegan (like beans).

Ingredients last as long as they last. Veggies till they wilt/there is no chance for revival, meat till it turns color or picks up an off smell (though I will 99% of the time freeze to preserve before it gets there). Milk till it turns. Cheese lasts till hell freezes over as long as there is still some left after I cut off the wonky bit.

In my house growing up if it didn't have an oder it wasn't suppose to and wasn't growing fur we ate it. Result - Cast iron stomach.

Strictly in the "leave it until there's no question and then throw it out" camp.

I have never met a container of dairy that didn't last for at least three or four days after it's expiration date.

I don't like leaving anything sitting in the fridge for more than a few days, so I try not to buy too much at once and always eat/use up leftovers to avoid throwing too much in the compost.

Hee! I just purged my pantry cupboard of outdated canned goods, including a couple of bulging cans of tomato sauce. My husband was horrified to find a can of lentil soup that expired six months before I ever met him. We've been married 15 years.

I just shrugged and pointed out that I haven't poisoned either of us yet. :)

My spouse and I got salmonella poisoning (along with my sister and mother), from some chicken at a wedding reception, of all places, so we're both very hesitant about food that is questionable. Not that you can get salmonella from milk past its date, but once you've been *that* sick from a food item, you start looking at food differently. Before the poisoning, both of us were very lenient about our "good enough to eat" standards. Now that we had salmonella and lived to tell the tale (which, while you're experiencing it, is something you think you'll never do...you swear you are dying at least 10 to 15 times an hour for the first few days), we tend to watch things carefully, we label leftovers, and if we even question something a little, it gets pitched. It also makes us more diligent about only using what we need and puts pressure on us to use leftovers in time (instead of letting them lurk around because we feel like going out to eat.) Salmonella poisoning was a humbling experience.

I'm with the 85-year-old grandma! Trust your senses, not the date on the package.

Starches are more of a breeding ground for bad critters (mmm--sugar to eat!), so I toss leftover rice and beans sooner than I would anything else--usually within 5 or 6 days, though I just ate some 8-day-old beans, and I'm still fine. Cooked meat lasts a surprisingly long time--a hunk of beef can be fine for much more than a week.

And almost everything will be absolutely fine if you heat it up thoroughly before eating it, to kill anything that might've gotten a toehold.

I have been known to scrape mold off salsa, especially in an expat situation, where I couldn't get more. Acidic foods are pretty resilient.

But I _think_ I might've made myself sick from eating moldy cheese once, although I still find it hard to believe. There were many other factors at work that time...

I usually will eat it unless it smells or tastes like it shouldn't: except with milk.
I have been known to throw out cheese that is moldy and if I find a tiny piece of mold on a piece of bread I've been known to throw out the loaf. This is probably more of a psychological thing and I think it's really wasteful and feel guilty: as a result, I hardly ever buy bread or items I had done that to more than once.

In general though I hate to waste food. My partner is even more picky than I am, he won't eat fully cooked meat even the next day claiming leftovers make him nervous. I try to cook erring on the side of too little than too much and don't buy stuff that's gone bad before (like loaves of bread) unless I don't have time to make a smaller portion.

Meat usually gets frozen or eaten within a few days, dairy is usually gone before it has a chance. The only thing aside from leftovers in our fridge is questionable beer - which I will drink even if it's past the date - unless it's really gross. I will let veggies rot before I will throw them out; don't tell the boy but I will even soak greens or "wilted" looking veggies to see if they can be revived. I should add that our fridge is old and gets very cold no matter what setting we have it on so veggies get frozen fairly quickly.

"needs more ketchup"

I always tell my husband that the nice thing about dairy foods is that they let you know when they've gone bad (smell)...I agree that most dairy foods will last well past their stated expiration dates.

I will absolutely scrape mold off of salsa, spaghetti sauce, cheese, bread, whatever.

And I agree with the commenter above who noted that acidic things blessedly fight off the mold for ages...

Usually I go by the smell test. I have a very sensitive nose. :) Plus, many of the things in my fridge aren't commercially packaged...I have to be super careful about labeling.

When I know things are getting past their prime, I sometimes will just toss them in the freezer, so I don't stress about eating it right away. And I always smell the milk even if it's before the use-by date.

Unopened yogurts go for months. I figure it's already off.

I'm also blase about homemade chicken stock, which I reheat to boiling but otherwise let hang around for weeks.

But somebody told me once that if there's mold anywhere on a baked good, it means there are spores throughout so I throw away the whole thing.

The only time I've gotten sick was from beans. I used to make big batches to use throughout the week. Now I make smaller batches and let them go after 5 days, no matter what they look or smell like.

Tomatos are dangerous if they spoil so I don't give those leftovers much time. Otherwise, I give things five days for me and about four for my boyfriend whose stomach is more finicky.

Expiration dates take into account the possibility that the food wasn't properly handled during transportation, be it from the backroom of the store to the front, or from the store to your house. Keeping this in mind, I use the sniff test.

The big med school test question is always about moldy things in the tropics (here's looking at you Floridians) causing hepatocellular carcinoma. The substance produced by the mold, Aspergillus spp., is called aflatoxin. It goes into the cells of the liver and changes bases in the DNA.

More info here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aflatoxin
"Virtually all sources of commercial peanut butter in the United States contain minute quantities of aflatoxin" yummy.

tl;dr some molds cause liver cancer, so careful with the moldy stuff