Use by dates

[sue11]

How rigidly does everyone stick to use by dates on food that is consumed in your home? I ate a lemon fool desert last night with a use by date of 11 March and my other half ate a yoghurt with a use by date of 27th February! Note that we do not normally eat food that much out of date, but they both looked and smelt absolutely fine, they also tasted good.
There was a programme on a few years ago in which the presenter, I think it was Monty Don, tested various foods past their use by dates over a period of days and got up to a good 2 to 3 weeks past the dates. He lab tested all types of food including meats and dairy and found that none had any problems, the worst sample was some mince that had gone green in colour. but fried up to look and smell just the same as a fresh batch. The results of the lab test showed it was absolutely fine as the heating process had killed off all the nasty bugs that could have given food poisoning. I know that heating food past a certain temperature does kill off lots of nasty bugs so I do not worry too much about using food a few days past the use by dates.
Do you all throw away food that as soon as it reaches it's use by date or do you not worry if it goes a few days beyond?

[Booldawg]

I once ate a Scotch egg that was made in the Edwardian period.

[TheOtherHalf]

Ive still got an unopened M & S Xmas cake to be used by 5 Feb. Im going to be eating it at Easter after redecorating it.
I usually go by the smell of things. You can smell if something is off. I try to use everything up in bits and drabs if I can as these days you cannot afford to throw too much out.