How to Stop Food Expiring on Your Food Bank Shelves?

Record the date on every item as it arrives, store and pack oldest-first, and get an early warning for anything approaching its date — early enough to put it into this week's parcels. Know the difference between the two dates, too: food past its use-by date must not be given out, but food past its best-before date usually can be, if it's been stored properly and is in good condition.

Why does food expire at food banks?

Not because anyone is careless. Donated food arrives with a spread of dates, sometimes already close to them — short-dated stock is exactly what supermarkets and manufacturers pass on as surplus. It's sorted by volunteers in batches, shelved wherever there's room, and packed by whoever is on shift. Newer tins end up in front of older ones, and a crate of yoghurts with three days left looks the same as one with three weeks.

Every item that expires on the shelf is food a donor gave for a family, now headed for the bin — and a missed chance to stretch your stock further.

Can a food bank give out food past its best-before date?

Often, yes. The two dates mean different things:

•         Use-by is about safety. The UK government's food labelling guidance says "eating food after the use-by date could make you ill". Food can only be eaten after its use-by date if it was cooked or frozen on or before that date (GOV.UK: best before and use-by dates). A food bank should never give out food past its use-by date.

•         Best-before is about quality. "After the best before date, the food is usually safe to eat but may not be of the same quality" (same source). WRAP, the UK's food waste charity, states that "all food with a Best Before date can be sold, redistributed and consumed after that date" (WRAP, 2020).

WRAP's redistribution guidance, developed in consultation with the Food Standards Agency and Defra, suggests how long common foods can be redistributed past their best-before date if stored correctly:

Source: WRAP, 2020. WRAP published updated surplus food redistribution guidance in December 2024; check it for the latest windows.

These are guides, not guarantees. Packaging must be intact, food must have been stored as the label says, and it should look and smell right. Many food banks also tell households when an item is past its best-before date. If in doubt, ask your local authority's environmental health team, and set a written policy your volunteers can follow.

How do food banks usually check expiry dates?

At many small food banks, expiry checking is a shelf walk:

1.       Donations are sorted into categories (tins, pasta, cereal, toiletries), often without noting dates.

2.       Once a week or before a session, a volunteer walks the shelves and pulls anything close to its date.

3.       Short-dated items go into a "use first" crate, or straight into that day's parcels.

4.       Anything past its use-by date is binned. Anything past best-before is decided case by case, depending on who's on shift.

Some food banks add a "best before" column to their stock spreadsheet. That only helps if every donation is dated when it arrives — and a single row for "chopped tomatoes" can't hold five batches with five different dates.

What goes wrong?

•         Short-dated food is found too late. A weekly walk catches an item with two days left; a warning two weeks ahead would have got it into parcels with time to spare.

•         Good food is thrown away by mistake. Without a clear policy, volunteers bin food that's past best-before but perfectly fine, because the date looks scary.

•         Unsafe food slips through. Without dates recorded, a use-by item can reach a parcel unnoticed.

•         Rotation depends on who stacked the shelf. New stock goes in front of old, and the older batch keeps getting older.

•         You can't report on waste. Funders and donors may well ask how much food was saved and how much was lost. A shelf walk leaves no record.

How can a food bank prevent food from expiring?

A routine that works with or without software:

1.       Write a date policy. One page: never give out food past its use-by date; the best-before windows you accept for each food type; who decides in borderline cases; and whether you tell households when food is past its best-before.

2.       Date stock as it arrives. Note the earliest date in each batch at intake, and write it large on the crate or shelf label so packers can see it at a glance.

3.       Store oldest-first. Shelve new stock behind old (first in, first out). It's simple, but only works if everyone does it, so make it part of volunteer induction.

4.       Set warning times by food type. Bread needs a warning days ahead; tins need it weeks ahead. One fixed warning period for everything means either too many alerts or too few.

5.       Pack short-dated food first. Build each session's parcels from the "use first" list before touching newer stock.

6.       Redistribute what you can't use. If you have more short-dated stock than parcels, pass it to a partner pantry, community fridge or another food bank in time.

7.       Record what's lost. A simple log of what was thrown away, and why, shows where your process is leaking.

What should you look for in expiry tracking software?

How does FoodBank360 help prevent food expiry?

•         Expiry alerts you control. FoodBank360 flags stock approaching its expiry date. You decide how far ahead each alert fires, based on how quickly the item moves and how easy it is to replace.

•         Low-stock alerts alongside. The same stock list warns you when an item is running low, so you see what to use first and what to reorder together.

•         Parcels drawn from live stock. Issuing a parcel takes its items out of stock, and Calculate Stock shows how many parcels you can build — useful for planning how quickly short-dated items can go out.

•         Transfers between sites. If you run more than one location, you can move stock to the site that will use it first.

•         Stock adjustments. Items removed after a check can be recorded as an adjustment, so the count stays right.

One honest limit: adjustments don't yet carry a separate "expired" or "damaged" reason, so FoodBank360 can't yet produce a waste report on its own. It can be added on request.

Expiry and low-stock alerts are part of the Full plan, at £114.99 a month plus VAT, with unlimited users. See pricing →

Food expiry FAQs

Can food banks accept food past its best-before date? Yes, in most cases. Best-before is a quality guide, not a safety date, and WRAP's guidance says food with a best-before date can be redistributed after it. Check the packaging is intact and the food has been stored correctly, and follow your own written policy.

Can food banks give out food past its use-by date? No. Use-by is a safety date. The only exception in government guidance is food that was frozen or cooked on or before its use-by date. Food banks that freeze donations should follow WRAP's labelling guidance for frozen surplus food.

What is FIFO at a food bank? First in, first out: shelving and packing the oldest stock first, so newer donations don't push older ones past their date. It works best when dates are visible on shelf labels, not just on the packs.

How far ahead should we get expiry warnings? It depends on the food and how fast it moves. Bread may need a warning a couple of days ahead; tins you give out monthly may need weeks. Set the warning for each item rather than one rule for everything.

What should we do with short-dated food we can't use in time? Offer it to a nearby pantry, community fridge or food bank before it reaches its date, and record that it went.

Catch short dates before they become waste

Book a free demo and we'll show you how expiry and low-stock alerts work alongside your parcels in FoodBank360.

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