Meats

Three things that weigh over 300 pounds: A male bighorn sheep. A newborn elephant. The amount of food you throw out each year. That's right -- the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimates that, on average, each person in the United States throws out about 328 pounds of edible food each year.

Food bought with the best intentions sits for weeks on end as busy consumers tuck it in the refrigerator and forget about it. And when it seems time to either eat it or toss it, most people rely on the freshness dates ("use by", "sell by," and "best if used by") printed on the packages.

But according to the USDA, these dates don't really guarantee food safety, nor do they mean expired food is always bad. In many cases, you may be throwing food out unnecessarily. And that's hard on your wallet, your conscience, and the aching back of your trash collector.

It pays to know when your family's food is still perfectly good and when you are justified in tossing it. Here, then, is a quick guide to the shelf lives of some of your favorite foods stored in refrigerators set at an optimal 40 degrees.

Poultry, seafood, and ground meats such as hamburger, have the shortest shelf lives. They should be consumed within two days of purchase if stored in the refrigerator. They last up to six months in the freezer. Steak, beef, pork, and other fresh-cut meats last a little longer -- three to five days in the refrigerator and six months in the freezer.

The life of lunch meat depends on whether it's prepackaged or freshly sliced from the supermarket delicatessen. "Vacuum-sealed, prepackaged products generally come with a sell-by or use-by date, but once the product is opened, four days is the longest you should keep these meats," says Catherine Donnelly, PhD, professor of nutrition and food science at the University of Vermont.

Like opened lunch meat packages, fresh deli-cut meat falls into the four-day category. Only buy what you can use in the next few days. The exception is the dry sausages, such as summer sausage or dry salami. Because they're cured, dried, or fermented, they'll last up to three weeks, says Robert Post, PhD, director of USDA's Food Safety Inspection Service Labeling and Consumer Protection Staff.