We aim for all of our kits to have Best Before dates of at least 12 months. If you receive a kit with a best before date which is significantly shorter please do get in touch as this is likely to be caused by a stock error and you should be eligible for a replacement.
All of our food & drink kits should have a best before date listed on the packaging. Once the date passes then the quality of the kit will start to decline. In some of our kits (e.g. Gin Infusing, Gin Making, Biltong) this means that the flavour of the ingredients will be less strong so the end result will still be good, but not as tasty as it would have been if it was used straight away. In other kits with active ingredients (e.g. the yeast in our hedgerow wine kit or the rennet in our cheese kits), using a kit which is past its best before date may mean that the kit no longer works as the functional ingredient no longer carries out its role.
For more on the difference between Best Before and Use By dates check out this page from the UK Food Standards Agency.
Tags: best before, use by, expiry, expiration, shelf life