If you bought a fresh bakery loaf with no preservatives, you’ve got 1 to 2 days after that date. Maybe three if you keep it in a paper bag. But it’s going to turn into a hockey puck fast. You can revive it, but that’s a different coffee chat.
Store-bought, plastic-wrapped bread? That’s the superhero. It can last 5 to 7 days past the date, easy. Preservatives are basically tiny time travelers. They hold off the mold army for a while.
But here’s the catch: don’t trust the calendar. Trust your senses. If it smells like a musty basement, it’s over. If it’s hard as a rock, that’s not mold—that’s just a rock you can still eat.
