Quick answer
Rotate food by the date and handling conditions that determine its usable life, not by delivery order alone. A later delivery can expire sooner. Keep opened products identifiable, check the relevant instructions and make the next item to use obvious without compromising safe storage.
Do not assume arrival order equals use order
First-in, first-out is a useful organising habit, but it can fail when deliveries have different dates or products are opened at different times. A later case may need to be used earlier than an older one. Read the actual labels and apply your food-safety procedure.
Treat use-by dates and quality-related best-before dates differently. Do not serve food beyond its use-by date, and do not use appearance or smell to overrule a safety decision. Where a product has an instruction after opening, that may create an earlier limit than the unopened date.
Further reading: GOV.UK: Food and drink waste hierarchy
Make the next item visible without mixing products
Within an appropriate storage area, place the next approved item to use where staff naturally reach for it. Keep product identity, allergen information and batch details attached. Do not decant several differently dated batches into one unlabelled container merely to make the shelf look tidy.
GOV.UK's storage guidance covers protection from contamination, separation and identification. Those requirements still apply when you rearrange stock. A use-first basket is only useful if it remains suitable for the food and does not create confusion between raw and ready-to-eat products.
Further reading: GOV.UK: Storing and transporting food
Use a small date check at the right moments
Check date order when goods arrive, when a pack is opened and before the next order is placed. These moments catch different problems. Receiving reveals unexpectedly short dates; opening establishes the relevant opened-product information; ordering prevents another case being bought while usable stock is overlooked.
Use an original example: two unopened tubs from Monday have a Friday use-by date. A Wednesday delivery contains tubs dated Thursday. The Wednesday tubs need attention first, even though they arrived later. If an already opened tub has an earlier approved use limit, that takes priority where the food remains suitable.
The count needs a quantity as well as a date. Knowing that one tub expires soon is different from knowing that twelve do. Record any commercial follow-up with the supplier separately; a disputed credit does not change whether the food may be used.
Product/batch | Quantity | Unopened date | Opened date if relevant | Applicable use limit | Storage location | Next action | Owner
Make surplus decisions while there is still time
If the quantity will not be used within the approved period, decide early whether an appropriate menu adjustment, supplier return or approved freezing process is possible. Do not wait until the last shift and leave staff to improvise.
GOV.UK's freezing guidance states that fresh food should be frozen before its use-by date and labelled. Suitability and the full process still need to be covered by your own food-safety system. Freezing is not a way to rescue food whose safety is already uncertain, and changing a label is not evidence that storage life has been extended safely.
Further reading: GOV.UK: Chilling and freezing food
Investigate repeated short-life waste
Look for the recurring cause: an order too large for demand, a supplier date that does not meet your agreed needs, poor shelf visibility or several open packs of the same item. Record the cause before choosing the remedy.
The café waste discussion linked below highlights uncertainty about which products were added or left from earlier service. Clear batch identity and an agreed date routine address that uncertainty at its source. They do not require staff to remember the age of every tray.
Review one shelf with a team member and ask them to identify the next item to use and explain why. If the answer depends on the owner being present, improve the labels or instructions. The aim is a decision the next shift can make correctly from the information in front of it.
Unpickle's repeating tasks can prompt the stock review, and house knowledge can explain your approved rotation procedure. Your team remains responsible for checking product dates and food safety. Keep date checks and instructions together.