About a week. Opened bacon keeps for roughly 7 days in the fridge, while an unopened package is good until the printed date.
Bacon's cure — salt, nitrates, and sometimes sugar — buys it more fridge time than plain raw pork, but it isn't a preservation trick with unlimited shelf life. Once the package is open, the clock starts.
What changes the timeline is whether the package has been opened, whether the bacon is raw or already cooked, and how tightly it's resealed after each use.
An unopened, vacuum-sealed package of bacon generally stays good until the "sell by" or "use by" date on the label, sometimes a bit beyond it if it's stayed cold the entire time. Once you break the seal, plan on using it within about 7 days, stored at 40°F (4°C) or colder. The curing process — salt plus nitrates or nitrites — slows bacteria growth compared with plain raw pork, but it doesn't stop it entirely.
Already-cooked bacon lasts 4 to 5 days in a sealed container in the fridge. Let it cool before storing it, and keep it away from raw meats on the shelf so juices can't cross-contaminate. Cooked bacon also freezes well for about a month if you want it to last longer.
Toss bacon that smells sour or ammonia-like, feels slimy or sticky, or has turned gray or greenish instead of its normal pink-and-white. Slight darkening at the edges from oxidation isn't automatically spoilage, but any off smell is a hard stop. Mold, even a small spot, means the whole package goes in the trash.
If a week won't be enough, freeze bacon instead — it holds good quality for about a month in the freezer and stays safe indefinitely at 0°F (-18°C), though flavor and texture decline the longer it's frozen. Layering strips with parchment paper before freezing makes it easier to peel off just what you need without thawing the whole pack.
Bacon's cure slows spoilage but doesn't stop it. Use opened bacon within a week, and freeze it the day you know you won't get to it in time.
Eventually, but an unopened, properly sealed package is usually fine until the date printed on the label, sometimes a little beyond it if it stayed cold the whole time.
Sometimes, if it's still sealed and was refrigerated the whole time — check smell and texture carefully first. Once it's open, don't push much past 7 days.
Strained bacon grease keeps about 3 months in the fridge or up to a year in the freezer, stored in a sealed container away from light.
No. Sliminess is a reliable sign of bacterial growth, even if the smell still seems fine. Throw it out.