"In fact, it's totally fine to eat a product even well after its so-called expiration date."
Not so, unless lost nutrition and bad flavor are totally fine. Americans eat a lot of moldy nuts, rancid olive oil, and stale coffee. Just Google for the expert opinions on these foods, and compare to what you read on the label of any mainstream, high-volume product on the shelves.
I'd say consuming stale coffee is totally fine. The only certain way (that I'm aware of) to get coffee that won't be stale is to grind the beans just before use, and I certainly do not have patience for that. I buy packaged coffee even if my hipster-y friends disapprove.
For a regular coffee drinker, a far more useful way to improve the taste of coffee is to remember to wash the pot of the coffee machine more regularly.
The clock starts ticking on coffee as soon as it's roasted (green beans last a long time). Grinding accelerates the degradation as more of the coffee is exposed to oxygen (nitrogen flushed containers help here). Coffee off its peak isn't harmful, but is less flavorful.
I get where you're coming from, but do yourself a favor and just get a decent burr grinder and a bag of the whole bean variety of whatever brand you are buying. Trust me, you'll learn to deal with the extra minute in your morning routine.
Cheese is best after the expiration date, if it's 2+ of blue, unpasteurised and soft. I only buy cheese from the reduced shelves, when it's less than half price because its use by date is today - this gets me tasty cheese, and helps limit my consumption (since on the average visit, there's no reduced cheese available).
Not recommended: buying your cheddar this way. That tends to go a bit hard and crispy. Always found that unappealing.
Also not recommended: using this purchasing strategy with raw oysters.
Since I live somewhere now where I can't get sharp provolone, I get the stuff the supermarket sells and leave it out on the counter for a month before I eat it. It tastes much better that way.
Not so, unless lost nutrition and bad flavor are totally fine. Americans eat a lot of moldy nuts, rancid olive oil, and stale coffee. Just Google for the expert opinions on these foods, and compare to what you read on the label of any mainstream, high-volume product on the shelves.