You are three months from your due date, looking at a two-pack, and doing the sum in your head: will this still be good by the time I need it?
There are three different answers depending on which formula you mean — the sealed tin, the opened tin, or the bottle you just made.
The short version. An unopened tin keeps until the best-before date printed on its base. Once you open it, a HiPP tin keeps three weeks, closed tightly, in a dry cupboard at room temperature — not the fridge. A made-up bottle is the shortest of the three: the tin says give it within half an hour, and Health Canada says that once your baby has started drinking, you have two hours and then it goes.
Unopened: read the base of the tin
The tin tells you where to look. Its own instruction is “Controleer de uiterste gebruiksdatum op de onderkant van het blik” — check the best-before date on the bottom of the tin.
That date is the answer, and it is the only answer. Not the shelf life of formula in general, not what someone posted in a forum — the date on the tin in your hands.
If you are ordering ahead of a birth and the date matters to you, ask us before you order. We would rather answer that than have you guess.
One thing to be careful of: short-date deals. They are a genuinely good way to save money if you are feeding a baby now and will get through the tin quickly. They are not the thing to buy three months before a due date. The discount exists precisely because of the date.
Opened: three weeks, not two
This is the number most people get wrong, and until now that included us.
The HiPP 1 tin states it plainly: “Na opening kan het goed afgesloten blik HiPP 1 BIO Combiotik melkpoeder 3 weken bewaard worden op een droge plaats bij kamertemperatuur.” Once opened, the tightly closed tin keeps for three weeks in a dry place at room temperature.
An earlier version of this page said two weeks. It was not sourced from anything, and the tin says otherwise. We have corrected it.
Two details in that sentence do real work. Tightly closed — the lid properly on, not resting. And dry place at room temperature, which rules out the fridge.
Write the date you opened it on the lid. You will not remember, and three weeks is long enough that the tin outlasts your certainty about when you started it.
Why not the fridge
Because the tin asks for dry, and a fridge is the opposite as far as powder is concerned. Every time the tin comes out and goes back, the cold surfaces meet warmer room air and condensation forms. Moisture is what makes powder clump, and a clumping tin is a tin you cannot measure accurately.
A kitchen cupboard is right. Two places that are not: the garage or a shed, where temperatures swing, and anywhere above the stove or beside a radiator, which fails the room-temperature part.
Use only the scoop that came in the tin — that is on the pack too — and keep it with the powder rather than washing it and putting it back wet.
Made up: the shortest clock of the three
Here the tin and Health Canada give different answers, and the gap is worth understanding rather than averaging.
The tin: “Maak het flesje altijd net voor de maaltijd klaar en geef het direct aan uw baby. Het flesje moet binnen een half uur geconsumeerd worden.” Make the bottle just before the feed, give it immediately, and it must be consumed within half an hour. Leftover milk is not reused.
Health Canada: serve as soon as possible after preparing; once your baby has started feeding, use the bottle within two hours and throw out what is left.
The tin is stricter, and stricter is the easier instruction to follow. If you want one rule, use the tin’s.
Can you make bottles ahead?
Health Canada says yes, with conditions. The tin says no.
Health Canada’s made-ahead protocol is specific: prepare with water that has been boiled for two minutes and cooled to 70 °C, cool the bottle quickly under cold running water, refrigerate at 4 °C or below, and use within twenty-four hours or as specified by the manufacturer. The reason for the 70 °C is that powdered infant formula is not sterile — which is true of every powdered formula made anywhere, not a criticism of any brand.
The tin simply does not offer a made-ahead option. It tells you to make each bottle just before the feed.
So if you are planning night feeds or daycare around bottles made in advance, you are going outside what the pack sanctions, and that is worth knowing before you build a routine on it.
If you do refrigerate a prepared bottle, put it where the fridge is actually coldest rather than in the door — the door is the warmest part and Health Canada’s figure is a ceiling, not an average.
Warming, and what not to do
Health Canada’s guidance is to warm a prepared bottle in a bottle warmer or a container of hot water for no more than fifteen minutes; the longer it sits warm, the more chance bacteria have to grow. Never a microwave — it creates hotspots that can burn your baby’s mouth, and the tin says the same thing.
And do not refrigerate and reuse a bottle you have already warmed.
How far ahead is sensible to buy
Around 36 weeks is a reasonable point to have a two-pack in the cupboard. Early enough that a fast labour does not catch you out, late enough that you are not sitting on it for a season.
Earlier is fine if it settles your mind — the unopened dates are long enough that this is rarely the real risk. The stronger argument against buying at 28 weeks is not expiry, it is that you do not yet know whether this formula suits your baby, and there is no way to know until they have tried it.
Our smallest size is a two-pack, and four-packs ship free. If the formula turns out not to suit your baby, our satisfaction guarantee means we will help you find one that does. It is also worth knowing how many bottles a tin actually makes before you decide how much to buy.
If it arrives and something looks wrong
Check the tin when it lands rather than putting it straight in a cupboard. A damaged seal, a dented tin, or a date sooner than you expected are all worth raising on the day it arrives rather than discovering at the first feed. Get in touch and we will deal with it.
Common questions
How long does an opened tin of formula last?
Three weeks on HiPP 1, kept tightly closed in a dry place at room temperature. That figure is printed on the tin. Check your own pack if you use another brand or stage — we have only read the HiPP 1 Dutch tin.
Can you keep formula powder in the fridge?
No. The tin asks for a dry place at room temperature, and a fridge introduces condensation every time the tin goes in and out.
How long can a made-up bottle sit out?
The tin says half an hour and to make it just before the feed. Health Canada says that once your baby has started drinking, use it within two hours and discard the rest.
Can I make bottles up the night before?
Health Canada permits it with the 70 °C method, rapid cooling, the fridge at 4 °C or below and use within twenty-four hours. The HiPP tin does not offer a made-ahead option at all.
Where is the expiry date on the tin?
On the base. The tin tells you to look there.
How do I read a European best-before date?
European tins print the date day-first: 14.03.2027 means 14 March 2027, not the 3rd of the 14th month. The date on a HiPP tin is a best-before date, not a hard expiry — but for infant formula, treat it as the date you stop using the tin.
I’m three months from my due date. Is it too early to order?
No, but a two-pack is enough. There is no advantage to a stockpile, and a real disadvantage if the formula turns out not to suit your baby.
Sources and references
Tin photographed and read 12 September 2026. Health Canada fetched and read 10 September 2026.
- HiPP 1 BIO Combiotik, 800 g, Dutch-language pack, code NL/472-03 — storage and preparation panel as printed on the tin.
- Health Canada, Preparing and handling powdered infant formula