Refrigerate or no?

[George K]

Interesting. Googling around, it seems that bread storage is quite controversial.

• It's fine to freeze!
• It's fine to freeze, but it might taste stale!
• Use a breadbox on the counter
• NEVER wrap in plastic
• Refrigeration makes it taste stale
• Refrigeration is great

Wow.

[jon-nyc]

I freeze fresh bread for a week or so no problem.

I’ll buy a fresh baguette and cut it in quarters and use it for sandwiches. Frozen right after cutting and thaw each section out the morning I’m going to use it.

[mark]

We routinely leave butter out of the refrigerator. After a few weeks, if it has not been consumed, and it starts to turn color, we toss it.

Refrigerate and freeze bread, buns, bagels. But also have a breadbox. When we get more bread then we will consume within a few days, into the refrigerator or freezer.

Eggs are purchased at the grocery store so they stay refrigerated.

[Copper]

Bread and butter both go in the freezer.

Bread moves to the countertop, remaining in the plastic wrap, the day before use.

Butter moves to the refrigerator the day before use.

[Renauda]

We only use butter for baking so when we have it in the house at all, it goes in the fridge.

Bread in a basket on kitchen counter.

[Jolly]

@George-K said in Refrigerate or no?:

@Axtremus we don't go through a lot either. However, the Butter Bell that @jolly recommended worked really well for a couple of weeks. I just kept forgetting/neglecting to fill it

.

Two weeks or maybe a bit more. Since we do about a stick/week, it's a Sunday night routine.

[Jolly]

The bigger question is how you keep your bacon grease....

[Mik]

@Copper said in Refrigerate or no?:

Bread and butter both go in the freezer.

Bread moves to the countertop, remaining in the plastic wrap, the day before use.

Butter moves to the refrigerator the day before use.

I freeze butter too. Buy a bunch when it's on sale.

[Mik]

@Jolly said in Refrigerate or no?:

The bigger question is how you keep your bacon grease....

In a Rubbermaid container in the fridge.

[Axtremus]

@Jolly said in Refrigerate or no?:

The bigger question is how you keep your bacon grease....

Usually just let it sit in a bowl near the stove, sometimes covered.

I rarely have bacon grease to keep, and what little I keep from time to time gets consumed pretty quickly, usually within a week or two of preserving the grease.

[jon-nyc]

@Jolly said in Refrigerate or no?:

The bigger question is how you keep your bacon grease....

I don’t. My mom used to keep it in a mug in the fridge.

[Renauda]

@jon-nyc said in Refrigerate or no?:

@Jolly said in Refrigerate or no?:

The bigger question is how you keep your bacon grease....

I don’t. My mom used to keep it in a mug in the fridge.

We let it set up then soak it in paper then throw the greasy paper in the organic compost bin for garabage pick up every Tuesday.

We have no reason to keep food grease.

[Copper]

@Jolly said in Refrigerate or no?:

The bigger question is how you keep your bacon grease....

My mother used to keep it in a frozen OJ can, in the fridge, the can was mostly made out of cardboard.

That seems kind of odd, now that I think about it.

[jon-nyc]

Also, is it my imagination or does commercial bacon simply not make as much grease as it did years ago? I remember having a pan full of it when done cooking as a youngster.

Now there’s barely a tablespoon or two when I’m done.

[LuFins Dad]

@jon-nyc said in Refrigerate or no?:

Also, is it my imagination or does commercial bacon simply not make as much grease as it did years ago? I remember having a pan full of it when done cooking as a youngster.

Now there’s barely a tablespoon or two when I’m done.

We keep it in a mug next to the stove when we keep it. But I always get a full pan..

[Catseye3]

Butter I keep at room temperature whenever possible, extra bricks in the freezer. I've never had it go rancid, and didn't even know it could get moldy, but it doesn't stay around long enough for mold or rancidity to develop.

Bacon and sausage grease I let cool a bit in the pan, then decant it in an empty food jar, like used to contain jam or something, and keep the jar on the stovetop for handy.

[blondie]

@Jolly This I refrigerate, usually in an old butter or yogurt container.

[jodi]

Stick of butter in the pressed glass butter dish (it has a lid) on the counter. I buy salted, it doesn’t go bad - but we don’t live in a hot and humid place. The rest of the box in the fridge, extras in the freezer. I don’t save bacon grease (we rarely eat bacon, though I sometimes chop it up and sauté it with onions for chicken or pork stew)

[Friday]

Sliced bread and salted butter for spreading stay on the counter. The bread can last a long while at my house. (Three cheers for preservatives!) The only time the butter gets moldy is if somebody leaves crumbs on it.

Whole bread loaves and unsalted butter go in the fridge or freezer.

Old grease is stored under the sink.

I think Jodi may be right in that heat and humidity plays a factor.

[LuFins Dad]

What about cakes with frosting?

That’s the one Karla and I disagree with each other about. She always refrigerates cakes and I think it ruins them…