To have a whole fridge shelf for condiments/jars?

Do they not use a jam spoon?! (Which can be an ordinary teaspoon but any one you use to obtain jam from the pot without needing to stick the buttery knife in)

Ok, well my tomato sauce lasts months. I can’t imagine using a bottle of tomato sauce in thirty days.

Tell him to sod off

Yup, sounds like mine too - pesto is the only thing I keep a watching brief on 😉

YANBU but I keep most of these in the fridge door rather than a shelf

We have

Mayo
Concentrated stock paste
Thai red curry paste
Harissa
Oyster sauce
Sweet chilli sauce (never used, we use sriracha instead)
Vietnamese dipping sauce
Cornichons
Apricot jam (bought for an apple tart which I never made, DH opened it so now it’s sitting pointlessly in the fridge)
Redcurrant jelly
Raspberry jam
Marmalade
Mango chutney
Red onion jam (actually nobody uses this, should get rid)
Ketchup
Mustard grainy and smooth
Ginger paste
Horseradish
Tahini (has probably gone off)
Jarred artichokes
Stem ginger (used for one specific cake recipe. Should probably make it just to get the space back…)

Clearly a few we could get rid of…

A year is nothing! It's only just starting to mature by then!

Here i have found my people.

My friend has 4 condiments in her fridge and no sauces, jars, pastes, spreads . . . and she thinks i'm the weird one.

At the last count I had 35.

I have a colleague that follows these religiously. If she opens biscuits in the break room, she’ll label the date they were opened and has a weekly clear out of any such items.

She told us about throwing out a wheel of speciality cheese she was gifted at Christmas because one of her children had unwrapped it to have a look without telling her and she “just couldn’t risk it” because it was use within 3 days.

Seems crazy to me.

Do people write on the date when they open a product?
We very occassionally do for passatta, when we put in the fridge but I wouldn't for eg tomato ketchup, or jam, or condiments. I couldnt tell you how old most of them are. Even in months and certainly not days!
I know there's a bottle of teriyaki sauce thats probably a year old because DD brought it back from uni, having bought near the beginning of term last year

Yes if it lasts that long

If he doesn’t do the cooking, he has no say whatsoever. Tell him you will get rid of them if he prepares a two week meal plan which shows you don’t need them.

That said, I do think a house move is a great opportunity for a clear out. Start with his mancave/garage/shed/office wherever he stores all his crap important things.

Thank you for this thread. I have found my people.

Jams these days need to be refrigerated after opening.

@sashh This is true, I think it is because they try to put in less sugar.

Mostly not. Obviously look carefully at them and give them a sniff, but I would say you can trust your eyes and nose better than a date on a label

DH takes up half the fridge with his condiments. It drives me nuts. they are preserved in vinegar and oil and brine precisely so they don't need to be refrigerated. Meanwhile I have to stack meat and fish and veg and butter and cheese and leftovers into tottering piles

If you have the cupboard space. Things that are used less often work their way to the back of the cupboard then sit there going mouldy.

Jams these days need to be refrigerated after opening.

Our top shelf of the fridge is almost entirely condiments as well...but there are also several bottles in the door as well!

I check them when I clean the fridge, but dont stick rigidly to best before dates. Ive just checked the ketchup, it says consume within 8 weeks. Im the only person in the house that eats it (not particularly regularly) , I'm sure a bottle easily lasts me a year!

Jams and chutneys don't need to go in the fridge, that's the whole point of them. The vinegar or sugar preserves the fruit or veg so they can be stored at room temp. And yes I know jam gets mould on it sometimes but that just means you should be eating it faster. Never had mould on marmalade.

Your husband is a monster. Of course you need all those in your fridge. What is a fridge for if not for condiments, opened jars of preserves and cheese?

Re: pesto - if you wipe the empty top of jar clean with a bit of kitchen roll and cover the remaining pesto with a layer of olive oil it doesn't spoil.

Re: harissa - if you've got an open jar mouldering away, you aren't using it nearly enough! I go through buckets of the stuff. It's great in scrambled eggs

Home made jam is more likely to go mouldy if it’s in the fridge. Soy sauce, chilli sauces, like Tabasco and Sriracha don’t need to go in the fridge either.

Branston and home made chutneys don’t need to go in the fridge.

That sounds like a shelf in my fridge. All of those are useful and are regularly used. I don't see an issue.

@CAMHShelpdo you throw your tomato sauce etc out after twenty nine days?

But they are absolutely crammed with salt. I’ve got a whole shelf of condiments etc too. I’d be bankrupt if I threw them away after 29 days.