To keep spreadable butter in the cupboard

Not an agenda, just arithmetic. 50% butter means half butter and half “other stuff”.

I’m enjoying the butter snobs on this thread.

Those are additives though. Real butter only contains salt at most, which is a preservative so it doesn’t need to be in the fridge. No oil of any sort

It is NOT butter.
it is a mix of butter, water, oil, and looks like they’ve added a bacteria too- maybe as an emulsifier- who knows why

The reason you need to keep margarine in the fridge is because it has a higher water content than butter. Bacteria need moisture to grow. They find it very difficult to grow in butter as it has a low moisture (water) content- butter is literally 100% fat.
Margarine is an emulsion of fat and water and therefore bacteria will grow in it. Like other high risk foods, it needs to be kept in the fridge to limit bacterial growth.
Margarine does “go off” and it will smell very bad. It can also go mouldy.

You need to keep your margarine in the fridge for food safety reasons.

What brand is it that it is hard if it is kept in the fridge? Lurpak and Country Life can be spread straight from the fridge if you draw the knife across the top to get the butter as a pp explained earlier.

And what kind of bread are you spreading it on?

I buy Lurpak unsalted spreadable. It's just about spreadable from the fridge on robust wholemeal bread (my fridge is not very cold), but I would get it out in advance if I planned to do that. This time of year I get it out in advance and warm the knife. I'd keep it outside the fridge if it got used more regularly - it would easily stay hard enough at this time of year.

I’ve kept spreadable butter out of the fridge for days and it’s been fine. Used up within a certain time frame it won’t go off. Butter is kept in the fridge at supermarkets so it stays fresher longer between delivery time and the time it’s purchased.

Real butter should only be kept out of the fridge in a proper butter dish with a lid, preferably in a relatively cool cupboard.
Margarine/ spread should be kept in the fridge.
That’s my opinion based on the fact that that’s what it says on the storage instructions plus you can tell when it’s been left out because it tastes off. It’s a very particular taste that takes me back to eating sandwiches brought to school that had to sit in my school bag for hours til lunchtime.
Your mil’s out of line though.
If you want to make butter/ marg easier to spread stick the butter knife into a cup of hot water/ tea for a few minutes before you use it.

Apologies - you’re right. I retract my comments about Buttersoft!

I’ll allow a fourth category of fat based spread/dairy based margarines. I would have clumped them in with margarines, but you make a well reasoned argument to be more precise.

By butteresque I meant things that look, feel and act like butter, ie butter, its derivatives and sensible substitutes.

Tesco Butterpak Spreadable - Slightly Salted 500g - Tesco Groceries
Tesco British Salted Block Butter 250G - Tesco Groceries

Buy real butter and use less of it.

Butter - mmm!
Butterpak - why bother?

She doesn't need it explained, FFS. It's her spread, she can have it how she wants it.

Lurpak is gross anyway. Lactic acid

It’s because people are trying to explain to you that you should only leave butter out, not spreadable fake butter, that goes in the fridge.

@FairKoala , it probably wasn't the butter. It's not something somebody eats on its own.

Normal butter - out on the side

Processed butter e.g. lurpak spreadable or anchor spreadable definitely in the fridge. It's supposed to be refrigerated.

Unless the rest of their diets are exactly the same as yours and they are also doing 30-40k steps a day in a physically demanding job I don't think you can say that their conditions are purely down to using butter - in our grandparents day butter was the norm and they were all much skinnier than us!

I expect a sid by side analysis would show that your friends eat a lot more processed or sugary foods than you and do a lot less exercise!!

Rapeseed oil is poison to some people (me included). Plays absolute havoc with my digestive system.

I leave butter for cooking in a dish on the counter and keep butter for sandwiches, etc. in the fridge. I use it straight from the fridge, using tiny slivers which then spreads quite well on bread - cannot bear room temperature butter.

You said

I would then bin the butter if there was a possibility it had been out of the fridge for more than a few hours

I think people call it spreadable butter to differentiate it from other fat spreads because it does contain butter.

I will continue to call it spreadable butter.

Inspired by another thread about butter dishes a few years ago I bought a lovely Le Creuset butter dish to keep butter in out of the fridge, but in the summer our south facing kitchen was too warm so I went back to spreadable "butter", which I keep in the fridge otherwise it would liquefy, and forgot about my lovely butter dish. I must dig it out and go back to block butter.

@willywallaby why do you have spreadable butter if you don't keep it in the fridge? Just use block butter.

@FairKoala , I've got some butter in the kitchen. It's not in the fridge. I opened it in October 2025. It's not deteriorated and will still be edible when I next use it.
Butter does not go off quickly.

Spreadable butter is supposed to spread straight from the fridge and is supposed to be kept in the fridge. I'm pretty sure it says that on the packet .
She is right. But it's your house so it's up to you.

But it might not be just a few hours. It could be days before mil realises.

Then she goes to her fridge expecting the butter to be in the fridge ready and waiting for her toast and there is no butter.

Finding it in a cupboard days later and having to bin it

That would give me the rage.

Whilst moving a dairy item to the fridge might be a an annoyance you still have the butter.

I would be binning your butter next time.