AIBU to think bread bins are totally pointless?

[PrincessJenga]

DP is obsessed with getting a bread bin. He swears it will keep bread fresher than just putting it in the cupboard and that it's more convenient than my tactic of freezing every bread product that enters our home. I don't see the point. Surely they just take up space in the kitchen and make no difference to the bread itself? We can't agree so I said I'd put it to the MN jury.

Breadbin: waste of money or kitchen essential?

We keep bread in the fridge, a habit that started when we lived in a hot country with lots of mice an cockroaches

we've got tea/coffee/sugar pots for the same reason - soul destroying to make your morning cuppa and find a roach in the packet...worse when you don't discover it until after

i just put my bread in the microwave i don't tend to use my microwave often, so it is the perfect storage for my bread, tea, sugar, and coffee

Keeping your bread in the fridge does not keep it fresh. It actually makes it go stale quicker. Refrigeration retards the growth of mould but the bread stales most rapidly at temperatures just above freezing. Staling

OMG bread in the fridge or freezer, that's just insanity. I can only assume the people who do this but sliced bread, you know the type that doesn't actually need chewing and that if you scrunch up it makes a ball of mush?

I worked in a professional kitchen and so old habits die hard and I have a kitchen where everything is to hand. I really can't understand why people want to have everything tucked away especially a kettle! I think the kitchen should be a hub and heart of the house not empty clinical room.

BTW my kitchen is spotless so I am not into mess just that when you actually ruin a product like bread just so it's not on the side I think it's a bit silly!

OMG I didnt even realise people kept bread in their cupboards

Always had a bread bin as long as I remember and im in my 40's

it keeps all the crumbs in one place

YABU

It's handy in our house. Not much cupboard space and a lot of unusable counter space.

Breadbins ming, by the way. They actively turn bread mouldy IME. And they're vile, although presumably rip-off merchants like Conran etc do more 'stylish' ones and make you pay £300 for them.

My bread lives either in the freezer, or hang about next to the toaster no doubt attracting mice. But I hate bread that's more than two days old, so I eat it quick and freeze the rest.

We freeze bread - plain white bread from the bread machine, sliced up and frozen. We don't use it that quickly but it's never fresh after a day or so, so this way we don't have to chuck half the loaf out each time.

It's really only used for toast though, I agree defrosted bread isn't that nice, but toasted from frozen is hardly any different to from fresh.

I don't really like having a bread bin - but where else can you put it?

It doesn't feel safe in a frdge - and it might absorb other food smells.

If you freeze it - how do you break a slice off for toast?

I've just looked in my breadbin.
I found: two crusts in a warburtons packet which DH must have bought last time he was hungover (I can't abide White bread) - covered in mould; the naan breads I was sure I'd bought last time I went shopping (why they're not in the anally organised freezer with the samosas I don't know); a random croissant (very, very stale); and a packet of hot dog buns (am blaming DH again). Can't tell you how green said buns were.

The breadbin and contents have all just gone in the dustbin. Can't be arsed with it (and DH might actually eat up what he buys on his hangover trips to Sainsbury's if he can't hide it anywhere :) )

Damn! The mumsnet jury agrees with me, but I'd totally failed to factor in DP's stubbornness.

ME: Look DP, mumsnet agrees. There are four pages of people here agreeing breadbins are a waste of time and only about three people saying they use theirs.

HIM: That's ridiculous. Of course breadbins aren't a waste of time. Why would they even exist if they didn't keep bread fresh?
ME: Er, so that the companies that make them can make money?
HIM: But breadbins keep the light off bread
ME: [sceptical]
HIM: And, er... er...
ME: Come on, you said I could put it to mumsnet. I did. They agree with me.
HIM: WE ARE HAVING A BREADBIN.

Bugger. Oh well. At least we'll have somewhere to keep plastic bags and we can move the paper clips and elastic bands out of the cutlery drawer and keep them in there too.

What a crap excuse "keeps the light of the bread"?? Really?
Oh and if my DP told me we are HAVING A BREADBIN (did he really shout or were caps for emphasis?) He would have aforementioned container launched at his head!

Honestly, the 'light' was his excuse!

Don't worry though, the caps were for emphasis. DP really is 'D'; he just has some funny ideas about kitchen 'essentials'

Why on earth do you freeze every bread product?

There is a great distruct of bread in your household.

we have one, i dont like how much space it takes up, but there's no where else for bread to live really. my mum has always kept it in the fridge and i like it, but have dolls house sized fridge so can't. bread bin does nothing to keep bread fresh, just gives it a home and collects crumbs.

Haha at 'keeps the light off bread'

What kind of strange Vampire Bread does your DP buy?

To the MNer upthread who says that a kitchen should be cosy and the heart of the home - god no, I want my kitchen to look like a laboratory. I don't do cosy.

Get Orf
I think you are referring to me but I didn't say cosy, no no kitchens shouldn't be cosy! I did say they should be the hub and heart of the home. My kitchen is exceptionally clean and modern but also functional and that means that things are to hand and kettles certainly shouldn't be kept in cupboards.

OP... so your DH has dared to defy the MN jury...

What penance are you going to make him do for going back on his word?

I splurged out on a Wesco Grandy Breadbox, and although aesthetically pleasing, it is totally impractial for my "oooh all the bread is 10p" splurges. i end up balancing loads of baguettes on the top of it. So not beautiful.

Freezing bread is good for sliced, but frozen baguettes are just wrong, wrong, wrong....

Things Wot I have Learned in a lifetime of not using bread up very quickly:

Fresh bread keeps well in the fridge if you put it in a paper bag, then a plastic one; the paper absorbs condensation.

Freezing bread is so OK, most of the fresh bread in supermarkets has been frozen!

Crusty bread that's gone soggy in the fridge/freezer comes up lovely if you sprinkle a very small amount of water on it, then bung it in the oven.
That also works on stale French bread.

Frozen slices of bread thaw out in 5 minutes at room temperature.

Still-frozen sliced bread makes better toast than fresh.

Using a cool box as a bread bin does work, but the bread tends to go mouldy.

Part-baked bread is the answer to all bread-related problems :)

My bread goes straight in the freezer, unless it's a baguette and I'm about to eat it!

I freeze bread because I'm weird particular about freshness. If it's more than a day old, well two at a push, it tastes off to me although that may be just in my head.

For fresh bread I just buy it daily. For bread and bagels that are going to be toasted anyway, the freezer is fine; it goes in the toaster on 'defrost' setting. As for breaking off individual slices, you prise them apart with a knife or whatever. Unsliced bread I slice then freeze.

This is probably my most boring post ever. Yet strangely fascinating too (to me).

microfight - yes I completely made up the cosy bit

I wish more people (especially the people I live with) would agree that the kettle should go in the cupbaord. I DREAM of a kitchen with nothing on the side whatsoever.

Ketle in the cupboard? Never heard the like.