To say that people who put their tomato sauce/ketchup in the fridge are plain wrong.

[Salmotrutta]

They just are.

There is no need.

Similarly, the deluded people who put eggs in the fridge are wrong.

Eggs are best left at room temperature.

Fact.

And don't get me started on butter...

My ketchap says that it has to be refrigerated. I obey.

Oooh SummerHouse that sounds nice. I do like a vinegary ketchup. Which tend to be the cheaper makes I find the more expensive ones seem to favour a more tomatoey taste. Weirdos.

I watched something on TV that said ketchup and jams do not need to be kept in the fridge, only relishes.

Never put ketchup in the fridge until I lived with DH, now he fills it with all sorts of stuff and it drives me barmy.

Exactly moln!

And dp thinks I an the weird one with my ketchup nest.

When we are partaking of ketchup of an unknown brand dp will ask if its nice and I might say "yes, its a really cheap one."

I have never liked tomatoes. Yuck!

koala a few years ago I'd have laughed too. But after watching several nonogenarians really struggle with food - dodgy eyesight and a diminished sense of smell aren't your friend for working out what is off or not. I'd actually be very relieved if mine were so rigorous.

Lurker they are in their 50's and have done it for the past 30 years!

It's complete madness. This isn't about food hygiene as much as it is about them not being capable of breaking a supposed 'rule'.

Yes all sauces are kept in the fridge along with eggs. The Tabasco type sauces i leave out though..

And why, well because we having been hitting temperatures of about 36 degrees and my food cupboard get warm inside. When your candles have melted, i reckon its reason enough to keep as much as possible cold.

And then there is the other reason, the bottle that was put back into the cupboard opened, a while later probably months as we don't eat it that often the tomato sauce came out of the cupboard and when we opened it, it was BUBBLING!

I have a house with an old pantry, perfect for ketchup keeping.

It doesn't matter how people choose to run their lives. It is rude to call people names or adopt misplaced smuggery over your condiment storage solutions. You are not a laidback, stick it to da man rebel because you stick your awful tasting ketchup in a cupboard instead of a fridge.

The only thing I have used to make the decision is a comment my microbiologist friend once made. He is a laidback chap re best before/use by dates but does maintain that ketchup needs refrigerating for a reason. Once upon a time it was fine but nowadays, it has a different composition and can harbour bacteria. It's a choice to avoid a stomach upset, not a blind following of pointless rules. He said something about bagged salad too but I've tried to block that out...

Two thirds of the top shelf of my fridge are taken up by red sauce, mayo, horseradish, tartar, mustard, chutney, pickles, mayo, brown suave, guacamole sauce, jam and marmalade.
Anything slightly saucy once opened lives in the fridge.

I had no idea the ketchup label says to refrigerate it. Ketchup and HP both go in the cupboard here, and a bottle lasts way more than 8 weeks.

My parents do keep it in the fridge and insist they always have. I insist that they used to keep it in the cupboard though, as surely if I'd grown up with it in the fridge, I'd have done the same when I left home!

You don't actually need to keep wine in the fridge but I do .
I have two huge fridges. I use them as storage for all , cans, bottles, cartons and opened jars. None of these need to be chilled but it won't harm them.

Marmite and Nutella are only the 2 wet things that once opened don't get stored in the fridge in our house.

Everything else once opened goes in the fridge, I thought that was common sense?

Oh lord. I have read the bubbling comment and the bacteria comment and...

I can taste a weird difference between refrigerated and cupboard ketchup. Stored In a cupboard stuff tastes nasty and 'off' also I thought tomato based products were supposed to be refrigerated.

Relish, mayonnaise, salad dressing and salad cream in fridge. Ketchup and mustard in cupboard. Purely because they taste weird and wrong if they're really cold. I do usually take notice of food labels but ketchup from the cupboard hasn't killed me yet.

But Summerhouse - you have put the ketchup in the bit for cheese.

I bet that's wrongness on all sorts of levels.

I don't give a shiny what anyone else does with their condiments, but mine stay in the cupboard, apart from Mayo which is in the fridge.

That said, ketchup is revolting and only eaten by teen DS and he expressly says he doesn't want it in the fridge.

I too want to see the research and statistics into ketchup related deaths before I change anything.

Eggs are best in the fridge, but need to be taken out prior to using, which means it's usually easier to just keep them out.

salmo my fridge is a bit of a dictator.... Eggs here (even though they don't go in the fridge), salad here, cheese here etc... NO FRIDGE! I will say what goes where. I am getting one over on him with this ketchup lark.

I had a bottle of ketchup go off within 2 weeks once. Proper manky mouldy. Admittedly I was in a warmer country at the time but mine goes in the fridge now...

I used to have friends who would make fun of me for keeping coffee in the fridge. I always used to say to them, "But that's what it says on the packet!" (which it did) but they just ignored me. Admittedly, I don't keep it in the fridge any more and there have been no adverse effects.

We keep ketchup in the cupboard, though.

DS gets through a bottle of ketchup a week.

Coffee doesn't go off, it just doesn't taste as good if not properly stored.

The following is from the Heinz website:

Q: Do I need to refrigerate Ketchup? A: Because of its natural acidity, Heinz® Ketchup is shelf-stable. However, its stability after opening can be affected by storage conditions. We recommend that this product, like any processed food, be refrigerated after opening. Refrigeration will maintain the best product quality after opening.

Yoghurt doesn't have best before dates, it has use by dates and has to be kept chilled. So I don't think your programme can have been about non-long life yoghurt, themummyonthebus.

I don't understand the competitive laxness over food hygiene. Keeping things cold slows down bacteria growth. Keep it in the cupboard, bacteria will grow faster. I prefer not to have to finish the bottle in a week or to eat it when it tastes odd so I keep it in the fridge. Ketchup has less salt in it than previously so bacteria grows faster. It's quite simple.

Dh put the ketchup in the fridge a couple of years ago, he totally blindsided me. It made me question our whole relationship.