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...

Rubbish - how dare you insinuate I'm past pensionable age! even though im careering down the slope towards it

i keep ours in the fridge because although we get through a bottle every two weeks, my DS has ASD and it has to be cold, or he won't touch it, which means he doesn't eat certain foods because to make them 'suitable' for him to eat requires them being dipped in cold ketchup.

shrug

your opinion on that is neither here nor there quite frankly.

Does anyone else think that daffodil symbol could do with being a bit bigger?

Poor show MN HQ.

Butter though, that's a subject I'm passionate about.

Two words: butter dish.

Butter in the fridge for storage? Fine. But if you're using it, that shit needs to be in a butter dish.

I live in an ordinary house but I've got a lovely walk in larder that is so cool that when I put butter in the butter dish and store it in the larder, it still isn't soft enough to spread.

Does that make me posh then, having a larder?

Yes, you must be posh treacle.

I covet your walk-in larder

My gran had a big walk-in pantry/larder thing.

The label says store in the fridge to enable it to last up to 8 weeks. It is NOT and marketing ploy, I used to do the marketing for TK. Honestly marketing isn't the black arts! In most houses of regular users it doesn't last that long and in houses with children very rarely that long. We once did a 50% for offer on a 1.5kg bottle. It was HUGE. We were really worried it wouldn't sell but it flew off the shelves.
Oh and Heniz is the only TK that doesn't use starch as a thickener. They have their own variety of tomatoes and a patented process.
Still brand loyal here can't you tell!

The Scandinavians use the most in the world by the way!

Nothing worse than rock-hard butter when you want a nice sandwich.

Salmo I had a very vivid dream one night that we had moved house, and that I was running round my new house wailing to DH 'but it's got no larder! how could we have made such a mistake? What will we do?'

I woke in a cold sweat!

The daffodil looks like a fairy wand on my phone.

Anyway- I see your ketchup in fridge debate and raise you...soy sauce! Yes, my DP put the ruddy soy sauce in the fridge. After it was opened. Lying down! I had to have a lie down after I'd discovered it, I can tell you.

To add insult to injury, everything below said sauce was liberally soy-ed.

The icing on the cake, however, is this- he's a bloody chef! As am I. It is clear from this tale who is the more proficient in the field, I think.

LTB SilentBob!

It's the only way.

I now keep maple syrup in the fridge since finding a blue disc of mould on top.

All our condiments are kept in the cupboard. They contain vinegar, so do not need refrigeration. I hate ketchup, sauce, mayo, pickle etc, chilled. Eggs are kept in a lovely egg container, bought for me by my DS, on the working surface.
Butter is kept in the butter dish for spreading, blocks of butter needed for baking are refrigerated or frozen.
The fridge is used for milk, water (in the filter jug) meat or fish prior to it being cooked, leftovers awaiting using up, & fruit juice if we have it.
In summer salad veg go in the fridge. All year round other veg, potatoes onions carrots etc go in the veg box.
I'm 54 & despair at peoples obsession with sell/use by dates. It's a con, people!! Shops just want you to Throw it away & buy more!!

I am gradually adjusting to the idea of not refrigerating a lot of studd. i grew up andlived most my life in places where dairy spoiled in 24 hours and butter was nearly liquid if unrefrigerated. Things like catsup and othe bottled sauces, as well as jam, grew mold before the end of the week.

Here, it is generally cold enough most of the yeat to keep everything but mayo in a cupboard, unless you dont happen to use it very often. Our catsup in the cupboard was changing color, so degrading in some way. Replaced it and keep it in the refrigerator. dh and ds go through two jars of marmalade a week, so that is kept right by the toaster. i go through strawberry jam much more slowly, so I refrigerate it. This also keeps it hidden from dh, who will move on to the nearest fruit preserve in sight rather than asking if there is more marmalade when the current jar runs out. Or getting the marmalade from the cabinet where I always produce it from. The man is an actual genius, but can't spare a brain cell to remember where things are kept if not out in plain sight. Bless him, I have more than once watched him open every mostly empty drawer in his desk at work looking for a stapler or scissors. The mostly full cupboards and drawers in the kitchen are beyond him entirely.

susiella when we are arrested by the Condiment Police and banged up together can I have the top bunk?

DS is Dear Sister in case anyone reading who knows me, panics.

Sparklingbrook yep, course!!

I couldn't climb up there anyway.

I highly doubt anyone has died from gone off ketchup .

I always used to keep mine in the cupboard until I read the label and it said to refrigerate after opening, now it's in the fridge. Also we don't eat very much of it so it's probably best it's in the fridge because a bottle lasts about six months.

Eggs are in the fridge as is anything egg based so mayonnaise... Don't eat salad cream or brown sauce . Don't keep bread in the fridge though! Goes off quicker.

We also don't have much cupboard space so anything that's suitable for the fridge gets shoved in there out of the way.

"They contain vinegar, so do not need refrigeration."

This is a popular misconception. Vinegar slows down bacterial growth, it doesn't prevent it entirely. It takes us ages to go through a bottle of ketchup so we keep it in the fridge.

Regardless of whether it should or shouldn't go in the fridge, chilled ketchup tastes so much nicer. I shudder if offered ketchup that's been left out

Ketchup is one of my favourite things so I should know

Bunbaker I'm not a scientist, so if your knowledge is greater than mine, so be it.
We use said condiments regularly, I only buy small containers, as there's only 2 of us, & use them up regularly.
As I said before, I prefer my condiments room temperature & simply do not have the foresight or organisational ability to take things out of the fridge 15 minutes before they're needed. I rely on sight & smell to determine weather foodstuffs are edible or should be thrown away.
That last stuff is just general wittering, btw. Not directed at Bunbaker

Doh! whether not weather.