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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To leave the butter out?

89 replies

YeahYesYup · 09/12/2020 12:38

Was reading some article yesterday about things you didnt know about food and came across one fact that said butter is only ok to be out of the fridge for a few days before the possibiliy that it might go off etc.

I hate butter in the fridge (real butter not marg of course) as it is too hard to spread and i always leave it out on the side wrapped up so none of it is exposed, no matter the weather and depending on whether i use alot or a little sometimes it probably takes me a good month to use it all.

I've never been ill from it (as far as i know!) am i being risky keeping it out of the fridge?? It is mostly me and DD that eats it as DP uses marg and DS doesn't like butter, but i put it in mash potato and other dishes.

It's never looked or tasted dodgy, does everyone keep it in the fridge?

OP posts:
Moo678 · 09/12/2020 13:48

We leave ours out. Kitchen is freezing so it's still too hard to spread a lot of the time. We're a big family so a block does well to last a week.

billy1966 · 09/12/2020 13:51

@PiggyPlumPie

I cut a chunk out of the block, maybe a quarter max, and put this in the butter dish and leave out.

The rest goes back in the fridge. It's still fairly hard in the dish at the moment tbh.

This. But during the summer months i would pop ot in the fridge overnight.
Yoanna · 09/12/2020 14:01

My grandparents always kept theirs out of the fridge but in a butter dish. Don't think it was ever lying around for long enough to go off! Used to love having it on toast for breakfast at their house.

viques · 09/12/2020 14:06

I keep butter in the freezer (buy when it’s on special offer) I usually have a third of a block out at a time in a lidded butter dish. Never had issues with it going off.

viques · 09/12/2020 14:07

Ps if I remember I portion the butter before I freeze it, but you can cut it when frozen with a good knife and a strong arm!

peachescariad · 09/12/2020 14:08

Ex Food safety EHO here - butter isn't a protein and therefore wont support the growth of pathogens. It will however, go rancid over time, by spoilage bacteria (but these don't cause illness) and you'll def see and taste that, so leaving butter out is perfectly safe.

Cam2020 · 09/12/2020 14:09

I also keep mine on the counter in a butter dish and have never had any issues. It's never melted, even in summer. In winter it quite often stays hard and almost as unspreadable as if it had been in the fridge!

Original poster
YeahYesYup · 09/12/2020 14:14

@movingonup20 I am already overweight if I ate a block a week I'd definitely be obese 🤣
If I buy a really nice loaf of seeded bread though I do get through it alot quicker, seeded bread toasted with lashings of butter mmmm!

OP posts:
CorianderQueen · 09/12/2020 14:15

I keep it in the fridge. If I want some for later I chop some onto a plate and leave it out

RB68 · 09/12/2020 14:16

Butter is out but I have an insulated butter dish so it isn't too effected by the room temps and still soft. I also put half a pkt in at a time

CatFaceCats · 09/12/2020 14:17

Mine constantly live on the side in the kitchen. Perhaps for a week in summer it’ll go in the fridge, but I live in the NE Scotland so it’s never that hot really.
We do use a fair bit of butter though - so it’s not as if it’s sat out for months on end.

Shetoshe · 09/12/2020 14:18

A month?! Doesn't it taste like crap??

I leave butter out too but never for more than a week as it starts to turn and has an unpleasant taste. I'm a huge butter lover with very sensitive taste buds but even so I'm agog that you can't taste the difference. Cut some off the block and leave in a butter dish, put the rest in the fridge.

flaviaritt · 09/12/2020 14:21

In the fridge for me, unless I am about to use it. Off butter is absolutely rank.

helloxhristmas · 09/12/2020 14:23

Always cut a chunk off for the butter dish. Have to microwave it for 10 secs at this time of year to be able to make a sandwich without ripping the bread.

Even in high summer it never goes off as we use the bit that's in the dish.

American 'stick' sizes are much better for this.

Callipygion · 09/12/2020 14:23

We never had a fridge when I was growing up, and our butter was left out (in a dish). I can’t remember it ever going off or being thrown away, so I’ve lived to tell the tale!

2bazookas · 09/12/2020 14:26

I buy real butter in half pound packs and keep one out of the fridge in a covered glass butterdish. All year round in Scotland. Never had one go off.

irregularegular · 09/12/2020 14:27

We have our butter out in a covered dish all the time, unless it is properly hot and clearly getting soft. Fridge-hard butter is very annoying! It lasts about a week on average. Never know it go off.

Watto1 · 09/12/2020 14:31

You can smell and taste rancid butter from a mile away! Keeping it out of the fridge at this time of year is fine.

DynamoKev · 09/12/2020 14:33

@Aprilx

I keep butter in a butter dish on the counter top. I have never come to harm.
Me too
TheTurnOfTheScrew · 09/12/2020 14:34

mine's always out unless it's the real height of summer
I put half a 250g block out at a time and that only lasts a few days.

EBearhug · 09/12/2020 14:35

I would have sworn I had typed 10 seconds in the microwave - that is definitely what I meant. Sorry for the confusion, and thanks for pointing it out.

(Am now tempted to microwave butter for 10 minutes to see just what does happen...)

Fuggly · 09/12/2020 14:37

I cut a chunk off the butter in the fridge and keep it in a mini butter cloche on the worktop. Refill as needed. Lakeland mini cloche is just the right size. In fact i have 2 so its one out on the surface and one in the dishwasher.

misskatamari · 09/12/2020 14:40

I leave mine out in the butter dish. For however long it takes to use, usually at least a week

grassisjeweled · 09/12/2020 14:40

Always on counter, except in summer.