To keep spreadable butter in the cupboard

[willywallaby]

Every time MIL comes round she moves the spreadable butter from the cupboard to the fridge and explains that it spreads straight from the fridge, so it needs to be kept in the fridge. Spreadable butter does not spread straight from the fridge though. None of the own brand ones do and Anchor doesn't. I don't know about Lurpak. MIL bakes all her own sourdough so maybe it spreads better on there. And it spreads okay on toast. But making a regular sandwich on supermarket sliced bread is a ridiculous experience with spreadable butter unless it's at room temp. I only keep spreadable butter in the fridge if the weather is hot enough to liquify the butter. Or if MIL has been round and I haven't put things right again.

I think spreadable contains more oil so is more likely to go rancid quickly out of the fridge than block butter. Some people are supertasters for rancid butter (I am) so maybe your MIL picks that up more quickly than you do.

Marketed being the key word

Ours is always on the counter and we’ve always been fine. I checked and to be fair it does say keep refrigerated but what’s the point in spreadable butter if it’s solid? Have people never heard of butter dishes with real butter?? They’re always out and spreadable butter is way more processed and stable than that surely.

Your MIL is wrong for interfering but I imagine she’s worried about getting food poisoning or something and wants to refrigerate your spreadable butter while she’s there as it’s making her feel sick eating warm butter. I’d be the same tbh. Even real butter is a bit gross to me when it’s been out on the worktop, but I buy spreadable Anchor too and when that is at room temp it’s greasy and too soft for me to enjoy.

If you scrape what you want out and put it onto the bread in one lump, by the time you put the tub back in the fridge the butter you got out is soft enough to spread without being half melted.

I’ve never had an issue with it but my DP who prefers flora always moans that my Anchor is too hard to spread. Skill issue I say.

I buy Clover spreadable and Google states this:

There might not be such a thing as 'spreadable butter' in the UK but I can assure you it exists elsewhere.

I'm team OP.
We have Danpak for sandwiches (DP has it on toast) and real butter for toast and cooking.
Both live on the counter. Never gone mouldy or rancid.
Occasionally I'll buy the M & S spreadable butter, which I think is just extra whipped or something, and that does spread from the fridge, but it's very expensive.

Well, what does the tub say about where it should be stored?

No but it’s relevant because block butter can be left out. Spreadable butter goes in the fridge. It literally says it on the packaging.

she shouldn’t touch your butter though. She should just judge you silently 🤣

Block butter has a much higher fat & lower water content which is a more hostile environment for bacteria so fine left out for a week or so. Spreads contain oils, emulsifiers and more water so are a much better environment for bacteria to grow hence needing to be refrigerated.

For the ‘don’t want to wash a butter dish’ argument - surely you use it for the week, pop in dishwasher then add new block for the next week so hardly a major chore

I don't think the fact that it says "keep refrigerated" is a win really. Block butter also says to keep refrigerated and nobody on this thread does. Stuff like ketchup also says it, and people have opinions either way on that one.

I keep ketchup in the fridge because it takes a year to get through a small bottle. It would definitely go mouldy if I didn't.

There is no such thing as spreadable butter. Either it is butter or it is not. Are you referring to a vegetable oil processed butter alternative? If so keep it where you want, it’s so full of additives it won’t matter.

I’ve never kept butter in the fridge and I’m somehow still alive and well 34 years later

That’s why M&S “softer” butter is the only one worth buying. In the extensive research I did 😹 , ALL the others usually had oil and sometimes cream added. The M&S one isn’t very, very soft but not fridge hard. It stays out on the counter as it is real butter. I think it’s churned more or something. Don’t buy that muck like Anchor or Lurpak 🔨 (gavel)

This is a big difference with my MIL and I. MIL has an American style fridge freezer because she basically keeps everything in the fridge that says “keep refrigerated”. She had 2 whole shelves dedicated to just jars and sauces etc that I keep and the cupboard.

In the cupboard I keep, jams, mustards, all sauces except mayo, butter on the side, eggs. I’ve done this all my life and so has my mum. Never been ill once.

Some people insist on keeping eggs in the fridge even though you literally buy them at room temp? I think its ok to use your own instinct

Lurpack spreadable contains butter, milk, rapeseed oil, water, lactic culture, salt. Where are the "additives"?

If the OP keeps it at room temperature and it doesn't go off before it's used up then it's fine to keep it out of the fridge and it's the OPs house and preference therefore she is NBU. MIL should butt out.

Same for ketchup and other sauces. They print all sorts of crap about keeping refrigerated and discarding within a few weeks of opening on the bottle but that can safely be ignored.

My DS doesn't like his ketchup in the fridge - it's only him that eats it , so it sits on the side and never an issue .

I am with you , I split my spread in half one half on the worktop the other half in the fridge.
I only do this because I live alone and don't use a lot of it so it keeps fresher ( indefinitely) in the fridge .

Even if I disagreed with you , your mil has no right to swap things about in your home.

Buttersoft don’t do a butter with no added ingredients, do they?

Aren’t they a spreadable butter brand (so butter + oil)?

There are three types of butteresque spreads:

Butter
Spreadable butter (butter + oil)
Margarine

We keep both butter and lurpak spreadable butter in the fridge and it’s fine - but I only butter toast and not bread.

I think it’s supposed to be kept in the fridge because it goes off quicker than butter, particularly if it has crumbs, and it’s designed to be optimally spreadable at fridge temperature. The oils and the butter will melt at different temperatures and so it may become sub optimal or less spreadable over time when kept out of the fridge. If you prefer it that way though OP, that’s fine!

Why so nasty in telling OP what to do? She can keep her butter whey she wants to FGS!

I have said this before, and will say it again…you need a refrigerated butter dish….

https://alfille.co.uk/

its flipping brilliant. You can then have real butter.

I always thought proper butter goes on the worktop/cupboard in a butter dish and spreadable goes in the fridge. But if your spreadable butter has been fine in the cupboard then surely it's not an issue.

It's the same with eggs - ours are on the worktop but my mum keeps them in the fridge. They're fine either way.

I guess you are fine if you eat it fast enough for it not to go off. I suspect if you ate it really slowly then it may go off before its finished. I hate the taste of spreadable butters when they are on the turn, I don't like it if they are out for an afternoon then put back in the fridge as it makes them taste iffy to me.

You may also find that the best before dates are based on fridge life rather than countertop life expectancy. So you would have to trust your senses, which most people are quite capable of.