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.

Say absolutely nothing but just silently take her butter out the fridge and put it in the cupboard whenever you’re around her house. You can have a silent war which could last years like this.

Because it is a dairy product.

Do you keep milk (not long life types) yogurt or cheese in the cupboard?

I would then bin the butter if there was a possibility it had been out of the fridge for more than a few hours.

So it would cost me money.

What mil is doing doesn’t cost anything

And Countrylife has butter (50%), rapeseed oil (25%), water and salt. No nasty additives. I'm looking at a tub right now.

I think posters have an agenda if they want to believe that spreads containing butter have a load of other stuff in.

I would then bin the butter if there was a possibility it had been out of the fridge for more than a few hours.
That's just wasteful.

You are looking at the Sainsbury's one. There is one in NZ with the same name that looks to be butter only.

www.mainland.co.nz/products/butter/mainland-buttersoft.html

I think technically she's right but it's your house so it is not her place to move it!

Anchor Spreadable is NOT butter. The clue is in the name. They call it Anchor Spreadable Blend of Butter and Rapeseed Oil because it's only 50% butter, with the next biggest ingredient Rapeseed oil.

Calling this butter is a sacrilege.

It is a bit harder to spread in cold weather. I just churn up a bit in the tub before I use it and spread using the back of a spoon.

But MIL should leave it where you want it, tell her it’s your house, your rules.

Would you really? I keep my butter (admittedly block butter not spreadable) in a cupboard. It’s fine at ambient temperature.

Threads like this make me laugh because some trivial things are very black and white!

Could the reason you can’t spread the spreadable butter is how you put it in your knife

Do you dig the knife in like a spoon or do you gently scrape the knife over the butter several times building up the amount of butter on the knife.

The latter is how I use spreadable butter and that works fine straight from the fridge

I put virtually everything in the fridge

I know posters are arguing that butter is better but my concern is the amount of butter people are getting through in such a short amount of time.

I had friends who would go through a pack of butter every couple of days. Exh would get through 2 packs per week on his own.

All 3 of them are suffering the consequences. Clogged and narrowed arteries.
All 3 can’t walk unaided

Me who never touched the stuff can do 30-40,000 steps per day regularly in a physically demanding job. Most people think I am 15 years younger than I am. I definitely move faster than a lot of people 1/3 my age

So what if MIL loses money, it's just desserts for being an interfering busybody.

@FerrisWheelsandLilacs , There are three types of butteresque spreads:
Butter
Spreadable butter (butter + oil)
Margarine

Something like Clover isn't any of those. It's a fat spread. Margarine is 80% fat. Clover is 64%. Not sure what butteresque is meant to be.

If you keep it out of the fridge surely you’d buy normal butter? You don’t need spreadable?

Genuinely, what do you think will have happened in a few hours?

I think in their heads spreadable butter is the same as margarine when it's really not.

Maybe your fridge is too cold if the spreadable is too hard?

If I leave Lurpak spreadable out and come back to it later, it has often gone runny and becomes more oil than butter.

Is it not too runny if it stays in your cupboard? I would absolutely keep spreadable in the fridge, but perhaps you are speedy spreadabale eaters and it doesn't have a chance to liquify.

I find Lurpak spreadable does spread straight from the fridge so, as your MIL is a baker, this is likely her spread of choice. (I'm sorry she irritates you though).

(I feel like this has the makings of a 1percent club answer....how many times does the word 'spreadable' appear in this question....)

If you’re not keeping it in the fridge anyway then why on earth buy spreadable butter?!?

Butter IS spreadable if not kept in fridge

Its not butter though if its not 100% butter.

I don't think 'margarine' exists any more but there's butter and all the other 'spread' products which are not butter, whatever some people call it.

But it might not be just a few hours. It could be days before mil realises.

Then she goes to her fridge expecting the butter to be in the fridge ready and waiting for her toast and there is no butter.

Finding it in a cupboard days later and having to bin it

That would give me the rage.

Whilst moving a dairy item to the fridge might be a an annoyance you still have the butter.

I would be binning your butter next time.

Spreadable butter is supposed to spread straight from the fridge and is supposed to be kept in the fridge. I'm pretty sure it says that on the packet .
She is right. But it's your house so it's up to you.

@FairKoala , I've got some butter in the kitchen. It's not in the fridge. I opened it in October 2025. It's not deteriorated and will still be edible when I next use it.
Butter does not go off quickly.

I think people call it spreadable butter to differentiate it from other fat spreads because it does contain butter.

I will continue to call it spreadable butter.

Inspired by another thread about butter dishes a few years ago I bought a lovely Le Creuset butter dish to keep butter in out of the fridge, but in the summer our south facing kitchen was too warm so I went back to spreadable "butter", which I keep in the fridge otherwise it would liquefy, and forgot about my lovely butter dish. I must dig it out and go back to block butter.

@willywallaby why do you have spreadable butter if you don't keep it in the fridge? Just use block butter.

You said

I would then bin the butter if there was a possibility it had been out of the fridge for more than a few hours

Rapeseed oil is poison to some people (me included). Plays absolute havoc with my digestive system.

I leave butter for cooking in a dish on the counter and keep butter for sandwiches, etc. in the fridge. I use it straight from the fridge, using tiny slivers which then spreads quite well on bread - cannot bear room temperature butter.