Archive:Quick Questions on food safety / sell by / use by dates

Buttonmoons

I never put my ketchup/brown sauce in the fridge, because I don't like cold sauce!
I only have one mustard and I do keep that in the fridge as when it's warm it goes quite watery. My branston pickle is also kept in the cupboard!

I keep my mayo, salad cream, tartare sauce, cranberry, mustard in the fridge. Any other sauce gets bunged in the cupboard (and I have a whole shelf full of sauces/spreads!)

valk_scot

As a rule of thumb sauces with a strong vinegar base are fine in the cupboard, but mayo or creamy type items should be kept in the fridge.

If your gherkins were in vinegar they should be fine. I would finish them off fairly soon though.

thriftlady_2

Kadeeae wrote: »

Colemans Mustard
Wholegrain Mustard
Garlic Mustard
Ketchup - Brown Sauce & BBQ Sauce
Branston Pickle

Why on earth would any of these need to be refrigerated?All of them can go in the cupboard. Where do you think people kept their mustard and pickles before they had fridges (only about 50 years ago), none of these are new-fangled foods after all.

Pickles -people have been pickling things for centuries precisely because it preserves foods, so why would you need to put them in the fridge? Ketchup is a preserve too, just look at how much vinegar and sugar is in it. Made mustard has vinegar in too.

Sorry to bang on but really, what has happened to our common sense about these things?

tandraig

agree with you there thriftlady - but in my day, we didnt have fridges so most food was stored in this little room called a pantry! dont mean to be patronising or anything but my DIL had never heard of one and the other DIL thought they were in mansions for the butler to use!!! I think most people these days think if they open something its safer to keep in the fridge. but I dont refrigerate my sauces - as valk_scot says - if its vinegar based will keep indefinately in cupboard.

staceydaisy

I got some lamb mince out of the freezer last night like a div thinking it would be good for tonights tea sill y me has something planned do you think this will last till tomorrow

valk_scot

Did you defrost it in the fridge? And was it well in code when you froze it? (Ie, not a reduced to clear eat instantly sort of pack.) If yes and yes, then it should be fine.

redruby

Yes, it will be fine, but as an alternative, you could make up tomorrows dinner tonight, say a shepherds pie, and then re-heat it tomorrow when you get in.

hth

valk_scot

Yes but in the old days it would be extremely unlikely that the kitchen would be heated, and the pantry or larder room would be on an outside wall with only enough windows to allow good ventilation. The classic "cool dark" place. Nowadays kitchens are often as warm as the rest of the house and foodstuffs are kept in wall cupboards that are quite possibly over or near a cooker/fridge/dishwasher or other appliance that kicks out heat. These will be a lot warmer than the average old pantry. I recall the pantry room in a childhood house being so cold that the milk would freeze over in winter if you left it on a shelf near the window!

Still wouldn't keep pickles in the fridge, but I think that some foods that used to be kept in the pantry would not be best kept in a warm kitchen cupboard.

Kadeeae

thriftlady wrote: »

........Sorry to bang on but really, what has happened to our common sense about these things?

Aw, Thirftlady, please don't yell at me, you're one of my 'hero's' on this board

But honestly, I suppose it's how you've been 'brought up' so to speak. Although I am nearer 50 than 40, my background is that of parents who very, very seldom ever cooked from scratch - everything being from a box, tin, container, from a restaurant etc... all of the things I've mentioned in my original post were kept in the fridge at home and knowledge about food (other than impeccable manners when eating it, lol) cooking, prep and what ingredients do what (ie; acidic/vinegar is a preservative) were never learned and I was able to squirm out of the "Home Ec" class feeling it was just a waste of time.

Have spent the best part of my life feeling the same way, it's only the past couple of years that I've really realised how important it all is, not only for the knowledge itself, but for health and purse! And, as so, I am still wearing my "L" plate and tend to ask lots of silly questions

Btw- all of the mentioned are now safely in a cupboard, Ta very much!

ubamother

I keep my mustard and pickles in my fridge because I like them cold! I am lucky enough to have a pantry, with a stone cool shelf, but I don't feel I have to follow the rules and practices of yesteryear if they don't suit me. Eggs go in the pantry, cheese for use in a couple of days and jam (my husband thinks jam belongs in the fridge and I hate cold jam so we keep separate pots for the sake of marital harmony!)