I was having a conversation with a friend about this.

Ketchup
Pickles
Peanut butter
Bread


My friend refrigerates everything.. including peanut butter, onions and potatoes.

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The ketchup and pickles I do. I think they say to refrigerate after opening.

PB and bread, no. My mom used to put bread in the fridge when I was a kid, but I think that today bread contains preservatives that keep it from getting moldy so quickly.

I do pickles some times pb if I get Trader Joe's or something that doesn't have a cajillion preservatives in it.
Not
ketchup
mustard
butter
bread
potatoes
onions
hot sauce
syrup
bbq sauce

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I don't refrigerate Peanut Butter and honey.

What I can't stand, or stomach, and both my sis and my mom do this, is they leave sticks of real butter out on the counter top in a covered dish.

THAT is disgusting! I can't believe they can't taste the icky sour taste that doing this does when it spoils.
ICK.

It's a dairy, please don't leave it out on the counter top. (just to soften is fine, but put it up afterwards).. lol

We leave our butter out but we use about a stick per meal. I have 6 kids living at home, so one stick gets used pretty quick!

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ugh.. that would sit well with me.. but they leave it out for days until it is used up.. (blech)

I don't refrigerate butter either. What about going to a restaurant and they have those little pads out that they leave out all day? Or maybe for days?

My grandmother never refrigerated mayonaise, and never got sick. I never ever used mayo at her house.

I don't refridgerate butter or peanut butter.
I make sure Mayo is in the fridge...

I do this too! I only keep one stick out, but it's never tasted bad or sour. I know it's a dairy and should spoil, but it's soooo yummy when it's soft.

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Bread dries out in the fridge! Yuck. And we don't eat peanut butter. The rest goes in the fridge.

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I do put ketchup and pickles in the fridge. I only buy Claussen pickles and those have to go in the fridge. Plus, who likes a warm pickle LOL? I also put mustard and relish in the fridge.

Bread: no
butter: yes
bbq sauce: yes
potato: no
onion: no
hot sauce (like tabasco): no

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Where I live, they don't do this. They are all refrigerated and brought out to your table if you want them. Even the ones they put in the baskets of bread are hard and refrigerated when you get them.

Maybe those of you who leave the butter out are used to the taste of butter when it is "spoiled". That's the only thing I can think of. I surely can taste the difference, right away. I can tell if it is butter that has been left out, or butter that came out of the fridge..and I literally will get sick.

I can't even explain the taste, but I know it right away, I can even actually smell it as I am about to injest it (like on toast, etc)

I refrigerate anything that says *refrigerate after opening*.

Interesting! I usually have a stick of butter out in a butter dish on the counter until it's used up. It doesn't take too long for a stick to be gone - I doubt one has ever made it 48 hours.

What I can't stand is butter straight out of the fridge that you can't spread. I feel like my teeth are going through a lump of grease if I'm biting into a roll with a chunk of butter on it.

My butter hasn't ever tasted sour.

I leave my butter out also. Never used to up til about a year ago. I have never noticed any difference in taste. I HATE hard butter. YUCK!

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Ketchup. I hate cold ketchup. My friend teases me all the time because I keep it in the cupboard.

I just called the 1-800 number from my big bottle of Hunts Ketsup and the recording says to refrigerate after opening and use within 6 month. The actual bottle says, "no preservatives, no artificial flavors" but no where does it state to refrigerate after opening. Hmmm.

I just checked my 1 gal jug of Franks Hot Sauce (from SamsClub) and the label doesn't say anything about refrigerating after opening. My DH just told me that when he was in the Army (back in the early 70's) the hot sauce was always on the tables and never went in the fridge.

I only put bread in the fridge when I buy from the bakery-deli at the grocery store because it doesn't last without molding otherwise.

I would think the vinegar in the ketchup would preserve it?

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I just can't imagine not refridgerating butter where it is a dairy product. I know many people don't but I just don't get how it doesn't spoil like milk or other dairy products.

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I live in FL...we have to refrigerate almost everything. My in-laws leave butter out too...I about gagged when I saw that for the first time. Not that we use real butter around here any more (too much fat!) but all dairy MUST be refrigerated.

We don't refrigerate peanut butter, but all the rest...absolutely. Bread if left out here more than a couple days will mold from the humidity.

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I refrigerate most things, but then again I prefer things like butter & ketchup cold. My grandmother always kept the buttet in the cupboard, never in the fridge. My MIL keeps pasta and seasoning packets in the fridge -- I never understood that.

Sarah...........

I refrigerate just about everything...especially if it's been opened such as pickles, ketchup, mustard, bbq sauce, and most definitely butter. I can't imagine not putting that in the refrigerator. I don't refrigerate peanut butter, bread, or potatoes...I do onions. ~Lisa

I refrigerate most everything except steak sauce & worshcheshire sauce.

My mom never refrigerated margarine when I was growing up and we didn't have a/c. She would put a couple sticks in a bowl at a time and always left them out on the table.

MIL & FIL do not refrigerate butter now, either.

I do. I don't like it hard either, so we have sticks to cook with, Smart Balance in a tub to use on hot things because it's hard like baked pototaes or in cooked veggies. I also keep tubs of Fleishmans Spread with olive oil for stuff like bread because it stays soft when cold.

ETA: Sarah, I bet she refigerates pasta to keep the bugs out. I do keep my flour in the freezer. I got those bugs once and had to throw out about 15 pounds of flour. It made me nuts because they had all been bought on sale!

Lisa

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I googled to find out if there was a problem with leaving butter out, and the answer was no on every one of the six sites I clicked to. The only time it might be a problem would be if all the moisture had not separated out of it when they were churning the butter. Otherwise... there's nothing about it that should go bad at room temp.

Kathy, I did see on several sites that if a stick of butter has been in the fridge for very long that it will likely have picked up some odors/flavors from other items in the fridge. Apparently when butter is at a refrigerated temperature and hard, those odors/tastes are not released, but at room temperature they could be. The sites I saw indicated that butter in and of itself wouldn't develop any smell or flavor all it's own without the presence of those other foods to effect it.

Real butter is just milkfat and maybe some salt so it makes sense that it would be fine at room temperature. Crisco doesn't go bad if you keep it in the cupboard after opening it, same thing with cooking oil and lard.

Butter does pick up flavors from other stuff in the fridge and if you keep it around too long it will get a stale flavor. Fresh, good butter has a very light, slightly sweet taste that is quite nice.

I was on a team in college that judged dairy products so now I'm VERY picky about the flavor of milk, butter, vanilla ice cream and cheddar cheese(we also judged cottage cheese and strawberry yogurt but I think both of those things are nasty no matter how good they are) so I'm careful about how I store those things. I keep butter in the fridge because I have 2 bad cats who would get at it if I left it out, but I do keep it in an air tight container.


Back on the OT, I NEVER put opened peanut butter or pancake syrup in the fridge. All other condiment type things go in the fridge once opened.

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My EX used to put potato chips in the fridge.

I do put my flour and cornmeal in the fridge. Never pasta though. When I have butter in the house I keep it in the fridge.

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All condiments, oils, etc go into the fridge, except vinegar & honey.
PB extras are in the fridge, the current open one isn't IF DS is on a PB kick. ( If not, it goes in, we don't use it up that fast so I worry about the oil going rancid.
Potatoes do not, onions do. All fruits/veggies except apples & bananas are kept cold.
Never bread, it gets hard & dry. I do keep biscuick in the fridge though.

We used to leave our butter out too until one day I saw my cat licking it

Have those who keep their butter out ever tried these?
Amazon.com: Norpro Butter Keeper: Kitchen & Dining

Until I saw this post, I didn't refrigerate peanut butter. Previously, I thought there was a health problem with refrigerating peanut butter, but when I went to find something about it on the internet, I came up with this:

Information about Health & Aflatoxins in foods such as peanut butter

Yikes! We only use grind-it-yourself-in-the-store organic peanut butter to avoid pesticides and hydrogenated oils. Plus, we think it tastes better. After reading about aflatoxin, I put ours in the fridge. We eat it pretty quickly, but why not play it safe....

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My grandma always kept a stick of butter on the counter and we never got sick when we were there. I liked it. I think my DH would have a cow, though, regardless of what any website says (although that certainly makes me feel better). Mine stays in the fridge. I also refrigerate ketchup, mustard, pickles, bbq sauce, etc. I have never refrigerated pb.

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jujubee, thanks for the link! YIKES!

makes me wonder about my stock pile....

On another note, those of you with problems with "bo weavels" or whatever those bugs are called that get in flour products. I used to have this same problem as well, until I started using big pickle jars to store my flour.

I have never had a problem since, and I keep them in the cupboard.

I was watching a video on youtube. It was Roseanne Barr at Phyllis Diller's house. Phyllis was making lunch for Roseanne.
Phyllis said she leaves her butter out and Roseanne says she does too. I thought that was interesting.

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I don't leave my butter out (although I WON'T say it's never happened by mistake ... just missed it when I was cleaning up the kitchen). I remember my parents and grandparents always left it out, and DH says it was always done in his house, too. I would much prefer warm (or room temp) butter, and I don't ever remember a bad taste to it. I'm just a little leary about leaving dairy products out.

I definitely don't refrigerate peanut butter. I never even thought about refrigerating it.

I DO refrigerate most condiments (mustard, ketchup, barbecue sauce, hot sauce) AFTER they've been opened.

I would never even consider leaving pickles unrefrigerated!

Rarely refrigerate bread (because it does get hard so fast) unless it's homemade and I know I'll use it soon ... otherwise, I'll freeze it and just pull out a few slices at a time as I need it.

I do NOT refrigerate oils (I use them up pretty quickly), honey, molasses. I don't usually refrigerate vinegar (unless it's a really expensive one that I don't want to take any chances on). I also don't refrigerate vegetable shortening (Crisco), but I tend to be throwing that away quite often because it smells rancid, so maybe I really should be.

Tip on the problem with moths/bugs in the flour: Just put the flour into your freezer for 24-48 hours (I go at least 48 hours) when you bring it home. The eggs are already in the bags when you buy them (GROSS, I know, but a fact of life). Once you freeze them for a day or two, they will NOT hatch!

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I found this on the web...

There is very little risk associated with butter, even left at room temperature for long periods of time. If anything the butter might mold if left out for many days, but it is probably not a safety issue. The very small amount of water and high levels of salt in most butter make it a very safe product.

Regular margarine is similar to butter in safety and stability. Some of the “light” margarines contain relatively higher levels of water. There is a slight possibility of these becoming contaminated -- say by using a dirty knife to cut a pat to spread on your bread -- but that is pretty far fetched as well.

Food and nutrition answers 56 to 57, University of Missouri Extension

I think next time I buy butter I will leave it out... covered though.. I have 4 cats who love butter. I hate hard butter!

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