Refrigerate After Opening…Or Not

Peanut Butter, Maple Syrup & Parmesan Cheese

Yay! Today marks the 10 day count down to 365 days of writing and I can say it is very much welcomed. It’s been an interesting challenge for various reasons.

The fridge or cupboard debate.

There’s an unofficial dispute in life between family members, between friends…about where to store certain opened food items.

Even though many of the items say ‘refrigerate after opening’ on their labels, it’s common to see some of these products stored in the kitchen pantry or cupboard.

Hot sauce, butter, the big green plastic container of powdered parmesan cheese, nut butters, raw nuts, seeds, dried fruit, real maple syrup, the no-need-for-refrigeration cured pepperoni, a few supplements, fish oil, probiotics, Cheese Whiz and chocolate are the regular ones up for discussion.

And sometimes juice and fruit — like apples, oranges and melons — make the list.

For me, most of everything that we eat on that list (we don’t keep Cheeze Whiz or the powdered parm around) goes in the fridge except dried fruit, but I do like to keep it in the freezer if possible to make it last longer and stay fresher.

Butter stays in the cupboard in small portions because trying to spread the cold stuff on buns or bread only makes for holey food. It does go rancid and gross after a short while so hence the small portions. I’ve yet to try one of those nifty upside down butter pottery dish things so if anyone knows of a good one, I’m all ears.

Nuts and seeds go rancid if not put in there and maple syrup is too expensive to risk letting it sit out.

I’m in the middle with unprocessed raw nut butters and change back-and- forth sometimes depending how quickly we are using up the jar. It’s supposed to go in the fridge but, like butter, it’s can be annoying to have to spread when cold too.

Chocolate I choose to keep in the fridge or freezer for freshness not because it’s required on the package but it does melt in your mouth better when at room temp.

What side are you on with all of this? Are you a fridge or a pantry person?

-Becky