Things going "off" quicker?

I've found smaller loaves in the supermarkets.  I mean, not super tiny, but if you're having a couple of slices of bread a day, after a week it's pretty much done.  That said, there are a bunch of us in our house, so we kind of all eat each others bread because we got sick of throwing out half loaves that were stale/moldy.  But I can do a loaf of Nimble in a week if I make myself a sandwich every day.

I also noticed that the items we put in/on the door went off faster.  I had cheese on one of the door shelves and it went bad within a few days, but putting it on a shelf and the same brand lasted for 2 weeks.

Yes I have learned not to put items like dairy (milk, cheese, yogurt) in the door.  Its the warmest part of the fridge so things do go off very quickly.  Put that stuff in the back of the fridge on the shelf!

This is all really good to know.  I've been shrugging off DH and MIL's concern about the dates on our food because I'm not used to them making much of a difference.  I'll pay more attention to them now!

My freezer is tiny.  It could hold about two loaves of bread and that is it. 

I never thought about the door thing- what a great suggestion! 

Fortunately, we never have to worry about stale bread around here- the bf eats toast like it's going out of style!  It must be a family thing because all his brothers are the same way. 

There's a fabulous specialist bakery in town where we get ours (bread is one of the few things that I find cheaper in the UK). Even though I'm a toast monster, we never finish it. So I take the hard bread ends after a few days, coat them in fat from our dinners and leave them out for the birds.

Country life, eh?

Hell, whatever we end up throwing out, the animals (my roommates say foxes?) get to overnight when we put out the bags for the trash, as illustrated by our chewed/torn bags in the morning. 

Yes, probably foxes. Things that go overnight I put down to foxes, though there are badgers in our area, too. But I know the birds get the bulk of it, as I put stuff where I can see it out the kitchen window while I'm doing my best 1950s-housewife impersonation in there.

Stale bread can be stuck into a food processor for breadcrumbs (you can freeze these) or used for French toast!

Yes I have learned not to put items like dairy (milk, cheese, yogurt) in the door.  Its the warmest part of the fridge so things do go off very quickly.  Put that stuff in the back of the fridge on the shelf!

I had just never thought about the door being an issue since we keep stuff on the door at my mom's all the time..of course, the door is full of salad dressings and other sauces instead of cheese, milk, and eggs so that might be why!

If I buy milk from the corner shop it goes off on or by the date.  Milk from supermarkets last much longer.

A friend and I were talking about that the other day.  Why is that?  Because the supermarkets have a better shipping/delivery system, so things get to shelf faster and don't spend time in transit?  Or is there something different about the milk?  (seems unlikely, but I'm just curious)

I had just never thought about the door being an issue since we keep stuff on the door at my mom's all the time..of course, the door is full of salad dressings and other sauces instead of cheese, milk, and eggs so that might be why!

Yeah, I also keep stuff like salad dressings and condiments (not mayo though) on the door, and they are fine.  Only experienced milk and yogurt going off really quickly on the door.  But no other items. 

I definitely have noticed things going off quicker here too.  I feel like even fresh fruits and veggies go off quicker. 

I'll have to try the refrigerator door trick with milk.  I was very frustrated yesterday to find that milk I had opened the day before that was one day past the sell-by date had gone bad.  I'm used to having about a week after the sell-by date to use things.

I'm glad to know it's not just me that thinks things go off quicker!  My husband doesn't believe me - I have to show him this thread. 

I find it vaguely reassuring that things go off more quickly. I mean, fresh foods shouldn't last a long time, should they??

I keep bread in the fridge - it doesn't bother me that it dries out a bit because we only really use it for toast and breadcrumbs. I buy small bottles of milk more frequently (though if we got a milk delivery out here in the sticks that would solve the problem - at our last house I just had a single bottle delivered every other day and hey, presto).

Fruit and veg is another story though. I personally think it's where you buy it from. I find that Tesco and Asda fruit and veg goes off almost immediately. I've had sweet potatoes from Tesco turn to mush in a couple of days. When I get it from a market or from Waitrose I don't seem to have that problem.

I only have a small fridge. The only place I can fit a container of milk is in the door.