Sometimes it feels like life is just a series of minor annoyances.
Realising you’ve forgotten your keys. Pouring cereal into a bowl only to discover that you’re completely out of milk.
But my personal least favourite day-to-day disturbance is whipping a slice of bread out of the packet for your lunch, only to realise the whole loaf is unusable.
While of course, bread will go off anyway, it turns out that a common method of bread storage could be to blame for my constantly-stale slices.
Bridgit Bendel, a nutrition expert, says that we’re making some serious storage mistakes; especially when it’s hot out.
We should ban the bread bin
Even though bread bins can seem like the natural place to let your loaves lounge, Bendel told Express that they can be too hot for your slices to truly shine.
This is because they allow for little air flow – so even though they look like suitably cool, dark homes for your Hovis, they may end up allowing more bacteria-promoting mugginess than you’d expect.
Instead, Bendel recommends using a ceramic container to keep your bread fresh. These tend to have better airflow, so will keep bacteria at bay longer thanks to the colder temp.
Organisation TikTok is onto something – we should all be decanting our loaves
You know that sticky, clammy feel your loaf’s plastic packaging gets in the sun?
Well, that’s a great habitat in which to breed bacteria, says Bindel.
And while paper bags might seem like the safer option, the nutrition expert says the material doesn’t matter all that much – wrapped bread will have almost no air circulation, leading to trapped moisture and added heat.
The only difference is that paper options will dry bread out, while plastic keeps it too soggy.
Oh, good.
So wait – how should I store my bread in the heat, then?
Ideally in a ceramic container, top slice face-down, with no packaging.
And while it might make the slices last longer, you’ll want to avoid storing your bread in the fridge too – this makes the slices harder.
At this point, I’ll try anything...