Mouldy bread.

Thank you annepl.

Davidhs, I see it differently. I believe it is a problem for all of us, and I do care about it. Imagine the burden that'd be lifted from our NHS if it was freed from treating the diseases that people have eaten themselves into - some of the diabetes, cancers and heart disease for starters. (And many of those diseases are actually reversible through nutrition, but we've come to believe that medication and surgery are the only options. Doctors have woefully little education in nutrition.) And the exciting future for our world if we were raising bright, happy children fuelled by the nutrition their bodies need to become the wise creators of all our futures.

And, while I'm at it, the burden that would be lifted from the planet as it creaks under the ever increasing demands of growing more meat. That is unsustainable, and I don't feel easy about trying to live in a situation that we know can't continue but we feel isn't our responsibility. I don't want these issues to be our grandchildren's poisonous legacy.

I agree too, but I don’t get uptight about it, there is plenty of information about healthy eating, if others ignore it it’s not my problem

Well said happiyogi! I agree entirely.

I understand the principles of business Davidhs. However, a country has a duty to protect its people from harm so it passes laws to protect them. Consequently minors can't buy alcohol in a supermarket, nor adults hard drugs. Cigarettes are now kept out of view. If those things were freely available on the shelves (as no doubt the distillers, tobacco companies and drug pushers would love them to be) they would be more widely used.

The harm done to health by processed "foods" and "drinks" is widely and thoroughly documented. We need to stop pretending that some (not all) diseases and illnesses are just bad luck, when they could actually have been prevented nutritionally. If it's worth trying to discourage the overuse of alcohol, nicotine and drugs, then it's time to widen the net to include damaging processed foods and not pretend that market forces and the freedom to choose are paramount here. People's health and lives ought to be.

We don't need "junk" food. It's not a treat. It is really "fake" food. How outraged and angry we would be if the NHS gave us fake drugs that made us sick, or the filling station sold us fake petrol that wrecked our engines! But we should reserve the right to feed our own bodies fake food? Even though we know it can make us ill? And while we're stuffing ourselves on our precious junk, we don't have room for and we lose our appetite for the healthy natural foods that weren't designed in a lab and made in a factory. Have you ever heard anyone finish their takeaway and fizzy drink and say oh, I could just fancy a bowl of cabbage right now?!

The thing worse than feeding ourselves fake food is giving it to children. The excuse given is that parents are tired, stressed and time poor. Many absolutely are all of those things, but we don't condone other forms of harm on those grounds. Many studies in schools - and prisons - have documented remarkable improvements in health, behaviour and learning ability when nutritionally rich food is provided. We shouldn't look the other way, but be demanding that healthy food is given its rightful status.

Gluten free bread lasts for ages. - which is a worry.

I thought that sliced bread went mouldy faster these days because the manufacturers have had to cut down on its preservative content.

I don't like white sliced bread but buy it for the family. I find it doesn't go mouldy but it has a chemical smell, like ammonia, which gets worse after a few days. Kingsmill is the worst, despite it being more expensive than most.

I m another who keeps it in the freezer
And no home made bread doesn’t last longer coz I eat more ???

Manufacturers will provide whatever the customer wants, it’s called business and makes a profit for them and the supermarket.
The customer wants processed junk food there is plenty of education that it’s bad for you, the government is not going to make major changes because it depends on the tax collected from profits.

Well done you, Elegran. I fear that many who have grown up on processed foods swilled down with fizzy drinks will not enjoy similarly long healthy years.

Of course the government can't force people not to buy and eat processed foods - but they most certainly could make it a less attractive business proposition for those who manufacture and sell it. By choosing not to, they are complicit.

It is not exactly a secret that for best health we should be eating a pyramid of food, as varied and as fresh as possible. Successive governments have pushed versions of the pyramid and tried to educte the population, but if individuals prefer the less healthy options, they can't be forced to comply. It is up to them what goes on their plates.

I must say, I very seldom manage five fruits/vegetables a day, let alone a dozen, but I have had excellent health for eighty years.

Davidhs, the majority of the food on sale is processed. And looking at the laden trolleys at tills, that's what the majority of people are mostly buying.

For real health we should be having more than a dozen servings of fruit, veg, nuts and seeds. Every day. And drinking lots of water. People are not given this information because the producers of those foods can't possibly compete with the multi-nationals and their vast advertising budgets.

Manufacturers are cynically making vast profits on a global scale by seductively advertising products that are seriously damaging to our health.

I agree, Elegran, homemade bread lasts much better, and it isn't difficult to make as long as you don't rush the rising process - I made enough bricks to build a house before I realised that

In the past I remember bread going stale rather than mouldy. You could then revive it bit by soaking in milk and putting in the oven or make toast, bread pudding etc with it.

"They" tell you not to keep bread in the fridge because it goes stale quicker, so what are you supposed to do? I do as some others on here have said and either buy a sliced loaf or cut it into sections and keep it in the freezer until needed.

Make your own bread (from the basic ingredients in the supermarket) It is not difficult, and is much better than Chorleywood-process steamed pap. I doesn't go mouldy as fast, because it is not damp to start with. First it gets dryer, but it still makes excellent toast. It freezes well, and you can slice it yourself before freezing so as to use it a slice at a time.

Oh, and it is a lot cheaper.

Happiyogi
Illusion ? The supermarkets have a good range of fresh fruit, meat and vegetables. Also all the ingredients you need to make cakes and pastry.
It’s the shopper that makes the choice to buy processed food it’s just too easy, saves time or whatever, then more time is available for whatever else

I often have got 2 thirds of the way through a wrapped loaf and it's turning blue!
The ones from the in store bakeries are a little better although their crusts often go rock hard after a couple of days and difficult to cut, even with my serrated bread saw!
Wrapped bread now often gets put in the fridge and have found that the unsliced bread keeps better and stays softer if either in a paper bag or a cloth bag and put in a closed bread bin

Davidsh, what we actually have is the illusion of choice. The supermarkets are rammed with overprocessed items masquerading as food. We would be living more healthily if about 70% of that rubbish wasn't produced. Many people have forgotten - or have never known - the taste of genuine, honest food.

"Eat food. Mostly plants. Not too much." Michael Pollan.

I find that bread will stay mould free until the best before date on the label but after that it can start to go mouldy,especially in warmer weather. We didn't have as many additives many years ago because bread tended to be produced and purchased from small shops locally. These days its delivered all over the country to large supermarkets. To be honest as you get older you dont use as much either so you keep it longer. When I had a young family of hungry boys I could easily get through a loaf a day with packed lunches etc. These days a small loaf will last me and my husband a few days.

I buy the farmhouse seeded from Aldi and split it into 3,2 bags go in the freezer and I use one they last me the week.

Come on, the quality and choice in supermarkets today has never been higher, pay your money and take your choice. I use Best of Both and the only time I’ve had mold is when I unplugged the fridge.

too many additives in foods, we never had all these additives years ago! Far too many processed foods too.

Freezer for me too with sliced bread.
I often buy sourdough now in Lidls. Keeps well.

I had to move my breadbin out of the utility room as it gets a lot of sun and the bread went off quickly. It now lives on a dark corner of the kitchen worktop and the bread last a week or more- then the birds get it.

Food in general isn't as it was, the quality has gone.

I think wrapped bread smells and it really puts me off eating it----hence why I have so much waste after having forced a couple of slices of this rubbish down my gullet.
I buy freshly baked ( on site ) when I can and bought two sliced farmhouse cobs from M&S yesterday, one to freeze. I can eat every scrap of that.