Condiments....

I'm eating a chutney which says 2016 on the label and it's been opened for ages, kept in the fridge.

Surely chutney won't go off with all that vinegar and sugar in it? I hope not and haven't been sick from it yet!

I never keep ketchup, chutney, mint sauce, etc in the fridge. Have always kept them in the cupboard.

You don't need to freeze anything with vinegar. Home made chutney keeps for a year at least properly sealed. Vinegar and sugar are preservatives.

The whole top of my fridge is taken up with Branston, picalilli, tomato sauce, mayo..
The list is endless, but I'm a big fan of sandwiches.

Same here, Labaik. I'm always throwing out half jars of stuff, especially pesto sauce as only me likes it. Then there's tartar sauce (only bought for visitors), marmalade, jam, hummus.....the list is endless and wasteful. I wish you could buy sachets of such items, just enough for one person.

We never used to keep these things in the fridge years ago - have they changed the recipes?
I don't put mint sauce, brown sauce, tomato sauce in the fridge.

I do seem to throw away mayo as we don''t eat much of it, I put it in the fridge but don't trust it after the 'eat by once opened' date.

The top shelf of my fridge is where the jars are kept. Garlic pickle, mint sauce, tartare sauce, horseradish sauce, apple sauce, various mustards, jam and marmalade.
In the door are tomato ketchup, tomato puree, salad cream, mayonnaise and harrissa paste.

Coo, that seems like a lot, but we do use it.

I don’t keep chutney, pickles or ketchup in the fridge. I never have. Too small. It is full of cheeses, veg etc on a good week. Growing up we didn’t have a fridge everything was kept in a cold box at the cellar head and things were kept good enough to eat. I keep mayonnaise in the fridge,though and watch the dates because of the egg content. I don’t keep a lot in. I buy as things run out. I heard it’s going to be a bad winter so maybe I should stock up...

Maybe you need to help yourself to a few sachets the next time you are in a supermarket cafe?

One of the little door shelves in my fridge is missing, and that makes quite a lot less storage for jars.

I bit the bullet and ordered a shelf online, but it was too big, despite me spending weeks researching the make, model number.

What a good idea SChicken !! I live on my own and often throw out bottles of this and that .....so now I know. And it would pay for my. Coffee ?

I keep all condiments in the fridge. Some for me some only when family eat here which they do regularly .

At the moment there is mayo, ketchup, brown sauce, mustard, tartare sauce, garlic mayo, mint sauce, apple sauce, thousand island dressing, Lea &Perrins, plus chutney, marmalade, jam, lemon curd, and peanut butter, honey and Nutella for the grandchildren . And we eat it all

Trouble is I don't like the idea of using stuff that's in single use plastic and our local pub has stopped providing people with sachets. I don't keep Worcester sauce in the fridge for some reason [not sure why]. I've got mustard powder that I can mix a small quantity of when I need some, though. And I daren't look at the dates on the spices in the spice cupboard!

I have almost none of these in the fridge. Certainly not jams and chutneys, ketchups and so on. I do however keep mayonnaise in the fridge.
For years when the children were small we didn’t have a fridge at all so really can’t see what the problem is.

But they nearly all say 'refrigerate after opening and use within 4-6 weeks'.

I've had jam and marmalade go mouldy when kept just in a cupboard.

And things I've taken out of the fridge to throw away [but, being me haven't done so straight away] have gone mouldy quite quickly.

My DH just loves 'condiments'. He always spends ages in that aisle in Tesco. The hotter the better. We have a very big drawer full of his collection. He uses them constantly. Nearly always adds one or two to a meal. He worked for many years with Asian people and came to enjoy their food. Now he sprinkles chilli on a pizza. His jars of stuff do not last long enough to go mouldy.
We do have the usual things like mint sauce, mustard etc. and these too get used quickly

Anything that has been in the fridge for a while I add to stews or stir fries etc. I had a really tasty stir fry one day last week, I couldn’t make the same one twice ?

I’m like you beechnut- if it’s been in the fridge for a few months it will end up in a casserole and yes, we never have the same thing twice due to me ‘tweaking’ and ‘substituting’ recipes!

The only jar in my fridge is mayo, everything else is in the cupboard. We do use them all on a regular basis though. I love a cranberry and cold chicken sandwich.

I am almost ashamed to admit that in my fridge, there was a couple of tablespoons of mincemeat in a jar, that had been there, I don't know how long.
But I was given some apples and made a crumble, using said apples and mincemeat.
It was lovely and we are still both here.

I just keep mayo, tartare sauce, jam and marmalade in the fridge everything else is in the cupboard. I could live without all condiments except Branston Pickle - I have been having Branston all my life

I honestly don’t worry too much about dates on a lot of things. Am using home made tomato or apple chutney which I made three or four years ago. If it looks and smells ok, quick taste, why not? If there is a bit of mould on the top when I take the wax label off, just scrape it off and test as above. As for bought stuff, must be full of preservatives so certainly use it after dates if necessary.
Jam also, no problems. And my home made mamade gets eaten up before it has a chance to develop mould.
Keep ketchup, salad cream etc in fridge. Only thing I am careful of is mayo, I make sure it is ok before eating.

Ketchup, Brown Sauce in cupboard, everything else in fridge once opened.

I take absolutely no notice of "best before dates" if it smells ok, looks ok the chances are it will taste ok.

I make my own chutneys which last unopened in the garage for 3-4 years, keep in fridge once opened.