Whether grabbing a slice to toast in the morning, making a sandwich in the afternoon or even roasting your own croutons for a fresh salad in the evening, there are endless ways to use bread in your meals. While you might find it easy to come up with different ways to eat it, it might be more tricky making sure you use it all up in time before it goes stale or mouldy.

There’s nothing worse than looking forward to a slice of toast, only to find it’s covered in blue spots, and having to chuck the loaf away. In fact, according to data from Too Good To Go, the marketplace for surplus food, we throw around 900,000 tonnes of untouched bread away annually, which is a serious amount of food and money wasted. So you might want to rethink how you’re storing your bread to reduce uncessary waste. 

Keeping bread in its plastic packaging can actually promote mould growth, preventing proper air circulation. An easy remedy for this is to simply store bread in cloth bags, or paper, as this allows for better air circulation, helping to maintain freshness and prevent moisture building up inside the packaging.

With the change in season, and the mild weather in the UK this spring, you might also find that your loaves of bread are going bad faster than they normally do. That’s because warmer temperatures and humidity create an ideal environment for mould spores to grow and this excess heat can easily get trapped in packaging, especially if it’s plastic. 

You might also want to consider keeping bread away from heated appliances like dishwashers or kettles, as this can promote a warm environment and lead to bread spoiling faster, even during winter months. 

It’s not just moisture that can contribute to bread going mouldy, you also want to avoid dry and stale bread and Too Good To Go have shared the one kitchen ingredient you should be storing your bread with to prevent this. 

Popping a potato in the bag can help keep bread fresh for longer, because the starchy vegetable naturally absorbs moisture, preventing bread from drying out. Simply place it inside the bread bag with the bread, or in your bread bin, to discourage mould and bacteria growth.

If you find you’re struggling to get through a loaf of bread before it goes bad, you might also want to consider freezing it. Frozen bread should be cut into slices beforehand, and sealed in a clean bag for up to three months.