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1940s
November 2009 
Ketchup in the fridge?
Posted on Jul 30th, 2008
by 
mimi
mimi
My friend, Pat, and I were talking about whether or not it was necessary to keep ketchup in the fridge. We were born in the 1940's and grew up with ice-boxes, not fridges. We didn't keep much of anything cold in the ice-box except milk, butter, and leftovers. We kept condiments like mustard and ketchup and relish in the cupboard - sometimes they'd be in there for a year or more. No one died.
We kept sliced luncheon meat cold overnight by putting it on the block of ice in the top part of the ice-box. The meat would be used the next morning to make sandwiches for lunch boxes . Meat was bought at the corner grocery store as needed - sometimes each day.
Vegetables were pulled from the garden, or cans of peas, corn, beans were opened. Salads were picked daily from the backyard garden. No lettuce salads in the winter.
Tomatoes were picked from the vine in the summer, all hot from the sun. Or they came in jars - from hours of canning during the summer. We canned pickles, peaches, plums, pears, made jam, tomatoes, made tomato juice . Jars were always boiled to sterilize them.
Anyway, back to the ketchup. Pat says when her kids come for supper and help to clean up, she can never find the ketchup afterwards. That's because they put it in the fridge!
My theory is that back in the 40's, we were so much aware of food spoiling, and we didn't waste anything. So we observed sanitary food guidelines which I still preach today - NO CROSS-CONTAMINATION OF FOODS! That means no crumbs in the butter, no butter or crumbs in the mayonnaise or jam jars. Besides, it is gross to look at Always, always use a clean spoon or knife for each item. And don't leave your fingerprints on the cheese. The slightest amount of grease will cause mold to grow on foods.
Ok, class dismissed. Excuse me while I fix myself a hot dog, now where is that ketchup?..
We kept sliced luncheon meat cold overnight by putting it on the block of ice in the top part of the ice-box. The meat would be used the next morning to make sandwiches for lunch boxes . Meat was bought at the corner grocery store as needed - sometimes each day.
Vegetables were pulled from the garden, or cans of peas, corn, beans were opened. Salads were picked daily from the backyard garden. No lettuce salads in the winter.
Tomatoes were picked from the vine in the summer, all hot from the sun. Or they came in jars - from hours of canning during the summer. We canned pickles, peaches, plums, pears, made jam, tomatoes, made tomato juice . Jars were always boiled to sterilize them.
Anyway, back to the ketchup. Pat says when her kids come for supper and help to clean up, she can never find the ketchup afterwards. That's because they put it in the fridge!
My theory is that back in the 40's, we were so much aware of food spoiling, and we didn't waste anything. So we observed sanitary food guidelines which I still preach today - NO CROSS-CONTAMINATION OF FOODS! That means no crumbs in the butter, no butter or crumbs in the mayonnaise or jam jars. Besides, it is gross to look at Always, always use a clean spoon or knife for each item. And don't leave your fingerprints on the cheese. The slightest amount of grease will cause mold to grow on foods.
Ok, class dismissed. Excuse me while I fix myself a hot dog, now where is that ketchup?..
Access: Public
Funny post, Mimi.
I hadn't really thought about it much for the last 40 years! I use to work as a waitress in a New Jersey diner and before our shift ended, we had to turn all the ketchup bottles on top of each other to fill them up for the next day. Then wipe them clean and put them back on the table or counter. We didn't store them in a fridge at a restaurant that has to go through health inspections.
So now why do I keep my ketchup in the fridge door?
You've got me wonderin where I picked this habit up!
Thanks for the quirky post.
Nice Story! :-)
I prefer to eat ketchup when it's cold. I know some people that leave their butter sitting out so it's always soft. I'm guessing no one has died from that either. For some I believe it's just a preference. I don't give too much thought to the germs caused by food contamination,but it's another matter entirely when it comes to people not washing their hands after going to the bathroom. This has to be one of my biggest pet peeves.
I grew up in the South where we always called it an ice-box and I still do! LOL
MmMm my grandmother always had fresh canned plum jam from the plum tree that
I climbed in her backyard. She also had canned pickles and tomatoes.
When I was little I didn't like my food touching and if it did I simply wouldn't eat.
I don't mind now,but I'm with you it just seems too messy if crumbs are floating
around in the butter.
The thing that bothers me the most is all the preservatives we use. Bread can stay fresh for over a week…yikes…that's got to cause you some concern. My parents were both born in 1907, so I was a by product of the depression era. I remember as a kid going to the corner deli for our lunch cold cuts. I'd get a quarter pound of bologna, a quarter pound of salami, a quarter pound of pork loaf and a quarter pound of blood and tongue…and it would cost me a buck. And this was expensive because the corner deli charged more than the Broadway Market. Bread was a quarter.
thanks for stopping by everyone.
Ladybear - ya, the restaurants don't put the ketchup away in the fridge! I notice that there are packets now, or little cups you fill yourself (MacDonald's?)
HeyHey Lisha, I always leave my butter out in a covered butter dish. But I just cut a small piece each time. I love to slather loads of butter on my bread. Though I do like coldhish hunks of butter on hot bread. “Washing hands is a MUST! Never handle food without washing your hands first.
I don't worry too much about germs out there either.. A TV expose program swabbed everything out there that the public handles - store doors, bank machines, etc. Some of the most germ-laden things in restaurants were the menus, the salt and pepper shakers, and the unwrapped mints at the cashier desk. They found urine on the unwrapped mints. Now places only have wrapped mints. For a long time, I could barely look at the salt and pepper shakers after I saw the bacteria count the program showed. I had forgotten about till now. Yikes! Canning and tree climbing is a fond memory that many of us must surely share.
Hey maze,
Aaaah, the delights of cold cuts - who in gawd's name thought of making blood and tongue meat? Bolgna was a mainstay - my aunt used to make 4 slits in each slice and fry it up real nice in lots of bacon grease. Yummy! My favourite was macaroni and cheese loaf - My Mom would send me to buy 4 slices at a time. I'd watch the guy slice it and hope it had lots of cheese pieces in it.
We had a bakery in our tiny town. We bought fresh hot bread daily. It never got a chance to go stale. In the early 70's, my friend Roma once bought supermarket white sliced bread “Ponytail” brand –it stayed in her cupboard for a month, never drying out, never getting moldy. One day she reached for the bread to examine it, and it turned to powder in the bag. Scary! I bought an Italian loaf yesterday and it cost $2.25
The vinegar in ketchup & mustard (not to mention all the chemicals) preserve them, but we put ours in the fridge because we find they do go rank after a while. Leaving it out reduces the shelf life.
I'm so observant that I always notice greasy salt and pepper shakers at restaurants. I watched an experiment that a little girl did and she had water samples tested at various restaurants. There was more bacteria in the ice machines then some of the toilet water.
I won't even touch Bologna now let alone eat it! LOL My grandma used to cut a slit in it too and fry it up in bacon grease in a good ole cast iron skillet. She always bought Bologna by the chub and sliced it herself. She also used to slice up green onions and fry them as well. Everyone also requested her fried taters with onions at family reunions. MmMm pass the ketchup! :-)
Thanks for the reminiscing!
Hey Lisha,
we must be related somewhere –I still make fried potatoes with onions. If there were any leftover potatoes left from supper, my Dad would fry them up in bacon grease, with some chopped onion, and when they were nice and brown, he'd beat some eggs ,with lots of pepper, up and pour it over the potatoes. I still make “potatoes and eggs” as a comfort food.
Greetings Mimi, after 30 years of working on ships, we have never put the ketsup in the fridge, but at home I do to make it last longer is my train of thought on this. but after going to www.planetketsup.com it dosen't matter any which way you choose as long as you use it within a few months of opening it. No matter where you go, there you are. Praise Life RD
Hey Night,
You're righ about the vinegar preserving it, but it does go dark and dries out a bit and isn't quite as tasty.
I've gotten smart now and don't buy the giant bargain ketchup, just buy a small bottle that I can use up and then get a fresh one, and not have to worry about storing it anywhere for a year or more. Why didn't I figure that out sooner? hmmmmm…….
I so enjoyed this. I live in a tropical environment; we don't have to put our ketchup in the fridge. It hasn't gone bad in all the years I can remember. Bread won't last more than a day or two out of the fridge tho.
I don't like preservatives either; scary things. Buying smaller sizes and portions really isn't that bad. What's wrong with fresh and less clutter. And I do enjoy nipping in at the market for fresh stuff. Ooh such fun! Open air markets are the best!
Blessings, sherri
Hey sherri,
My cousin lived in Jamaica for many years and left stuff out of the refrigerator and everyone survived. I think back to when I was a kid and we'd dye Easter eggs and put them in a big basket on the dining room table. The eggs would be there for a week before they all got eaten.
I know people can get food poisoning and it is serious - I got it once long ago –from picnic potato salad that sat in the trunk of a car (un-iced) for 4 hours. I was sicker than a dog……uuuugh…
I miss those days Mimi! Everything was picked fresh, everything used daily.
These days everything's filled with harmful preservatives because we Don't eat fresh daily.
Well, I've got the makings for a great salad growing in my windowboxes, I do what I can, LOL.
And I like my condiments cold =)
I cannot vouch for the labelling of foods (esp. ketchup) in the US or elsewhere, but in Canada, reading the bottom of the “ingredients” label on the back of my large bottle of Ketchup - it says ”Refrigerate After Opening”. Remarkable the number of people that don't read or follow labels. My thinking is, labels were put there for a reason - with food generally because it either deals with the freshness or the actual edability (without consequences) of how food should be kept.
We did a lot of canning when I was a kid - I still can tomatoes and occasionally jams. Living in apartments seems to make it difficult to can things like dill pickles, though. We used to keep the canning crock in the basement when I was a kid - the vinegar aroma was potent! ;) My daughter still does the occasional batch of chili-sauce - you can smell it coming off the elevator 50 or 60 feet down the hall! Smells a lot better than the stale smell of curry that normally permeates the hallways of the building I used to live in.
Well this is certainly a most interesting discussion!! We do keep our ketchup in the frig….but can't wait to tell my husband about this alternative possibility when he gets home from work. Mimi, you have been a valuable new friend already. Thank you, and deep bows. :)