# Do breadboxes work? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 16, 2004, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-breadboxes-work/245439 "2004-05-16T16:27:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Lambo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lambo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lambo)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2004, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-breadboxes-work/245439/21 "2004-05-17T22:37:02Z")
> [@TellMeI'mNotCrazy](#): > > Are you my brother? I swear if it weren’t for the Atlanta in your location… We have the same exact drawers in my house (which was also my childhood home) and into them go the same exact things - bread in the first one, and baking goods in the second. I remember my surprise the first time I moved into a home without one, and had to ask… Where’s the bread drawer?? This was in an older midwest farmhouse, built in the '20’s, I would guess. Original cabinets, to my knowledge (I know that it was hell finding hardware that would fit correctly, very limited selection). Now that I think of it, I haven’t seen drawers like this in other houses, either. ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2004, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-breadboxes-work/245439/22 "2004-05-18T00:44:52Z")
> [@Popup](#): > > Nope! > (At least not the part about (not) keeping bread in a fridge.) > > Bread starts going stale once it’s baked, and water loss is only one part of it. The staling process is not very fast at room temperature, but supposedly faster at fridge temperatures. In the freezer it is almost completelly stopped. I guess I’d be interested in learning what process goes faster in a cold refrigerator than in a warm kitchen. That’s not the way chemical activity usually works. The only thing I could think of would be faster evaporation due to the lower humidity in the fridge, but that doesn’t seem satisfactory for a couple of reasons. The first is that bread is typically wrapped in plastic; the second is that the humidity in a house in winter is often just as low or lower than in the fridge. ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2004, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-breadboxes-work/245439/23 "2004-05-18T00:55:27Z")
It was always my understanding the refrigerating bread wasn’t a good idea because the process of removing it from the fridge causes condensation inside the bag, etc, making for less tasty bread. I could be wrong though. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2004, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-breadboxes-work/245439/24 "2004-05-18T01:22:01Z")
I have always kept my bread in the fridge, and I’ve never had any problem. I also go thru a loaf in about 10 days, so it never gets old anyway. I also buy loaves that have double plastic (Earth Grains Honey Wheatberry), if that makes any difference. ---
**Author:** ![Popup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/94ad74/32.png) [@Popup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Popup)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2004, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-breadboxes-work/245439/25 "2004-05-18T07:32:42Z")
> [@Finagle](#): > > I guess I’d be interested in learning what process goes faster in a cold refrigerator than in a warm kitchen. That’s not the way chemical activity usually works. I agree, but unfortunatelly I can’t give you any good explanation. In the book there’s a graph plotting how fast the moisture gets absorbed/lost, and it is quite clear. I don’t think he gives any scientifically valid reasoning, but the data is taken from actual experiments. ---
**Author:** ![rcohen551](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e9bcb4/32.png) [@rcohen551](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rcohen551)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-breadboxes-work/245439/26 "2011-01-19T04:44:23Z")
I found an older style tin breadbox about 3 or 4 years ago. Not sure why this thing works, but I have had tortillas in it now in their once opened plastic bag for about 6 weeks now. Packaged bread and rolls last a long time as well. Hamburger buns have been in since Christmas weekend. Had one this evening and fresh as ever. Used to have a wood breadbox and it wasn’t good for much except not crushing breads. Still went bad in a short period of time. Sure has been a mystery but it works. It has 2 levels one with a drop door the another with a latching door. There are some designs on it and there are some vent holes. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-breadboxes-work/245439/27 "2011-01-19T05:26:26Z")
Is a zombie bigger than a breadbox? ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-breadboxes-work/245439/28 "2011-01-19T06:47:03Z")
I don’t know, OP. But I’ve noticed that mold isn’t the problem it used to be and I don’t know why. I buy the hippy-est bread I can find at my non-healthfood grocery store (Vermont multigrain something or other), and put it in the fridge, and it seems to last basically forever. My grandma gets Levys? Jewish rye bread, and leaves it out (in the plastic but not fridge) and it also lasts basically forever. When I was a kid, even if refrigerated, one constantly had to check bread for mold issues. Why is this? Is bread even more saturated with preservatives (even Vermont hippy bread)? Are fridges more dehumidified? Is mold an endangered species? Lettuce doesn’t last unless I put it in a box with paper towels to absorb water. Issues other than mold I haven’t paid attention to (staleness etc). ---
**Author:** ![ecseas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ecseas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ecseas)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-breadboxes-work/245439/29 "2011-01-19T06:59:29Z")
> [@lektrikpuke](#): > > Just my opinion, but frozen bread sucks. It’s soggy when you defrost it. My mother used to buy bread en masse, and in order to make it last, froze it. My brother and I were forced to eat it and we both hated it. It’s barely useable as toast. I’d think against using it in meatloaf, that’s how much I dislike it. Frozen bread - yuck!!! Fresh bread - yum!! 🙂 obviously you don’t defrost it right. I’ve only seen it soggy if it’s been defrosted too fast, or it’s gotten wet in the freezer, and I live in a humid climate. If you really don’t like it, you could use it to make toasted bread crumbs or croutons ---
**Author:** ![bahimes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@bahimes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bahimes)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-breadboxes-work/245439/30 "2011-01-19T07:47:47Z")
I found a wooden, with a curved plastic (Flip-up) cover which seems to work well. Years ago in Spain, the “Marias” in the neighborhood would hang bags of some type of fabric (muslin?) on the street gates or the door handles, for the bread man to drop their daily orders in. In their homes, later in the day, the bags would be hung in the kitchen and the bread stayed fresh until use. Granted, the usage was daily so not a big problem. I never was able to find the bags in stores, and always forgot to ask the neighbors. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-breadboxes-work/245439/31 "2011-01-19T08:37:31Z")
> [@Lambo](#): > > In the house I grew up in, the kitchen had two drawers (out of, say, 10-12) that were made of tin/metal of some sort, instead of wood (like the rest). I don’'t know for sure what they were actually meant for, but we kept bread in one, and cookie-making ingredients (chocolate, peanut butter, butterscotch, and cherry chips, brown sugar, powdered sugar, coconut) in the other. Weird, I was just thinking about this sort of drawer this weekend. See, my great-grandmother had one, and for some reason I was trying to remember if we ever used it after we moved in to take care of her. I didn’t figure it out, because while I recall all the stuff she kept in it, I don’t remember us using it ourselves. Anyway, until a couple of years ago, we had a wooden bread box, and when it fell apart we replaced it with a wire basket. There doesn’t seem to be any significant difference in how long bread last(ed) in either. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-breadboxes-work/245439/32 "2011-01-19T11:01:41Z")
> [@Lambo](#): > > In the house I grew up in, the kitchen had two drawers (out of, say, 10-12) that were made of tin/metal of some sort, instead of wood (like the rest). I don’'t know for sure what they were actually meant for, but we kept bread in one, and cookie-making ingredients (chocolate, peanut butter, butterscotch, and cherry chips, brown sugar, powdered sugar, coconut) in the other. My mothers house also has 2 metal drawers like that. The top one is the ‘bread drawer’, while the one below it is much larger, and holds a 25-pound sack of flour. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2011, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-breadboxes-work/245439/33 "2011-01-21T01:07:43Z")
> [@Lambo](#): > > This was in an older midwest farmhouse, built in the '20’s, I would guess. Original cabinets, to my knowledge (I know that it was hell finding hardware that would fit correctly, very limited selection). Now that I think of it, I haven’t seen drawers like this in other houses, either. There was one such drawer in my house growing up (kitchen remodeled in about 1963 so it was installed then). Dunno if it made the bread last longer or not; with 4 kids in the family, bread didn’t last long enough to go bad. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-breadboxes-work/245439.md?page=1)