There are few things more annoying than opening a loaf mid-week and finding it’s already on its way out.
Most of us blame ourselves. We left it on the counter too long, or forgot to tie the bag properly, or put it in the fridge (which, for the record, actually speeds up staling rather than slowing it down). But a lot of the time, the issue isn’t what you did after you got the bread home. It’s what the bread came in.
Bread packaging matters more than you’d think
Conventional plastic bread bags are designed to get the loaf from A to B. They’re not particularly breathable, they’re not reusable in any meaningful way, and they typically end up straight in the bin. In terms of actually protecting the bread as the days go on, they’re doing the bare minimum.
What bread actually needs is a bag that maintains just enough moisture to keep the crumb soft, without trapping so much that it encourages mould. It sounds simple, and it is, but the material has to be right.
We’re on a journey to find the right solution with more work still to do.
Firstly, we created a way to recycle the soft plastic outer often found on bread packaging, through our soft plastics collection service: Simply buy a collection bag (they are on offer at £1 at the moment), gather your soft plastics and we’ll collect these to ensure they are recycled properly.
Secondly, we’ve partnered with Treetop Biopak’s home-compostable bread bag, making us the first UK business to roll it out nationwide. Our regional sourdough’s come in a handy bag.
The bags are made from a single-layer compostable film that’s waterproof enough to protect the loaf and maintain freshness on the doorstep. But here’s the part we love: they break down in around 12 months without leaving microplastics or pollutants behind. That’s compared to a standard plastic bag, which can take up to 450 years to degrade.
When you’ve finished the loaf, you can pop the bag in your food waste bin, add it to a garden compost heap, or use it as an organic waste liner. It’s genuinely useful right to the end.
Why it’s a better start to the day
Fresh bread delivered to your doorstep in packaging that actually does its job, from independent bakeries we’re proud to work with. No extra cost to you, no trip to the shops, and one less piece of plastic heading to landfill.
The switch forms part of a wider rollout already underway, and we think it’s a meaningful step, given that an estimated 11 to 12 million loaves are sold in the UK every single day.
What about storing it once it’s open?
A few extra tips while we’re here:
Keep your bread at room temperature, not in the fridge. Fridge temperatures actually accelerate the staling process. A bread bin or a cool, dry cupboard is better. If you know you won’t get through the loaf in time, slice it and freeze it on the day it arrives. Toast from frozen is genuinely brilliant and there’s no waste. A lot of our customers buy our sliced, sour dough, freeze it and then use when needed.
If you’d like to try a loaf, we’ve a lovely range of freshly baked bread from Bread of Life and a wider network of independent bakeries, all delivered straight to your doorstep. Browse the bread range here.
