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Show HN: I made a website to search for half loaves of bread

halfloafnear.me

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Re: Show HN: I made a website to search for half loaves of bread

#61

Post by ascar »

As a German the cultural differences around bread are really interesting. Already the cartoon picture of the half loaf of bread is so fundamentally different to what I am expecting it to look like. Also people in the comments saying they rarely not finish a loaf of bread.

This [1] is how it looks like here and when bought at a bakery it's usually so big that we buy it in quarters and even that lasts a couple of days. It also tastes very different from what the rest of the world considers bread. It's much stronger in flavor.

[1] https://www.sonachgefuehl.de/rustikales-bauernbrot/

Re: Show HN: I made a website to search for half loaves of bread

#62

Post by hnlmorg »

curiousfab wrote: post #4

Realizing that you can put bread in the freezer changed my life - well, at least my bread buying habits ;-)

Freezing bread alters it. I can't recall off hand what it does but I don't much like the taste. I'm not particularly a fan of bread at the best of times though, so I might be more susceptible to the change taste of frozen bread than most. In fact it's pretty much only freshly baked bread that I enjoy.

Re: Show HN: I made a website to search for half loaves of bread

#63

Post by nonstickcoating »

c0wb0yc0d3r wrote: post #41
curiousfab wrote: post #4

Realizing that you can put bread in the freezer changed my life - well, at least my bread buying habits ;-)

It really is a game changer. Even just putting it in the fridge prolongs its shelf life. Just make sure to keep the bag sealed with a twist tie, to keep the bread from drying out. I also save the heels until last, as well. They make good end caps while you're finishing the rest of the loaf.

My flatmate, who is a baker by trade, violently disagrees with putting bread in the fridge. He argues that the condensation in the bag/box you store it in increases the chance of mold and interferes with the bread's structural integrity. He recommends to store bread in a paper bag in a bread bin somewhere on your counter top, but a clay baker or something similiar will also do the trick. I'll add, that it's perfectly legit to store bread in the fridge if it would go bad otherwise. Just one of the usual nitpicks tradespeople have regarding their line of work.

Re: Show HN: I made a website to search for half loaves of bread

#64

Post by boomboomsubban »

tuukkah wrote: post #51
stepbeek wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The grocery store near me has a food bank donation that you can put items in before you exit.

I've been thinking it would be a win-win-win situation if I had the choice to donate the other half as money instead of as an item: I get one item cheaper, someone gets a useful, extra donation from me, and the store gets to sell the other item again.

It's only a win for the store if they would sell out of the product if you purchased two, as they would only make the profit off of selling one item to you rather than two. That's why those food bank donations annoy me, they supermarket effectively takes a cut of all the donations.

Re: Show HN: I made a website to search for half loaves of bread

#65

Post by jaywalk »

lostcolony wrote: post #52
navbaker wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm going to make billions providing an escrow service for food splitting where I guarantee the provenance of items like this. I'll make sure to find a use for blockchain so I can really up my profits.

Don't sell the food; sell an NFT of the food. That'll -really- up your profits. Plus, NFTs never spoil!...until you add that feature. Once you have spoiling half cans of tomato sauce in the metaverse you'll be rich!

NFTs with expiration dates! Thanks for making me a billionaire.

Re: Show HN: I made a website to search for half loaves of bread

#66

Post by jason_zig »

hnlmorg wrote: post #62
curiousfab wrote: post #4

Realizing that you can put bread in the freezer changed my life - well, at least my bread buying habits ;-)

Freezing bread alters it. I can't recall off hand what it does but I don't much like the taste. I'm not particularly a fan of bread at the best of times though, so I might be more susceptible to the change taste of frozen bread than most. In fact it's pretty much only freshly baked bread that I enjoy.

Have you tried toasting it when you take it out of the freezer?

Re: Show HN: I made a website to search for half loaves of bread

#67

Post by ht_th »

netsharc wrote: post #11
cors-fls wrote: post #6

I thought it was an app to match people that want an half loaf so they can share a full loaf of bread. That would be innovative. But no, it only searches store inventories for half-loaves for sale. I love the laser focus on half-loaves anyway.

Food sharing in general should be encouraged (as a fickle single man I end up throwing away a lot of food, after e.g. opening a jar of tomato sauce and consuming half of it and leaving the other half in the fridge to use "soon"), but that's odd if it only looks in stores.

I am also fickle with my food, and a vegan to boot. I solved this problem of leftovers for my situation by making soup. With leftovers, like your tomato sauce, you can always make a soup. Making soup is easy. You can do that in parallel with making dinner, or quickly before breakfast or lunch. You can store and carry it in a thermos flask, or in a simple jar and heat it in a microwave at work. You can also use it as a starter for tomorrow's dinner. Or freeze it for later consumption. Soup, it's great!

Re: Show HN: I made a website to search for half loaves of bread

#68

Post by soniman »

boplicity wrote: post #28

Fascinating just to see the prices of bread in another country. In the Mumbai area, it looks like a half loaf costs between 17 and 75 INR -- with most around 22 INR, or 30 cents US. Here in Toronto, we often pay $4 to $5 (USD) for a decent loaf of sandwich bread. The difference is pretty striking.

Wheat is often subsidized for the poor.

Re: Show HN: I made a website to search for half loaves of bread

#69

Post by Xylakant »

hnlmorg wrote: post #62
curiousfab wrote: post #4

Realizing that you can put bread in the freezer changed my life - well, at least my bread buying habits ;-)

Freezing bread alters it. I can't recall off hand what it does but I don't much like the taste. I'm not particularly a fan of bread at the best of times though, so I might be more susceptible to the change taste of frozen bread than most. In fact it's pretty much only freshly baked bread that I enjoy.

The change in consistency happens most quickly at temperatures in the single digits, that’s also why bread in the fridge gets stale faster. But toasting the bread reverts the process. So the trick is to defrost in the microwave and pop it in the oven (if still in a loaf) or toaster (if sliced). Put some water on the crust to prevent it from baking too much. Works wonders on yesterday’s rolls too.

Re: Show HN: I made a website to search for half loaves of bread

#70

Post by b112 »

boomboomsubban wrote: post #64
tuukkah wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been thinking it would be a win-win-win situation if I had the choice to donate the other half as money instead of as an item: I get one item cheaper, someone gets a useful, extra donation from me, and the store gets to sell the other item again.

It's only a win for the store if they would sell out of the product if you purchased two, as they would only make the profit off of selling one item to you rather than two. That's why those food bank donations annoy me, they supermarket effectively takes a cut of all the donations.

Not completely true!

For emergency preparedness, I keep a few hundred cans of food around. I live in a rural area, and this is prudent.

I never eat them all best-before, and as this is canned food, best-before is not an expiry/safety date, even remotely.

It is a flavour date.

So I donate my stuff, before purchasing new. And before anyone gets all weird about it, I eat from the same stock I donate, even the day of donation.

This means people get good quality food, I get to renew my stocks, and the grocery store with the donation bin, may or may not have been where I bought the food.

If more people did this, we'd all be better able to handle disasters, and those in need would be better fed. A real win-win.

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