How To Decode Bread Tie Colors At The Grocery Store

There are many things to consider when you're picking out a loaf of bread at the grocery store. Should you go for a sprouted grain this week, or perhaps a potato bread? How about a rye bread, or maybe even a whole wheat? What will taste better with that tomato sandwich you've been craving (our suggestion for this one is white bread)? Perhaps you're interested in trying the simple British "crisp sandwich," which is really just potato chips, butter, and bread. No matter which loaf you're eyeing in the bread aisle, there's one thing that can give you a bit more information as you're shopping: the bread bag tie. 

The bread bag tie, also known as a bread tag or a bread buckle, doesn't just have the sell by date and a random code on it. The colorful fasteners are actually how a bakery deciphers between the loaves they bake every day. Every color coincides with a different day of the week. The most common color coding has blue tags for Monday, green tags for Tuesday, red tags for Thursday, white tags for Friday, and yellow tags for Saturday (with Sunday and Wednesday being typical days off).

But here's where it gets tricky: There's no industry standard for these bread ties, so different bakeries have different colors for different days. In other words, the tags are only really helpful for the bakeries as they keep track of all their bread. So, as much as it feels like you've discovered a cheat code for finding the freshest bread possible, it's not really as useful as one might think.

While it would be nice if the bag ties were universally coded across all bakeries and grocery stores, there are other ways to make sure you're taking home the freshest loaf on the shelf. Bag ties still come in handy because most of them have the sell by date on them (if not, it'll be on the bag itself) so you can look for the date that's the farthest out. 

If you'd like more concrete information, call the manufacturer of your favorite bread. You can ask what their particular bread tie color coding means, since the colors will be consistent internally (even if they differ from other bakeries'). Or, you can ask someone who works at your local grocery store about their particular system for stocking the bread aisle. They may have some insider information about which days the loaves are put on the shelves and which days they get deliveries, especially if you have a favorite bread that you regularly purchase. Of course, you could always skip the color coding and make the bread at home yourself. After all, if it's coming hot out of your oven, you know how fresh it really is.