Here is a list of idiomatic expressions using the word bread.

Someone’s bread and butter

This is a figurative expression. Your bread and butter is your livelihood.

• For a real estate agent, their commission is their bread and butter.

Bread always falls on the buttered side

Used to mean that when things go wrong, they have a tendency to go completely wrong.

• The painting not only fell off the wall, but also broke the flower vase by landing on it. Bread always falls on the buttered side.

Bread is the staff of life.

This is a proverb. It means that people can’t survive without food.

Break bread with someone

To break bread with someone is to share a meal with them.

• I haven’t broken bread with my parents in a long time.

Cast one’s bread upon the waters.

To cast your bread upon the waters is to act generously because you feel that it is the right thing to do.

The greatest thing since sliced bread

If something is being referred to as the greatest thing since sliced bread, it is simply the best.

Know which side one’s bread is buttered on

When you know which side your bread is buttered on, you are loyal to the people who benefit you the most.

• Sally wouldn’t do anything that would upset her mother-in-law. Her husband is jobless and they survive on his mother’s pension. She certainly knows which side her bread is buttered on.

 Man does not live by bread alone.

Used to mean that people need more than just food and water to survive.