Looking For A Cheaper Alternative To Butter?

Penny-Pincher!!

Hi

I usually buy Asdas own butter tasting margarine-1kg for £1.35. I go through one of these about every 3 weeks and is used on sarnies/bread/mash/new pots etc. If we do any baking we normally use Asda own cooking marg 500g for 35p I think roughly.

I like a creamy buttery taste and was wondering if anyone can recomend an equivalent alternative that is cheaper or is this good value? I dont like the unsalted butter either.

I went to Aldis last week and was very impressed by the quality and cheapness of their products-we tried their baked beans tonight and am now a convert and I usually only have Heinz, so will be stocking up on these next time we go there. I have a Lidls, Asda, Co-op and Tesco close but will be going to Aldis now and again, so am willing to anything.

Many Thanks

Penny-Pincher!!
xx

Magentasue

Can't help you, only buy butter and use it for cooking too, unless I use olive oil. Margarines are such highly processed products I don't think anyone would eat them if they saw them being made. Now I may be wrong about that but I remember seeing this on TV years ago and it was such a chemical process it put me off. So I'd buy butter, 53p in Aldi, and use less!

Ticklemouse

Magenta - you beat me to it. I only use butter. I did know about marg but I heard some Dr or nutritionist or somesuch say that even tho' butter is high in fat, it's natural so your body can break it down much better than these low fat spreads, of which the nasties end up being stored in your body. That was enough for me (as if I needed convincing)

In fact, last Xmas, I converted MIL to butter only. She decided that she'd rather have a little butter and enjoy it, that have spread all the time. And like you say, the OB's are 53 per packet, so I use them for eating and baking.

jaybee

I use Sainsbury's Olive spread (like Olivio or Bertorelli) for toast and sandwiches but HAVE to have butter on jacket potatoes!

Penny-Pincher!!

The one I use is made of Buttermilk and soya and isnt low fat. If I switched to butter at 53p for 250g-this would up my cost too £2.06 not £1.35 I now pay.

What are the bad things in margarine I need to be looking for? I like alot of butter on my toast so it would be harder for me to use less and pay more IYKWIM.

Up to 12months ago I used M&S butter spreadable only and was going through 2 of these a week easily :eek:

Also, may I ask how you store your butter as I have found in the past that the butter goes too soft left out (and tastes off) in a traditional dish or too hard in the fridge?

The fat content isnt a problem as I need a very high fat diet, but obviously I dont want to kill myself in the process as I already have too many health problems ATM..lol. Is there a particular butter you would recomend and what kind of quantites do you use on say: toast/sarnies/jacket spuds/mash etc etc?

Sorry about all these questions.

PP
xx

lindadykes

I too use only butter, finding the own brands cheap enough. I was recently on a course where we were told that margarine is only 1 molecule away from plastic, so that to me vindicated my use of butter!

Trow

The one thing (IMO) to be REALLY wary of in marg is hydrogenated oils. Basically this is liquid oil that has been processed (hydrogenated) to make it solid - unfortunately the process that makes it stick together as a solid also makes it stick to arteries and it is one of the modern day contributers to heart disease. Stay well clear.

AussieLass

PP this is a tip from the Oz equilavent MSE. I haven't tried it but if you do, let me know if it was ok.

Double your supply of butter by making a creamy spread that is great for sandwiches etc (can't be used for cooking in recipes for cakes, biscuits)
The butter or marg should be at room temperature. Place 250g in a small bowl and beat on medium speed until soft. Hav 1/2 cup cold water & 1/2 cup hot water ready. Gradually add 1 teaspoon of hot, then 1 teas cold to butter while beating and continue until all water is used.

Do not add too quickly as the water will not absorb. Cover & referigerate. Allow to return to room temperature before beating again to creamy consistency. It will then double in volume.

I only use butter as there is so many nasties in marg. It's worth a try with butter if you use such a lot. HTH

theverylast

Local butter only for me I'm afraid. Although we tend to economise wherever we can, there are certain areas I never will - butter, tea, meat and veg (although that's not to say I don't buy cheap cuts - shin, skirt etc., just not things like two chickens for a fiver).

Good butter is so nice I couldn't imagine downgrading.

Sorry!

Sweet_Pea_2

Hi PP,
I use Aldis beautifully butterfully which is 59p a tub and has a buttery taste. Its nice on toast and jacket spuds etc.
I started to use butter but DD's decided they were not keen so swapped to a buttery tasting spread and they liked it. (very strange) but I dont really need an excuse to go back to butter and after reading all these posts Im tempted to.
I read a tip very similar to AussieLass' in the Tightwad Gazette I think, except I'm sure she recommended whipping in milk instead of butter to make your butter go further and it also made it easier to spread.
With regards to storing it, I use a glass butter dish because I found it went off much quicker if I used plastic.

apple_mint

I too mainly use butter after reading about hydrogenated oils on MSE. I do buy an olive oil based spread for OH to use on his sandwiches as the olive oil based spreads don't appear to contain hydrogenated oils. I buy ours from netto at 53p a tub (as opposed to 93p) for Tesco's. It's butter for baking, pastries etc as I'm not keen to add all the plastics/preservatives to our other foods.

I get the value butter from Tesco (54p) which I read somewhere on MSE is made by a major butter brand.