Looking For A Cheaper Alternative To Butter?

Contains_Mild_Peril

I know it's not healthy, but I do like my buttery spreads. There's nothing to beat the taste of real butter, but I find spreads like I Can't Believe It's Not Butter a good compromise on taste and spreadability. I buy whichever happens to be on BOGOF offer at the time; with a choice of supermarkets in my town, there's normally at least one (usually Iceland, although they tend to be a bit more expensive than the big supermarkets to begin with, especially for non-frozen foods). Atm I think Iceland's BOGOF is 1kg tubs of Utterly Butterly for about £2.30.
My siblings actually prefer cheap marg to butter, which I find quite odd.

Chipps

I once asked a friend who was training to be a nutritionist, which was healthier: margarine or butter. She replied that it depended whether you wanted to die of cancer or a heart attack!
I have to say that I have gone the "heart attack" route, because it seems to me that if they are both equally unhealthy in one sense (ie the amount of fat) it is better to go for the natural product, and just eat less of it, rather than eat a cocktail of chemicals and fool oneself into thinking its any better for you!

Chipps

Penny-Pincher!! wrote:

So if we eat margarine we will die of cancer or if we eat butter we will die of a heart attack? Is there actual medical proof to back up either?

Sorry if I have caused offense by the above comments but that is not my intention.

Hi PP
Sorry, it wasn't my intention to cause offence either. I assumed that my friend was speaking "tongue in cheek" when she said this.
To be honest, I suspect that eating normal quantities of any of these products is fine; eating either to excess is not going to be healthy for whatever reason.
My DH really dislikes any of the margarines & spreads so I have to buy butter. I personally don't mind any for taste, but do prefer the fact that the ingredients of butter are "butter & salt" rather than a list of other things.
So, I buy butter, but don't have it myself if I am putting something else on the bread, neither do I butter bread if I am eating it with soup, although DH always has butter.
In the past I have added milk to make a butter spread - this lasts longer, but you can't cook with it. (Actually when I bake I do use baking margarine!)
So please accept my apologies if I offended you, it really wasn't intended that way at all.
love Chipps

AussieLass

I thought you got a lot of good tips and ideas. From how to double the quantity of butter (me):rolleyes: to cheap alternatives in different supermarkets. Whats wrong with expressing our view whether we like butter or marg in the process. It's called "getting to know you better". I think everyone knows marg has a lot of chemicals in it. It's no secret.

No offense taken.

Penny-Pincher!!

Sorry-I didnt mean to sound so rude :eek: I will delete the post

PP
xx

Trow

Contains_Mild_Peril wrote:

I know it's not healthy, but I do like my buttery spreads. There's nothing to beat the taste of real butter, but I find spreads like I Can't Believe It's Not Butter a good compromise on taste and spreadability.

If you are at all concerned about hydrogenated oils, then I know that I can't beleive its not butter and Flora Buttery are good options as they are free of them.

HTH!

callansdad

Anybody tried making their own butter? Hugh Fearnly Whittingstalls - River Cottage Family Cookbook, great reading and it seems so simple. Havent tried it yet but basically you get some double cream .... put it in a glass jar about 1/3 full put on lid and shake!

After a bout 10- 15 minutes it should turn into a solid mass (butter) you have to then drain this from the remaining liquid (buttermilk) and also squeeze all the liquid you can from the butter ... apparantly if there is too much buttermilk left in the butter it will go off pretty quick.

Dunno how well this works though ... but the book is definately worth as read ... its very in-depth about products and where they come from.

Trow

Not tried it yet - I have been on the lookout for reduced price double cream for a while as it hardly seems worth buying full-price for an experiment.... it can be done in the food processor too.

HOLsale

Ticklemouse wrote:

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)

.

butter contains a perfect balance of omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids which are both important to good health, also most people get enough omega 3 but not enough omega 6 and balance of the two is important so i only use butter

plus as mentioned the nasty processing of margine. if i remember correctly the hydrogenation process involves forcing the oil through nickel or something dreadful like that :eek:

Magentasue

The way I look at it, if someone said, forget about eggs now, we've come up with a way to make a synthetic version that is highly processed and full of chemicals BUT cheaper ... how many of us would be interested?