Messy Olive Oil

[Deleted User]

I've been buying olive oil (extra virgin) in 3 litre plastic bottles as they are a bit cheaper but they are messier to use than a litre or smaller bottle. I'm thinking of buying in even larger quantities now, maybe a 5 litre drum or suchlike if I could get a good price.

Any suggestions as to how I could use it on a daily basis without covering myself and the kitchen floor in it? I had thought of decanting into 1 litre bottles but would I lose too much oil in the process on the bottles\funnel to make it then worthwhile buying the drum in the first place?

kazwookie

Get a funnel and a steady hand

Kavanne

I have an oil drizzler which has a reasonable sized opening in the top for decanting into. Can get them any kitchen shop or dept. store, supermarket etc

[Deleted User]

kazwookie wrote: »

Get a funnel and a steady hand

Extra virgin olive oil is pretty viscous though, so part of my question related to the economics of whether it would actually be worth it due to oil loss - as in sticking to the funnel then being washed away, sticking to the next bottle etc. I wonder if anyone is already doing this........or maybe someone has a better method of dealing with a giant can of olive oil.

Enterprise_1701C

It doesn't stick to glass bottles as badly as plastic, might be worth buying some in a glass bottle then topping it up.

Another thought, you can buy pourers to go on top of bottles (intended for wine I think) - could work if you find one to go on the bottle you want to decant from.

If you buy a tin it might have a pourer on it anyway, should say somewhere on the tin if it does.

Lord_Kobel

I use a funnel to fill up an old oil bottle from the 2l tins I buy. Some oil stays on the funnel but I just leave it upside down on a pan I want oil in anyway so most of it comes off after a bit of time.

hilstep2000

I use a Harveys Bristol Cream blue glass bottle for mine. It looks nicer in my kitchen. I just decant it via a funnel, no probs!

geordie_lass_2

I decant mine into a bottle with a drizzler on using a funnel. If you have saved some old bottles then you'll only need to use the funnel once so less waste, screw the tops on then swap the drizzler over to a new bottle when the old one's finished.

If you do all this just before you are going to cook with the oil then you can leave the funnel in the pan and let the oil drain off it, also it's less sticky and clingy if the oil is at room temperature (not a cold room)

If you warm the funnel first in hot water then it should cling less, same goes for getting the last of the oil out of a bottle, just run hot tap water over it.

Bronnie

Do you use a lot of olive oil? Olive oil does not improve with age and once opened will start to deteriorate ( probably not noticeably to most of us, but that is the fact!). It is best purchased quantities that can be consumed within a couple of months of opening, decanted into dark glass and stored away from heat and light. There is useful info and there are some storage tips in this article

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/mostof_oliveoil.shtml

[Deleted User]

Thanks for all the replies. The ones about warming the funnel/bottles are particularly useful, hadn't thought of that. I know to some it might have seemed an obvious sort of question but when I've bought the stuff I don't like to waste any of it.

Yes, we use lots of olive oil as we don't use any other sort of oil, butter or spreads (even have it on toast) so don't keep it long enough to worry about deterioration but a good point to be aware of.

Pity I can't just fit a tap to the drum!

[Deleted User]

:DPlease stop keeping secrets and tell us how much you pay for it and where from:D