About 6 or 8 weeks ago, we gave up using oleomargarine in our house.  I read a somewhat inflammatory (yet still scary) Internet story about how oleo was invented and how it ended up in our diet.  I did some fact checking, and some of it isn’t true, but some of it…yikes.  That stuff is really bad for you.  Whether it is the stick kind we all use for baking cookies, or the soft tub kind we use on our toast, the crux of it is, this is not a food.  It is a food-like substance.  And as a food-like substance, it probably does not belong in our bellies.

The last two years, but really the last six months, have found me taking extra effort to be sure what I’m putting in my body is real food.  This, of course, extends to what I’m putting in my family’s body, too, at least for the meals I have control over.  I’ve been buying better quality bread (or making it myself), not buying convenience or quick-cook foods, adding more fresh as opposed to canned veggies (although canned tomatoes are still on my pantry shelves because they are actually better for you than fresh), and cooking the majority of what we eat together as a family from scratch.

And this meant that oleomargarine had to go.  My first worry was that butter wasn’t convenient – it is hard as a rock when it comes out of the refrigerator, which makes it pretty terrible for spreading on bread.  My second worry was that the family wouldn’t adjust.  The third worry was that the family would overeat the butter, and that would poke a huge hole in my budget.   All of my fears, however, were for naught.

Turns out you don’t have to refrigerate butter.  No, not even in our hot environment here in Colorado.  They make this nifty little thing called a “butter bell.”  The butter bell holds a little water in the bottom, and the lid, which is an inverted bell, then holds the butter.  You put the lid on and the water forms a seal to keep out floating whatevers in the air.  The butter itself will not go bad, even in the heat.  Butter is, unbeknownst to me, quite a stable product!  Without the whey, it does not go rancid.  Seriously, it doesn’t!  So I have a butter bell on the dining room table with salted butter in it, and I have a small container with a lid I keep on the counter by the stove to hold the unsalted butter I use for cooking.  Here is a picture of my butter bell:

Second, the family actually adjusted pretty quickly.  Klown was my biggest worry, and he actually has been fine with it.  I just keep it full, and he uses it.  After three weeks of keeping the giant tub of oleomargarine in the refrigerator, I tossed it.  Everyone was eating the butter instead.  The third worry, the expense, is a valid one.  However, butter consumption compared to oleo consumption is way less. When I cook with butter, it is stable and isn’t completely absorbed by the food it is cooking, the way oleo was.  I had to use twice as much oleo to saute a pile of squash.  With the butter, it’s just a tablespoon or so, and it works just as good.  I watch for it to go on sale and stock up, putting it in the freezer until I need it.  I buy both salted and unsalted, and yes, it’s more expensive than oleo, but we don’t seem to go through it as fast.

So, so far this has been a good switch for us.  And as a bonus, I think it has helped me to lose weight and feel better.  I can’t blame it all on butter, because there are other major changes in my diet that went along with the butter change (more fresh or frozen veggies, no more canned veggies, very limited ingestion of convenience or easy-to-make foods, less bread/white flour).  I am using more olive oil and less vegetable oil.  I am not eating anything that has “high fructose corn syrup” in the list of ingredients.  I am down 8 pounds in about five weeks or so, which is surprising to me.  I have not changed my level of physical activity or the amount of food I’m eating.  It’s just that I am eating better food.  Better quality food.

I am glad I can afford to do this, that I can afford to shop for the best of the freshest stuff (although I am always buying on sale, because I’m smart like that).  I’m thankful that I know how to prepare foods from scratch, and that I have the time to invest in cooking well.  I know my family is still visiting McDonald’s when I’m not around, and eating junk food.  But what I put on the table, is the good stuff.

Have you tried giving up non-foods like oleomargarine?  What was your experience?

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