Lately as butter prices have started to increase I have been wondering about the difference in quality or otherwise between brands. My favorite brand for both cheese (Edam, Colby & Tasty) and butter has been Mainld but lately I have been buying whichever butter is the best price. It's often the supermarket brands at the moment. I don't buy churned butter nor the smaller (less than 500g) packs I'm just taking about standard blocks. I do find a difference in taste and to my mind quality in cheese so unfortunately I have been tending to pay the $18.95 per 1KG for my preference but if I see it on special I buy a few blocks. With butter though I'm not sure there's an appreciable difference, we keep it at room temperature in a butter crock for toast, sandwiches, baking and whatever and a block in the fridge. When it gets too warm to keep on the bench we just have it fridge cold until we can leave it out again. I think I've seen somewhere on here that some people find some brands lower quality. I'm wondering how that can be considering the simplicity of pure butter, I can see how there are couple brands saying they're superior using their own milk supply but the rest... surely pretty much of a muchness. I'd love to hear what you all think.

My dad worked at the Westland Dairy Factory and he said that the butter would come off the conveyer belt and the different wrappers would wrap as many as was ordered. Many different brands but same butter. This was some years ago but I doubt it has changed. The exceptions will be the boutique butters e.g. Lewis Road.

Of the mainstream butters I like Westgold and Mainland because they are wrapped in foil, which helps to prevent surface oxidation and tainting. Westgold is our favourite.

I don't think all mainstream butters are identical; certainly they are mostly the same fat content, around 80 - 82%, but there are variations in the salt levels, the freshness and the churning. Given that there isn't that much variation in the price it's worth paying attention and deciding which brand you like best.

Oh and I forgot to add that as I am a NW shopper I buy Pams butter as it is price fixed at $5 something as opposed to the others being way more expensive. We use a lot of butter so turn it over regularly.

I too buy on special & it keeps really well in the freezer & I take out as needed

I used to buy Countdowns own brand because it was a nicer colour rather than the paler ones of the other supermarket brands......NOW I just buy the cheapest...though I do prefer Mainland Tasty cheese others taste like soap with no bite...I buy any brand of Edam thats on special and mix a little tasty with it to oopmh it up

I also buy when on special and any brand, just ensuring it is not 400g packs! In to the freezer and then I am not paying exorbitant prices

In most cases, whichever butter is on special is the one in my trolley.
However, Being a West Coaster I am a big fan of Westgold. It is good butter, they also have some good recipes on their website.

I find if I buy Edam and leave it in the frig for a while it seems to be less bland.

I buy whatever is on special and freeze. Occasionally I buy Lewis Road butter as a treat when it’s at a good price. I buy tasty cheese, preferably Anchor. Cheese keeps really well in the fridge when unopened. Quite some time ago when I was dithering at the butter section in the supermarket, a lady standing next to me pointed out that some brands weigh 400 g only. Up till then I had not given it a thought.

Chris, Irene mentioned that 400g thing a couple of posts back and it's not just about butter but all sorts of products - keep the price the same and reduce the quantity - very deceptive because the average person wouldn't notice a smaller pack but would notice a price increase.

Re freezing butter - I never do because if you look at the BB date on a pack of butter it is about a year out. ...and how so when the ingredients are essentially cream and salt. I've never understood that...

Regards,

Barbara Anne

perhaps someone on here is in the know about this. I would guess the cream as an ingredient is not the same cream you buy in a bottle and whip for desserts. Butter is about 84% fat, and that cream is only about 20+% (dont have a bottle to check right now). Its raw cream which is the fat part that is not used for milk. Fat is a preservative as is salt so that would make it long lasting product. Hopefully someone can elaborate and explain correctly.

Yes, I'd always been puzzled by the freezing butter thing too as I personally don't know anyone who does that and didn't even realise it was something people do until people on Foodlovers started mentioning they do it.

But then I thought, maybe the people who have full fridges put their butter in the freezer so it doesn't use up fridge room.....

I am one who always keeps a supply of butter in the freezer, as I do with some staple basics in the pantry such as flour, s.r. flour, sugar, etc - keeping one step ahead I suppose and I purchase only when it's on special. I hate going to bake something and find I haven't got enough flour, or whatever. Maybe it's because, always having been a rural dweller, I habitually do it?
Regards,
Dawn.

When I used butter more than I do now, I'd keep four blocks in the fridge. When I'd used a couple of them, I'd buy two more.

How many blocks of butter do people have in their freezer? If it's only four, why not keep them in the fridge? The only reason I can think of is fridge space.

J1 Wrote:
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>
> How many blocks of butter do people have in their
> freezer? If it's only four, why not keep them in
> the fridge? The only reason I can think of is
> fridge space.

We don't get through a lot of butter. I buy it when I see Westgold or Lewis Road on special; I keep it in the freezer simply because then I don't have to keep track of its freshness and don't have to think about fridge taint.

J1, I keep about 4 packs of butter in the freezer at a time and when I get down to one, I will buy several on special again. We go through butter mainly on a very irregular basis. I have plenty of room in the freezer and yes packs of butter do fill fridge space. I can already have a one-step-ahead 1kg block of cheese sitting in the fridge, eggs, bacon, plus a range of opened home-made and commercial sauces/pickles/jams (we go through jam at an extremely slow pace) plus I have veterinary animal treatment medications which need to be kept in a fridge. I hate having to juggle the fridge for space.

I used to keep eggs out of the fridge, but we don't use enough eggs now to warrant having them sitting for ages on the bench.
Regards,
Dawn.

Yes, I'm also a person who always has a replacement ready at home for a product likely to run out within the forseeable future, and can't think of anything I've run out of for years. Sometimes I wonder if the toilet paper issue re Covid was because the people who panic bought it have experienced episodes of running out of it and so this brought on high anxiety around this product.

Me, too. I have two pantries: my 'in use' items in the kitchen pantry and a second pantry in the garage (nice and cool). When I finish the 'kitchen' item, I replace it with the second pantry item and add it to my shopping list, with a yellow star beside it to show to buy it when it comes on special.

I should add here that I have a shopping app (Our Groceries) which I have set up with aisles corresponding to the aisles in my favourite supermarket and have a permanent list of items I buy which I just have to tap on to put into the current shopping list. When I've bought that item, I 'swipe left' to put it back on the main list. I also have a list for my 2nd favourite s'market but it's not possible to have two set up in aisles, so this is just an alphabetical list. As I'm familiar with the order of the second supermarket aisles, I can re-sort the items on the list to be bought this week into the right place once I've created the list.

Lorna, I had to laugh about you placing a star next to an item you want to stock up on. I do the same but use a question mark. I don’t seem to run out of anything and actually save money that way because I never pay full price for certain items.