Why This Frugal Blogger Refuses to Buy the Cheapest Item in the Dairy Aisle

Standing in the dairy aisle at Walmart,  I can't help but notice the price difference between their Great Value butter ($3.06/lb) and Imperial margarine ($1.24/lb). The margarine is clearly the budget winner at a fraction of the cost of butter. My frugal brain says, "get the margarine, get the margarine." But my gut (quite literally) says, "no! Don't do it!" The thought of eating margarine gives me shivers. You know I'm a frugal person. You read here daily how I cut corners to save money. But frugality without a few boundaries isn't wise, it's a downer. My boundary line is in that dairy aisle. My boundary is real butter. 

I think we all realize margarine is a manufactured, chemically altered oil product. Just how processed is margarine? If you'd like a peek into how margarine is made, here's a 10-minute video that shows the process, and oddly, presents it in a positive light.  We all make our own choices and have our own preferences, but for me, I refuse to put chemically altered oils into my body in the name of saving 2 bucks.

Why My Body (and My Tastebuds) Refuse Fake It

image: Bao Menglong on Unsplash

Real butter has a great mouth feel. And the flavor can't be matched by margarine. I can taste a hint of dairy cream in real butter. There's even a cow on the box of butter. (And manufacturers wouldn't lie about what's in their product, now, would they?) With margarine, I taste oil and salt. 

Butter adds it's creamy richness to everything I bake and cook. Meanwhile, margarine has a relatively high water content and can ruin the texture of baked goods or even a slice of "buttered" toast, in my opinion. Here are the actual ingredients as listed on the package for a box of Imperial margarine: Vegetable Oil Blend (Palm, Soybean, and Palm Kernel Oils), Water, Salt, Distilled Monoglycerides, Soy Lecithin, Potassium Sorbate and Calcium Disodium EDTA (Used to Protect Quality), Pea Protein, Citric Acid, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Vitamin A Palmitate, Beta Carotene (Color). If that's what is fit for a king, I guess I'll settle for being a butter-eating pauper.

The Butter Budget: Where I Shave to Afford the Good Stuff

image: LAUREN GRAY on Unsplash

At $3 (or more) per pound, butter isn't cheap. I mean, I can buy chicken for less per pound than butter. So how do I, as a frugal person, afford my family's butter fix? You know I don't buy packaged processed snack foods, frozen meals, or soda. By skipping those items, I free up enough of our limited grocery budget to buy a pound of real butter every week. I still buy the store brand of butter. It's my frugal heart's dream to someday buy a roll of Amish Country butter. It doesn't come packaged in sticks, but in one large 2-lb lump, at a pricey $12.79/2 lbs. Pricey butter, yes, but I suspect it has a taste and creaminess to blow the budget for.

I can't say I use less butter than I would margarine because the quality is so much better with the butter that I need less. I smear my piece of toast thickly with butter so I can really enjoy that taste. We have a little debate in our house, which is better, butter on cold toast so the butter doesn't melt into the cracks or butter on hot toast so the butter permeates the slice? I fall on the cold toast side of the debate. As one of my daughters used to say at age 4, " I like butter you can see."

In the end, frugality isn't about saving the most possible money. This isn't a game where he who saves the most wins. Frugality is about making choices that improve our lives while being financially responsible. Choosing real butter isn't a lapse in financial discipline. It's a conscious choice to prioritize my health and well-being while satisfying my tastebuds over the savings of a few dollars. By not putting pre-packaged snack foods, frozen dinners, or soda pop into my grocery cart each week, I create breathing room in my grocery budget for something that matters to me, creamy, delicious butter. Frugality should make your life better, not sadder. As I see it, life without real butter is just a little too sad for me. Real butter is my non-negotiable.

Everyone has that one thing. It's where they draw the line, that one food or product where they just won't compromise for the sake of frugality. Logic flies out the window and quality wins. It might be soft and cushy bathroom tissue, the blue dish soap that cleans even oil-slicked seabirds, or farm-fresh organic u-pick strawberries. 

True confessions -- are you team butter, or do you secretly have a tub of Country Crock in your fridge? (No judgment!) What is that ONE food or household item where you just won't cheap out, no matter how tight the budget? Drop your confessions in the comments below. I'll be hanging out here all weekend (expecting lots of rain) to read your non-negotiables and reply.