Turns out I love butter.
I use it for spreading and cooking
It is of course an animal fat.
It is U.K sourced.
It comes in what what is (possibly), plastic-free, greaseproof paper. It’s really hard to tell! Read more about that, here.
I have to buy the paper option because foil is definitely plastic lined!

Back in my more innocent days I used to think that butter and margarine wrapped in foil was plastic free. Till the day I didn’t have a butter dish to hand (!) and butter was served, as bought, in the wrapper. Over time the foil wrapping began to crack, crack but not break. Strange I thought … and closer investigation showed it was not breaking up because it was foil lined with plastic. You can find out more about plastic lined foil here

So began the search for paper wrapped spreads.
This is what I have found. Salted butter is more likely to come wrapped in paper than unsalted. Why? I have no idea.
The greaseproof paper used to wrap the butter may not be what it seems. Rather it could be plastic lined or chemically treated rather than natural greaseproof paper. You can read about that here.

But taking all of the above into account, paper wrapped butter and margarine is the best we can do.

N.B. More companies are switching to foil wrapped products. Many that used to supply paper wrapped no longer do so. Consequently this info may be out of date. The Plastic Is Rubbish Facebook group is good for updates and latest info.

Butter

this is what we got…

Good news from a FB plastic is rubbish grouper has found butter in paper wrapping. Home Bargains, Meadow Churn butter, 250g for £1.39.

I found some considerably more expensive butter in paper in out of this world health food shop Leeds http://www.outofthisworldonline.com/

The Cheese Stall in Queensgate, Huddersfield, (only salted)
Barbican in Chorlton Manchester, (only salted).
Sainsbury’s, Huddersfield Town Centre do unsalted butter in paper but you can only find it on the cheese counter not in the self service aisles. The wrapper definitely has a paper component but is marked mixed materials which means it is probably plastic lined. See above notes.
MArks & Spencers sell some very expensive butter in paper.
Waitrose - No longer do so
Iceland - apparently still sell butter in paper - salted.

Many thanks to the Plastic Is Rubbish Facebook group for their input and updates

Disputed

Sainsbury and the Co-op used to wrap their cheap, salted, butter in paperboy no longer do so.

Morrisons - I heard they used to sell some butter in paper. There are now reports that this has been discontinued.

Waitrose - No longer do so

Alternatives

Margarine

I have found myself falling out with margarine - it is slithery, weird and synthetic so I only use it very occasionally. Read up about Margerine HERE

Oil

You can often use vegetable oil in place of margarine or butter. Cheaper than butter healthier than margarine. It isn’t entirely plastic-free either but I do what I can

Lard

And what about lard! always an option.

Go back to the oil index to read about the other fatty acids we eat.
What are oils, waxes and butters and which do we use.?

Health

Before the boycott I ate margerine because I thought it was healthier option but you cannot get decent margarine plastic free. It all comes in plastic tubs.
So I went back to butter. But what about the risks? You ask? seems butter is not so bad for you after all and some margarines are poison!
” there never was any good evidence that using margarine instead of butter cut the chances of having a heart attack or developing heart disease. Making the switch was a well-intentioned guess, given that margarine had less saturated fat than butter, but it overlooked the dangers of trans fats.”
And this
“butter is on the list of foods to use sparingly mostly because it is high in saturated fat, which aggressively increases levels of LDL. Margarines, though, aren’t so easy to classify. The older stick margarines that are still widely sold are high in trans fats, and are worse for you than butter. Some of the newer margarines that are low in saturated fat, high in unsaturated fat, and free of trans fats are fine as long as you don’t use too much (they are still rich in calories).”
From Harvard Health

More

Go back to the oil index to read about the other fatty acids we eat.
What are oils, waxes and butters and which do we use.?

Lots more plastic-free food here.

Find more sneaky plastics here….

N.B.

lines changes, products get removed. For more information why not ask the Plastic Is Rubbish FB group for updates. They are a great source of tidbits, personal experience and the latest news. Why not join them and share the plastic free love x

And before you go…

If you have found the #plasticfree information useful, please consider supporting us. It all goes to financing the project (read more here) or

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