It varies for use. Butter might be better for you, in smaller quantities. For cooking? Sauting? Baking? spreading on bread?

Agree with sushipup. If it needs a lot of butter, I try other fats like EVOO, peanut butter, coconut oil, or a mixture of softened butter and EVOO, whipped together, half and half to substitute for butter on bread, etc.

Why are you cutting down on butter in favor of margarine? That could help guide suggestions. Perhaps go with a butter/oil blend. The olive oil/butter combo is quite tasty. Canola oil/butter isn't bad either.

For cooking and baking, there's not as noticeable difference as with a spread but it will affect the product.

Personally if the choice is only margarine for putting on bread to eat by itself, I'll take the bread without. Been that way since I was a kid. Margarine is pretty rancid stuff and not as healthy as Blue Bonnet wants you to think.

People don't realize there are important micro-nutrients and Vitamin D in butter we can't readily get in other fats or other foods. I'm with cynic, if we are eating out and the restaurant serves "tub-o-fake-fat", I skip it. "Fake" being the operative word. I avoid anything with soy in it as well, finding it's best used for anything other than food.

I haven't used margarine or shortening in over 30-years, but use ALL fat in moderation. I have found by using coconut oil I can substitute it in baking for shortening/butter and generally cut the total fat amount called for in the recipe by 20-25 percent and get the same results. In baked goods - for taste factor, mouth-feel, and satiety, a mix of butter and coconut oil often works well for me.

When I was on a low-fat, fat-free "kick" in the 90's, I found by adding 1-2 tablespoons of butter to the recipes improved them as far as flavor, smell, texture, and you were more likely to be satisfied with just one small serving than the same recipe made without even that small amount of butter. With that small amount of fat it improved the keeping quality. Ever notice how homemade fat-free baked-goods dry out quickly?

If you are trying to cut down your total fat intake, you can quickly start by portioning it, as already mentioned. You will use less butter if you melt it first, then apply it with a pastry brush as a spread.

"I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" - really? And only the astronauts thought Tang was orange juice!

-Grainlady

Margarine is not healthy at all. You're much better sticking with a real food, butter.

My cardiologist would disagree. There are excellent margarines on the market that are heart healthy and recommended by the Hear and Stroke Foundation.

The one I use is Becel, it's called Promise in the States and is recommended for heart healthy diets and it's quiet tasty.

I do use butter in some baking but I use Becel for everything else.

Here is a link that might be useful: Mayo on butter vs marg

Although I have vaguely suspected this for years, I recently read a book recommended by Jessy, Deep Nutrition, by Cate Shanahan, MD.

Margarine and almost all vegetable oils (coconut, peanut and olive are good) are the absolute worst things you can put in your body. She goes into great detail scientifically why this is so among other issues she covers. And why Real butter is good.
Highly recommended and I am NOT a health food nut.

I have been using "OLIVO" original for the last 18 months.
I do not bake, so I cannot say how it works as a substitute for butter in baked goods, but switching from real butter to Olivio for everything else was a pleasant surprise. I saute, use as a spread, add to veggies....use it everywhere I would have used butter (we loved butter).
I was overwhelmed with the choices of healthier alternative products to butter, and bought this one because it had less sat fat and Omega3. Having to give up so many tastey foods and learning to cook Heart Healthy every meal, everyday, switching to Olivio & Fage 0% Greek Yougurt are the two easy changes. We do not miss butter. I actually have some real butter hidden in the extra frig and I haven't even been tempted.

Here is a link that might be useful: Olivio

lizbeth, if you need a butter substitute just for spreading on bread/toast,etc. then I can recommend Earth Balance natural buttery spread. The container also says that you can use it for baking and cooking. I haven't tried it for these uses as of yet so don't believe I can comment on those uses. It is soy free, uses a natural oil blend (palm fruit, canola, safflower, olive). It has no trans fat, gluten free, lactose free, and is vegan approved.
Wayne and I were asked to cater an after funeral gathering. The woman we were working for let us know that 2 of the guests that were coming were lactose intolerant. We went to the grocery store and started reading butter substitutes containers. Nearly all of them had some sort of dairy in them. Small amounts but still dairy. That is how we found Earth Balance. Having tasted it and used it on the dairy free baguette we baked for the funeral, it actually isn't as fakey tasting as other butter subs that I have tasted. Give it a try. NancyLouise

I use Earth Balance also, and I really like it. I don't eat dairy but I also don't want all the chemicals so this is a good match for me. You can use it interchangeably with anything you would use butter for.

I was just going to recommend Deep Nutrition, but bumblebeez beat me to it! :) I also like this post on Kitchen Stewardship about fats (reasons & tips to switch to butter, info on alternatives).

Jim uses Smart Balance on bread, but I find it waxy and strange. I like Brummel & Brown spread with yogurt.

Sorry, Jessica for attributing the recommendation to the wrong person. The info in that book has been amazing and I hope helpful in staying healthy and getting stronger.
It's been surprising how difficult some of the foods are to find though. Full fat organic yogurt, for instance. And now raw milk is too questionable here so that's out.

I know what you mean bumblebeez! I'll post more on your raw milk thread, so as not to hijack lizbeth's thread.

Oh, and I do agree with Grainlady that even if you're cutting back on fat, using some butter can make for much better tasting and more satisfying food!

When you are looking for a substitute spread, be sure to watch out for transfats too, they are perhaps worse for you than the saturated fats in butter. I've tried the butter/canola oil mix and it's not the most horrible thing I've ever tried.

I don't like any of them, and find it easier to do without butter rather than use them as a spread. I saute in olive oil for the most part, and I've learned to just put salt and pepper on fresh corn on the cob and other vegetables. Just jam on toast and just maple syrup on pancakes.

I've substituted apple sauce in baked goods for about half of the butter, and pureed prunes work too but I haven't found a single "fake fat" that I like at all to just eat as a spread.

I've managed to switch to low fat cream cheese and low fat sour cream, use low fat cottage cheese and make yogurt with skim milk. I've even learned to drink skim milk. Well, I haven't really, I just drink a LOT less milk now because skim is all I buy, so it gets sour and I dump it out and buy another guart. I used to buy milk in gallons, now I buy quarts and still throw it away. (shrug) It's just too icky to enjoy, so I no longer have a glass of milk in the morning for breakfast. I have switched to calcium tablets.

Annie

I found a "spread" taste test at Good Housekeeping:
#1 - Promise Light
#2 - Brummel & Brown
In another test Brummel & Brown was used for spritz cookies with good results, although it didn't taste like butter.

Annie-
I'd like to suggest Country Cream (Instant Nonfat Dry Milk Powder) if you find you waste more milk than you can easily use before it sours. You can make this milk product as needed.

The reconstituted milk is one of the best tasting dried milk products I've ever used (and we only use powdered milk products for drinking/cooking/baking) if you do decide to have a glass with fresh-baked cookies ;-)

I use it for making a quart (or two) of homemade kefir every week, and the occasional batch of yogurt. Kefir is easier to make than yogurt....and much better for us, as it turns out. Making it into kefir (using real kefir grains) will also reduce the lactose in the milk to very low amounts (especially the longer it's allowed to ferment), and make any remaining lactose much easier to digest because the milk sugars (lactose) have been consumed during fermentation. I use the drained curd as a substitute for sour cream, cream cheese, plain yogurt, and buttermilk.

Need a cup of milk using Country Cream - add 2 tablespoons of the milk powder to 1-cup of water. Mix it double-strength for a substitute for evaporated milk. Or for a cream-like substitute, 1-part milk powder to 2-parts water.

The #10 can will make 80-cups (5-gallons) of milk.

-Grainlady

Here is a link that might be useful: Grandma's Country Foods

I have several health problems, but my primary care doctor and I talked about butter substitutes recently. I love real butter on my toast. He says I am better off being stingy but using real butter. At least you know what your eating. I loved his answer.

I like I can't believe it's not butter -- it is margarine with zero trans fats. I use the lower fat version as a spread and the spray on my popcorn.

I only keep butter on hand for baking. After seeing what my mother-in-law (who always loved butter and bacon fat) went through during her quadruple by-pass -- I decided we just don't need it.

Grainlady, thanks for that recommendation, I've read a couple of your past posts about that product. So far all dried milk products I've tried are somewhere between abysmal and absolutely disgusting, but I figure if I don't like it I can use it for baking, at some point those products have to improve. The last one I tried was Carnation and it was completely horrible, in my opinion, it was undrinkable, but I put it in yogurt and don't notice the taste.

My biggest problem is that I like fresh whole milk and real butter. Both are good wholesome natural foods, but high in fat and not so good for my cholesterol level or my weight.

So, rather than consume something I don't like, I tend to do without them in many instances.

Annie

Do not, I repeat, do not use margarine! Do not use anything with hydrogenated oils! HORRIBLE STUFF, POISON! I only use real butter. Other suggestions for an olive oil spread may be ok as long as it's not hydrogenated! If it's(butter) that bad for your health condition, maybe just avoid foods that need butter in them to taste good!

I do like a combo of olive oil and butter mixed together. Keep in the frig and use the same way as all butter.

Arkansas girl, there is margarine and there is margarine. They are not all alike. People need to educate themselves to the differences.

Products like Promise have no hydrogenated oils and are recommended by the Heart and Stoke Foundation, the Mayo clinic and cardiologists.

Look at the comparison chart on this link, bottom centre of the window.

Here is a link that might be useful: Promise Margarine

Well as far as I'm concerned, margarine IS margarine IS margarine! And Promise is NOT, I repeat NOT Margarine. Do you see where it's called "margarine"? I do not! I see "spread" and "sticks" but it is not called margarine because it is NOT margarine. I am educated on the subject BTW!

Okey dokey......

Sharon, I do know what you mean about educating yourself, there's a big difference, healthwise, between Blue Bonnet in sticks and something like Promise. Many people tend to use the term "margarine" very generically and lump all products together. It's much like Ashley calling the "I can't believe It's Not Butter" spray product "spray butter". Now, she knows it's not butter, I know it's not butter (in spite of the name) but she uses that term anyway.

Heck, I remember when we called margarine "oleo"...

Annie

I'm not sure what you're using it for, but my vote is garlic oil. Lots of garlic, onion too if you like, cover in oil, bring to a bubble, turn way down and simmer gently for half an hour. Separate the solids from the oil and store both in the fridge. Garlic oil rivals butter in deliciousness! You can't really spread it on bread, but you can fry bread in it using a skillet, which is pretty good too. In terms of cakes and such, I find that the deliciousness of the butter gets swallowed up anyway, and I usually use oil. Though I am not happy about it, I think there's ample evidence to suggest that (non-hydrogenated) oil is better for you than butter, so I like to save my butter for front-and-center uses and really good bread.

That the so called good margarines are great is still the old school thought. Doctors and researchers are proving constantly that BUTTER and not chemically produced spreads are better for you than the latest Smart Balance.

This thought is not main stream yet but there are lots of people particularly doctors and scientists, who say to eat natural foods. If it didn't exist 200 years ago, don't eat it, is one of the main themes including why natural unprocessed with heat fats, are good.
There are plenty of books detailing this way of eating.

arkansas_girl - Since you seem to consider margarine and Promise two entirely different products, may I ask: What's the ingredient that separates evil margarine from Promise? Specifically, what's the poison in the following ingredient list of a product that is called margarine - yes, right on the label - that's not in Promise?

Non-Hydrogenated Organic Vegetable Oil Blend (Soy and Palm), Filtered Water, Organic Butter Flavor, Salt, Organic Soy Lecithin (Emulsifier), Citric Acid, Annatto (Color), Vitamin A Palmitate, D-Alpha Tocopherol Acetate (Vitamin E)

bumblebeez, Dad's cardiologist also told him that a little bit of butter was better for him than margarine. I think the key thing there was "a little bit" and Dad never used a little bit of butter, ever.

Of course, Dad died of a heart attack in 2008, after having several heart attacks and a quadruple bypass, so you can take that medical advice for whatever you think it's worth...

Annie

I'm in the "butter is OK" camp. It's been around for thousands of years, doesn't have any strange ingredients, and tastes good. My husband is on a salt-restricted diet because of congestive heart failure, and I use either olive oil (that's the Greek in me) or unsalted butter. Believe me, even unsalted butter adds a lovely flavor to what otherwise might be bland food.

However, several years ago I tweaked a recipe for homemade buttery spread and posted it on my blog. My purpose was to create a super low sodium spread for toast, vegetables, etc. Something similar to products like Promise and Smart Balance. The recipe combines butter, a light tasting vegetable oil, and water. Whip it up and you've got a nice buttery spread. I used to do what Bumblebeez suggested, combine olive oil (1 cup) and butter (1 lb.). That's a really good option too.

The recipe for the spread is below:

Here is a link that might be useful: Butter Spread Recipe

WOW! I had no idea this was such a hot topic. I just thought I might cut down on fat by using a butter substitute on my baked potatoes (both sweet & white) and on vegetables. I will still use it in baking and in things where it makes a big difference in the finished product. That said, I don't eat sugar or white flour, so the baked products are for others. I know portion control is a nice goal, but it doesn't work too well for me. I probably should figure out how much fat I actually consume; I may not need to cut back, but am always looking for ways to eat healthier. I am going to print this out and hopefully learn from it and see what works for me. Being lactose intolerant, I may even try making kefir and yogurt! I really do appreciate all of the links, books, recipes and other information all of you have shared. Thank You! Liz

Some want to scream and shout for the sake of hearing themselves scream and shout I believe.

A friend's daughter went to a doctor who told her to go with the "if your grandparents didn't eat it, don't eat it" type diet. However the doctor also cautioned a few things. First, white flour and sugar are the whipped puppies in todays diet planning, however granny and gramps sure ate a lot of it and 200 years ago they ate it too. The interesting thing he said was apples and many fruits for the most part are *out*! Why? Granny and gramps ate apples, but not the bastardized hybrids we have available today. Same thing was specified with grapes. Think about chicken and turkey. Nowhere near what they were even 50 years ago to say nothing of 200 years ago. Another interesting one was go ahead and drink coffee if you want, just don't drink decaf. Reason is what they do to it to decaffeinate it. Rice an potatoes are basically out in most weight-loss diets anyway but there too, not what they were before. And so on. So if you *truly* wanted to abide by such a diet, I'm not sure what you actually could eat. Even much of the home grown items would be out since they're genetically modified.

I tend to think that moderation is still a good guideline. I doubt any doctor or nutritionist will say a pat of butter will kill you and sometimes the treats are important. Even many diabetics can have a sugar treat on occasion. People die. Period. Someone can get hit by a butter truck and one could blame butter I guess!

Like I said before, much depends on the purpose of a changeover. Could be other alternatives than cutting it out completely.

What it boils down to is using common sense. Processed foods like we have in our stores now weren't available 200 years ago. People ate a lot of calories and lots of fat, but they weren't sitting around on their tushes watching t.v. or working at a desk all day, either.

Liz, if you want to flavor foods without using fat, try herbs, lemon juice, and/or vinegars of various types. It's not a butter substitute, but when I have baked potatoes, I use non-fat yogurt instead of sour cream. (I do use cheese, too, though, so that's defeating my purpose.) But my purpose for the cheese is to add protein and calcium. So, I figure it's okay. (I keep telling myself that, lol!)

Sally

All of Moe's doctors over the years would also disagree. When we lived in the US I used Brummel Brown. It isn't good for cooking because it has a lower fat content. I would never use it or any other margarine in baked goods.

In Canada, we use the same margarine, Becel that Sharon uses.

BUT NEVER FOR BAKING. There is no substitute for butter when it comes to baking.

Ann

Right on, Sally. And let's not forget that 200 years ago the life expectancy was under 40 years. Of course medicine is the reason for almost doubling it since then, but I submit that perhaps back then people simply didn't live long enough for their fatty pigs and gobs of butter to take their toll?

Lots of great info here, but as one who cannot digest butter and is allergic to coconut & peanut-- please be careful when you're baking for guests. Coconut is the new "in" food, not something everyone can tolerate. Beware and know your audience.

This is coming from someone who just figured out that cream of tartar is a by product of wine and I'm allergic to grapes. Now I understand why my nose runs and and joints tend to swell when I gobble a bunch of airy (wheat-free) meringue cookies for a sugar fix.

My baking comes out just as well with Earth Balance as it ever did with butter. It's a nice product and much better for the body than animal products or hydrogenated margarine.