There is a trend I’ve noticed lately. Bottles/jars which are impossible to get the last bits out. We decided a year or so ago we wouldn’t buy products that were packaged this way. I’m thinking about actually writing the companies and telling them they’ve lost a customer because I can’t afford to spend 10 minutes at the end of a bottle getting the last bits out.
Yesterday it was mayo. It was a house brand. Recently, I acquired a Wesson mayo maker (I swapped a china dealer some MCM china for it.) which I’ve never used. The plan was to DIY the next mayo already.
But maybe a list of bottles where they’re apparently designed to keep you from getting the last of the product?
Do you have certain foods you won’t buy because the packaging is too much trouble to deal with? What? Why?
Hubby likes to buy the plastic squeeze bottles. I do not. But we currently have ketchup and mustard in them in the fridge. I made my own dijon mustard in jars last year, so at least we don’t get it that way.
The other thing that bothers me is having to prop up big jars of liquid (oils, maple syrup, honey, molasses) to get the last drop out of. The last three I warm and then they run more freely. But olive oil in particular annoys me. It’s very expensive and I want every last drop from the 3 litre tin it comes in.
When I bought olive oil in tins instead of bottles, I’d make croutons… I’d take the top off with a can opener then put the lightly toasted croutons in the tin and swirl them around to try and get the end of it. Then I’d put them back in the broiler to finish toasting.
Wasn’t a clean out and leaves bread crumbs behind, but… YMMV of course…
And I bet you already do this, or have in the past! I know you well enough for that…
Actually i tried getting the top off to scrap out the last little bit, but the can opener wasn’t quite big enough to open the olive oil tin. Just bent the rim or the top, didn’t cut anything.
Bummer. I have gone through multiple can openers lately. The one my Dad had was a “swing away” and I bought one of those thinking I’d solved the problem. The one we had just worked for 20 years or so…
The new one I bought broke in < 3 years. Cheap Chinese crap… so I got another, heavier one that is hand held. I also got, at the dump a “vintage” swing away, that if/when the hand held one dies, I’ll try and use.
I love my thin spatula. While I use it for almost everything, in particular I really love it for mango chutney. Which makes it sound like we are going through many jars, which we aren’t. But something about the jar, the viscosity, and the stickiness of ones hands after trying to get it with a knife.
I loved it so much, I actually bought one for my mom for her bday one year - which is remarkable because we don’t give gifts to adults in my family. But I told her it was a game changer for those of us who always work to get the last bits out of the jar.
Today I didn’t use it for mustard, but that is because I made a dressing in the jar to get the last bits.
Re mayo - it’s very easy to make at home without any special tools, NewGig, if you want to try! I just use a hand whisk. You could also use a hand or stand mixer or a food processor if a hand whisk is not viable. You can then just store in your own containers that meet your criteria.
only the thin spatula fits into the mango chutney jar.