Substitution for Cooking Oil, Sprays or Butter

In researching self-sufficiency, we came across another question: If we were to run out of stored cooking oil (olive, canola, corn, etc.), and cooking/baking sprays, what would we use in its place? (Substitute / Replace)

Corn? We've researched making corn oil - it takes 56 lbs (1 bushel) to make about 1.2 lbs of corn oil. Wow, that's a lot of corn. Plus it's an involved procedure with soaking and more. Would that be the best way to use the corn?

Almond? To make almond oil, you would squeeze or press the oil/water from the raw almonds, leaving behind a tasteless powder (which could probably used as flour). Our research can't find more details, but it bears looking into.

Olive? We'd probably have to grow a lot of miniature olive trees in a tall greenhouse to make enough olive oil to be worth it.

Cotton? Soybean? Sunflower?

How about we just make sure we have plenty of butter!?!

Meanwhile, if anyone has the information on the best and most efficient way to make cooking oil from something easily grown, please let us know so that we can do further research, and pass along the information. Thanks.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

how long does oil keep in the pantry?

doug

ThrtnWmsFam said...

Good question. I found several sites by asking the question on Google: try http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080126045329AAjbY73 - but I disagree with some. Unopened, I've had bottles of olive oil still good 2-3 years after I've purchased them - I still have a few I haven't opened so it might be longer than that. I opened a bottle of walnut oil almost a year ago, stored in my cupboard, and still smells/tastes good. Need to store unopened oils in a cool dark place. Supposedly refrigerating opened oil will make it last longer - you do need to let it come back to room temp to get rid of the cloudy look. Always be sure to smell and test your oil for hints of rancidity.

Here's a really great website (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22593162/) that discusses the shelf life of oil, flour, and other pantry items.

Hope that answers your question! Vikki

d.a. said...

If you're raising animals for meat consumption, there's always lard/fat... not the healthiest thing in the world, but it works.

d.a. said...

Oh, almost forgot! You can press your own sunflower or other nut/seed oils (just not olive) with expeller presses, like this one: http://www.piteba.com/eng/index_eng.htm