How can I reuse or recycle … old margarine?

MargarineWe went through a baking spell a few months ago and bought a block of margarine to use in our cakes.

When the short-lived obsession ended, we still had a chunk of it left but we’re butter people – and not big spread users anyway – so it’s just sat at the back of the fridge. It’s now well beyond it’s use-by date – but still looks ok.

I don’t think we’d like to risk it in any future cake venture but since it’s certainly not rank or doing anyone any harm in there, we’re reluctant to throw it away just for the sake of it.

Are there any non-culinary uses for it? It’s a fat/oil after all so could it be used for any household tasks?

(Photo by bruno-free)

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17 Responses to “How can I reuse or recycle … old margarine?”


  1. Katz says:

    I think you are right – you probably should be able to use it for the tasks where oiling is required – like oiling your door so it’d stop squeaking, or tools etc

  2. trish says:

    You could use it to grease pans for cakes.

    I used to use veggie oil to oil my hamster’s wheel. Since they’ll lick and chew on everything.

  3. john b says:

    All I can think of now is “Last Tango In Paris”

  4. nino says:

    i don’t know……..
    hehehe

  5. AliceJ says:

    I use margerine instead of spirits to clean paint brushes when using gloss paint. Sounds bonkers, and it only works well if the paint on them is fresh, but the oil dilutes spirit-based paint pretty well.

    Rub it into the brush hairs, then use hot water and washing-up liquid to clean it off.

  6. Kaz says:

    Not helpful right now, but in the future, many margarines do OK in the freezer.

  7. vicky says:

    you could save it up and add seeds and old breadcrumbs, old cake,fat from meat etc. and make feed for the birds in winter

  8. Super Healthy says:

    Margarine was originally manufactured to fatten turkeys. When it killed the
    turkeys, the people who had put all the money into the research wanted a
    payback so they put their heads together to figure out what to do with this
    product to get their money back. It was a white substance with no food appeal so
    they added the yellow coloring and sold it to people to use in place of
    butter. How do you like it? They have come out with some clever new flavorings.
    Margarine is..

    Very high in Trans fatty acids.

    Triple risk of coronary heart disease.
    Increases total cholesterol and LDL (this is the bad cholesterol) and
    lowers HDL cholesterol, (the good cholesterol)

    Increases the risk of cancers up to five fold.

    Lowers quality of breast milk.

    Decreases immune response.

    Decreases insulin response.

    And here’s the most disturbing fact…. HERE IS THE PART THAT IS VERY
    INTERESTING!

    Margarine is but ONE MOLECULE away from being PLASTIC..

    This fact alone was enough to have me avoiding margarine for life and
    anything else that is hydrogenated (this means hydrogen is added, changing the
    molecular structure of the substance).

    You can try this yourself:

    Purchase a tub of margarine and leave it in your garage or shaded area.
    Within a couple of days you will note a couple of things:

    * no flies, not even those pesky fruit flies will go near it (that should
    tell you something)

    * it does not rot or smell differently because it has no nutritional value;
    nothing will grow on it. Even those teeny weeny microorganisms will not a
    find a home to grow. Why? Because it is nearly plastic. Would you melt your
    Tupperware and spread that on your toast?

  9. hollypop says:

    i’ve heard it has a whale bi-product in it somehow. so basically…margarine is the worst idea ever, seeing it all in writing has proved my point.

  10. Elouise says:

    Who needs margarine anyway? I only ever use olive oil and, for baking, sunflower oil. I keep a few chunks of butter in the freezer for the odd buttery occasion (like freshly baked bread). For the rest, I never buy margarine. It has the nutritional value of plastic, but with more poisons in it. Stay away from margarine!!

  11. j says:

    factcheck
    http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Margerine
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margarine#History
    http://www.cracked.com/article_16785_p2.html
    Vegetable fats can contain anything between 7% and 86% saturated fatty acids. Liquid oils (unhardened canola oil, sunflower oil) tend to be on the low end, while tropical oils (coconut oil, palm kernel oil) and fully hardened oils are at the high end of the scale.[11] A margarine blend is a mixture of both types of components, and will rarely exceed 50% saturated fatty acids on fat. Exceptions are some traditional kitchen margarines or products that have to maintain stability under tropical conditions.[12] Generally, firmer margarines contain more saturated fat.

    Regular butterfat contains about 65% saturated fatty acids on fat
    .
    .
    .
    Vegetable fat. Margarine is made from vegetable fat.

  12. Medeea says:

    I remember the chemistry lesson when the teacher talked about the structure of margarine. If it goes bad, all you need to do is batter it, the molecules get rearranged and voila! good margarine. Very close to plastic.

    I would use it to grease pans for baking or for pancakes.
    Cosmetic uses: remove stains from hands, rub along the hairline when dying hair, mix it with coffee grounds to make a foot scrub.
    Polish leather shoes.

  13. supergeeky says:

    Everyone says pretty much everything is bad for you at some point. They were saying butter was worse then margarine for awhile. I don’t even pay attention to all that crap. Each what you eat. I would freeze the margarine for next time you want to bake a cake. Good luck

  14. birdsong says:

    PLEASE NEVER use SOFT fat for BIRD food -it can get on their plumage and they cannot preen it away and will probably result in their DEATH.

    HARD fats which come in SOLID chunks like lard are fine.

    Thank you.



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