Oil boom: On the issue of cooking oils

The first step into our switch to a more 'paleo' lifestyle - was our switch from traditional cooking oils (we'd always have a vegetable & olive oil in the house) to almost only* coconut oil. (*I say almost, because we do occasionally dabble in the olive oil for things like a grilled steak - which is allowed under our 'paleo rules' - but I just wanted to point it out). 

So - what are your options? Why can coconut oil be so expensive? Are there actually benefits?

We actually made the switch to coconut oil before we actually changed our diet - Michelle pointed out one day that she read somewhere that outside of North America - coconut oil is the most used cooking oil in the world, and without really looking into it - it's one of those things that just 'made sense' in my mind. It's a natural product, commonly found and extracted - and the less crap we could put in our bodies - the better. So the next time we went out, we bought our first 'tin'. 

We (mistakenly) opted to spend as little as possible, and when we saw this little dandy for only about $3.00 at Food Basics (and apparently at Metro, according to my sister) - we thought we struck gold.

We brought it home - it looked how we expected, and acted like we had read about (easily melted, even easier to burn), but it always stuck with me that this was SO much cheaper than ANY option we found elsewhere. At the time though, despite the strange lack of any sort of coconut smell or flavour - I was more cheap, than I was worried about the quality of the food we bought - and so - we continued (probably 4-5 tins were bought, and used, by the end of it).

Then one day (recently actually) I paid closer attention to some of the recipes in this great book my sister got us for Christmas ('The Paleo Desert Bible' by Anna Conrad), and noticed that many of the recipes called for specifically "Unrefined" coconut oil - which obviously got me thinking - and searching...only to find out that we had been using the refined version all along - which although is still a better choice for Paleo-followers, not nearly as natural, as its unrefined predecessor. 

The real difference: The refined product undergoes a series of processes - which include disgusting words like bleaching, and deodorizing - whereas the unrefined version is both organic, and straight from the source, with a full coconut smell, and flavour. 

The Bulk Barn option

So - what are you options - if you're still looking for a deal, like we were?

We started with the obvious...Bulk Barn. They have some great organic, and healthy food options, and actually sell virgin, unrefined coconut oil in bulk, for a shade over $2.00 per 100 grams - which we felt (after a quick look at Loblaws, and our local organic store The Big Carrot) was a pretty good price. We figured it would hold us over until we could really research the prices, and the best value (we really wanted to get rid of that crap we fell in love with, above...). 

The difference was night and day - the oil was so natural-feeling, and tasting - that you could eat it straight and not feel disgusting. The price though - was another story.

So...where are we now?

Despite Loblaws recently releasing a PC branded organic coconut oil (see it here) at a reasonable $14.99 for 800 grams of oil - we found an even BIGGER deal in Grace's new 1000 gram jar for the same price - breaking down to only $1.49 per 100 grams - more than 25% cheaper than Bulk Barn! So far so good - and combined with the new PAM Coconut Oil cooking spray (refined, but we'll take it for things that need crisping) - we've been able to stretch our oil further, at a reasonable cost. 

Our current oil lineup - (from left to right) Grace
Organic Virgin Unrefined Coconut Oil,
EV Olive Oil, Pam Coconut Oil Spray

So - should you make the change? Yes! It comes with a higher price tag, but I find that not only is the oil a more natural choice, but the price will keep you honest when you use it - rather than the 10 'glugs' you might use of your current veg. oil.

Paleo or not - we could all use a little less processing in our lives.