The price of butter is out of whack. Some brands cost over $7 per pound, which is 50 percent more than last year when the average price was about $3.50 per pound at our area supermarkets like Hannaford’s, Shaw’s, Whole Foods (for store brand) and Market Basket, the latter offering the best price deals for these sticks of gold. Incidentally Shaw’s is one of the most expensive sources for butter, just under the average whopping price at Whole Food’s butter aisle. For example, Vermont Creamery butter half-pound package costs over $6 at Whole Foods whereas Walmart sells it for $2.98 for 8 ounces, and picking it up at Shaw’s would set you back $3.99. Hannaford and Market Basket don’t carry Vermont Creamery butter.
Cabot butter at Market Basket, a relative
Currently Cabot Butter and Land O Lakes are well over $5 per pound, about $2 more than six months ago, Cabot is generally less expensive than LOL. The reason for butter price bloat manufacturers claim is that milk production is more costly than ever, and labor shortages are to blame too. I don’t necessarily buy this excuse. Still, I guess it’s a fact of life. Why, for example, is Kate’s Butter, which is made locally from their own cows who graze on Maine’s farm fields, way above its price from a year ago?
Cabot Butter is my go-to everyday brand for baking and cooking. Vermont Creamery cultured butter is one of my favorites, too, when I want premium butter for baking because of its rich flavor and high butterfat content. Cabot is currently $5.25 at Hannaford. Yet Market Basket offers it at $4.59 per pound as of this week. Walmart’s price has consistently been $4.87 per pound.
Underrated: Maine Country Butter has maintained the same price for years and is sold only at Whole Foods in Portland
Cabot Butter used to make a special European style butter sold at the former Cabot Cheese store on Commercial Street. Both are now gone, but Cabot has recently introduced its Premium Butter with 83% butterfat. It’s $3.29 per half pound at Hannaford and Shaw’s has it at $3.99.
Cabot Extra Creamy: excellent butter for baking; best price is at Hannaford
Truly Grass Fed: on sale for a few days more at Market Basket
The price-savvy Market Basket generally has butter specials. This week through Saturday, the brand Truly Grass Fed–a rival of the Irish behemoth Kerrygold ($5.69 per half pound) is on sale priced at two 8-oz packages for $4, or $4 per pound This is great butter with its deep yellow color with high butterfat content from cows who graze on pasture in Ireland. So far I’ve used it winningly for pound cake, and I keep a stick of its salted variety in a butter dish to have soft butter to spread on toast. I stocked up today on this butter during MB’s sale and now have a fair amount in my freezer.
Butter-dish worthy: Truly Grass Fed salted butter waiting for toast
Next week Market Basket is offering a pound of Land O Lakes butter at $3.99 per pound according to their latest flyer in the week starting October 2nd. I like Land O Lakes. In various tastes tests published on the internet, though, the two competing brands of Cabot and LOL are neck in neck with Cabot generally getting higher marks. This may sound nit-picking but I find that LOL sticks are difficult to unwrap compared to Cabot.
My best advice is to shop around. Both Shaw’s and Hannaford have websites in which you can look up prices. Market Basket does not have that internet feature, but their weekly flyer is available on their website to show special pricing on everything.
Here’s my list of the most widely available butters at area supermarkets–current butter prices by the pound, subject to change mostly on the upside.
Cabot: $5.25, Hannaford; $4.87, Walmart and $4.59 at Market Basket.
Cabot Extra Creamy (very good, high fat butter) the lowest price, $3.29 per half pound at Hannaford. $3.99 Shaw’s
Land O Lake: $6.39 Hannaford; $6.49 Shaw’s; $5.48, Walmart
Kate’s: $5.69, Hannaford; $5.99, Shaw’s; About $7 at Whole Foods and under $5 at Market Basket
Kerrygold: $5.49 at most stores for the half-pound package
Vermont Creamery: Varying prices as described above. The best buy is at Walmart
Maine Country Butter from Livermore Falls, ME, $5.69 at Whole Foods has remained the same price for years; it’s available in the sea-salted only, and Whole Foods is the 0nly market that carries it. The butter is excellent and can be used in baking (lightly salted) and everyday use.
Bisson’s Farm Butter: $6/ per pound at Bisson’s, slightly higher elsewhere. They have both salted and unsalted butter made from raw cream; the unsalted has a short shelf life (about 5 days) and should be frozen if kept longer. The salted variety lasts longer. I used to use their butter almost exclusively but since Bisson’s now has limited hours, it’s not as convenient to buy at their farm store. But it’s great butter. When you see it (Rosemont, Pine Ridge Farm Store and the Solo Market carry it) or at the Bisson’s store, buy the salted variety for better keeping. It works fine in baking no matter that the pros advise against using salted butter in baking.
