Supermarket Saver: How Much to Pay for Olive Oil?

Eating consciously and minding our budgets can be a tough balancing act, especially as we all look for ways to trim down our spending as gas and food prices continue to rise. Sometimes thinking strategically can help when cutting corners won't work.

Let's take a look at olive oils, something that we all probably use daily and that are readily available from local and artisan sources. These top oils can get rather pricey, though, so keep in mind how you intend to use it before deciding what to buy. Different oils are better suited for different uses, and it doesn't always mean shelling out big bucks for the expensive stuff.

If your olive oil is destined for everything from weeknight stir-fries to long-simmered sauces, a less expensive extra-virgin or virgin olive oil is often the better choice. As your kitchen workhorse, olive oil is really more of a cooking medium than a component in your dish since the delicate flavors of a quality olive oil become lost and muted when cooked with other ingredients. Using a neutral-flavored commercial brand like Colavita or Bertolli will work just fine. These kinds of olive oils are also easier to find in bulk quantities where the cost-per-unit is lower. Look for large containers on the lowest shelves at the supermarket, at places like Costco or Sam's Club, or at natural food stores in self-serve bins.

Save your high end, specialty olive oils to finish dishes where the oil's nuanced flavors and aromas can really shine through. Quality extra-virgins add new layers of flavor when drizzled over soup or pasta just before serving or whisked into a vinaigrette. Commercial oils just don't deliver when used like this, so it's worth the extra money to buy a good one. Keep in mind that oils only have a shelf-life of about a year, so look for smaller bottles if you don't think you'll use it all in time.

What brands do you prefer to use every day? Any good finds for budget-friendly oils in your local markets?

More on olive oil:
• What's the Deal with Oils?
• Great Olive Oil Scam
• When Will You Splurge on Expensive Ingredients
• Chefs on Common Mistakes
• Price Check: Are you Cutting Your Grocery Budget
• Price Check: Coping with Rising Food Costs

This is by Emma, who is up for one of our new writer positions. Welcome Emma!

Comments (35)

I swear by Whole Foods' store brand extra virgin olive oil.

I use Trader Joe's extra virgin olive oil. At about $3.50 for a bottle, it's the cheapest that I have ever found and it is perfectly fine for normal day use. (And, since I'm a poor student, that's typically the only olive oil that I have on hand at any given point. :) )

I love whole foods organic. It is rich and deep in color. The taste is lovely.

I usually go for Colavita, but I recently bought a big bottle of the local Queen Creek Olive Oil. Definitely not neutral with its hearty fruity tones, but just fine for everything I need it for! My only gripe with it is the inevitable drip down the side of the bottle whenever I pour a glug. I guess I should look into an oil spout of some sort.

I'm a TJ's girl as well - we buy a big bottle of reg olive oil for daily cooking, and a smaller bottle of extra virgin for finishing dishes, salad dressings, etc.

I, too, am a huge fan of Whole Foods' extra virgin. A 1 liter bottle is only something like $6.99 and I think the quality is great - definitely much better than other leading brands (Colavita, Bertolli) and also less expensive.

Although I also do have a small bottle of awesome extra virgin that I use for topping simple dishes.

raspberry eggplant

Colavita extra virgin, extra fruity is good. I also like Goya's. Both are relatively inexpensive.

i do whole food extra virgin and then bertolli or colavita when i have the money. but my cousin in italy brought me some yummy extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar from her region...so i use that very sparingly. but damn it's good!

Partanna

Oops -- Partanna Sicilian Extra Virgin Olive Oil - by the gallon! In Chicago, we get it at Caputo's Italian Markets.

http://www.amazon.com/Partanna-Extra-Virgin-Olive-3Liters/dp/B000LRKP6Q

Our favorite artisan oils are from Willow Creek Olive Ranch in Paso Robles, CA: www.pasolivo.com

Also a Trader Joe's and Whole Foods Olive Oil girl.

Kind of opposite of the point of this post, but since I've found the best cheaper options, I was given a bottle of expensive balsamic and would love a recommendation of a higher-end (not looking to spend hundreds of bucks and don't need a huge bottle) olive oil to dip bread in with the balsamic.

Anyone have a favorite they recommend? Thanks!

TJ's!

Ditto on the Trader Joe's, but re: OneWallKitchen's comment, I have been using the Oil & Vinegar pump bottle from Crate & Barrel (with just olive oil) for about a month now.

http://www.crateandbarrel.com/family.aspx?c=744&f=25999

I try to be really conscious of how much oil I use, so the built in measurements are good for me. Works well with the TJs brand.

BUT, I got one for my mother, and it works, but not as smoothly, with her olive oil brand of choice. Not sure if it's a vicosity thing or maybe a tiny defect with the pump mechansim.

Good points in the article - if you live in an area with a large Spanish-American population, your grocery store might also carry products from Goya. My wife and I like the Extra-Virgin for everyday use (a little better than we like the Bertolli) and costs less (here anyway).

I tried the TJ's, and to me, it tastes a bit stale. Whole Foods 365 is decent but I really enjoy the Colavita.

Nice post! Thanks for the affordable olive oil information, everyone. On the upper end, I adore McEvoy's Olio Nuovo, Stonehouse label, and an unfiltered Arbequina Extra Virgin Olive Oil by Can Solivera, available via latienda.com.

i like whole foods. i generally buy their 3-quart can because i use a lot of oil. they used to sell their general 365 mixed olive oil in a can (spanish, italian, greek), but now they sell 100% italian olive oil in the can (sorry, my greek peoples, your oil is too expensive for me). for $23.95 it's a real bargain. plus i'm not buying bottle after bottle of oil. and the fact that it's in a can (no light) keeps it from going rancid too soon. and it has a really great flavor. i like a strong olive taste. i guess it's a greek thing. :-)

Terrific. It's so refreshing to find common sense advice about olive oils. Why waste money when the flavor gets lost, and why not spend the money on good oil when the flavor counts.

I've tried having a high end EVOO and a cheaper one for normal cooking... and it didn't work out. I think what that should have told me is that I don't need an expensive one, as I'm rarely using olive oil in an uncooked state. As a compromise, I landed with a middle of the road Goya EVOO, which treats my taste buds and my wallet both fairly.

Oh, thank you Emma, and all who responded. I never know what olive oil to buy. I usually look at the labels at TJs and just pick one that says 'Virgin Olive Oil' (or default to Colavita or Bertolli) and is relatively inexpensive. I'm very happy to have all these reviews and inputs, because while I most often saute, I love dipping bread and making dressings. I'm going to try experimenting! Thanks!

simpliciter, it's a sin to use that acronym, racheal ray is the devil!

Trader Joe's Extra Virgin California Olive Oil in the cylinder bottle. Seriously awesome; seriously inexpensive.

Recently while shopping in a local store I spotted a large tin [101oz. = 3 liters] of Star [brand imported from Spain] extra virgin cold pressed olive oil that was dented but not broken, just a big ding in the side. The normal cost was $30. I took the can with me to the customer service desk and asked if I could get it for a discount because the can was dented. I got $5 off!!! So that's 3 liters for $25 which considering the quality of it being extra virgin cold pressed is very good. When I got home I opened the can immediately and used some for making flavored oils and the rest I put into clean glass old olive oil bottles I already had saved just to be sure the dent didn't turn into a split. All the oil was fine and I got a real bargain. I just wanted to share that since the news would not excite most of my friends as much as it did me. Little victories. [smile]

Well, I'm confused. I thought olive oil had a low smoke point so it was best to cook with other types of oil. I was under the impression that olive oil is best reserved for topping off (as suggested above) or for salads.
Can someone clear up this confusion for me, please? What oil is best for cooking? A certain type of olive oil or another type of oil?

There is a very decent low cost brand, Olio Carli, that I prefer budget wise etc. If it is not available I like Goya as well.

I'm a Goya girl. It was rated highly by (I think) Consumer Reports, which I know is not exactly Gourmet Magazine. But it's relatively inexpensive and available at the local grocery store.

I have to disagree about substituting virgin olive oil for extra virgin. IMHO, there is a noticeable difference esp. if you are making a salad dressing. I only do the extra virgin stuff.

mrs--i too really like both of those oils. esp pasolivo

i just moved, and am trying to refigure my oil, according to what my local grocers has. just now its liohori.
i also keep on hand marina colonna or petraia.

anne--cooking veg or eggs in olive oil is great, and the heat isnt too high for these things, but if youre frying at rather high heat, you should use something else, according to your tastes. i use peanut oil.

Bertolli or Goya, and I use it for cooking or seasoning everything, including stovetop popcorn.

What I need is some good vinegars for vinaigrettes: I don't particularly like balsamic on delicate salads. The brands of wine vinegars I find locally are too acidic. I'm using rice vinegar and it is OK, but I would like more variety.

Francesca, I like to use lemon juice on its own or in a combination with vinegar as the acid element in a salad dressing. I find that lemon juice has less of a bite than many vinegars.

I travel often to Italy so I am a bit fussy on this..Dagostino's is carrying a great tasty oil from Umbria. Monini.is the name on the bottle. They have the Date of the harvest on the label which is important as you dont want the oil to be over a year old as it loses its aroma and flavour over time. You should use it up quickly.

From Whole Foods I get Lerida, I believe it is from Spain, it is in a dark green glass bottle, and the flavors are amazing. Don't really like Bertolli, but I've only ever used one olive oil and not really differentiate between cooking use and topping use. But this post got me thinking!

I use Olivier and CO Olive oil because they can certify where its from and they only buy top of line from small independent producers all over the Mediterranean. They are on the pricier side but i really notice the difference and they are generally good for about 2 years. I have a huge collection of finishing oils and some oils I just use to cook or sautee. I really notice a difference in everything I make and its hard to go back to grocery store bought olive oil.
They also have an amazing white balsamic vinnegar that is delish.

I recommend extra virgin olive oil for salads and olive oil for cooking. I am spanish, and live in Madrid,Spain, and the better olive oil for me it is from Jaén. It is made for "picual", a kind of olives with a strong flavour. The other one that I like for salads it is olive oil made with "Hojiblanca", another kind of olives, it,s soft. Sorry about my english but I only speak a little.
Here in Spain a bottle of extra olive oil cost 4 â‚¬, one liter. But there are some kinds of extra olive oil that cost 3 â‚¬ a bottle for 300 gr. I notice the difference, and if you like to have in your breakfast coffe with bread toast with olive oil, you must buy extra olive oil. In Spain, in south it is typical to have for breakfast bread toast with olive oil.
Ciao

To me, the most important thing to notice about olive or any oils is that they smell fresh, not rancid. I've found TJ Maxx to be a great source for many kinds of oils, imported & domestic. When you open the bottle, take a big sniff, and if there is the least hint of rancidity, return it! Keep all oils in a cool spot & out of the light.

I love Colavita too, and even though it's not my "good" olive oil, I've used it in dressings and hummus where it's been delicious. You can sometimes find it at Costco, although you really shouldn't buy olive oil in bulk or in clear bottles if you can't use it quickly enough (unfortunately).

I second passsy's idea to go to discount stores - I've found incredible bottles on the shelves of Marshalls - stuff I see for $25 at Whole Foods - marked down to $5.99, with legit expiration dates and no taste or rancidity issues.

And to stretch the oil when cooking, I swear by the Misto - also a Marshalls/Ross find, but can be had elsewhere: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00004SPZV