To think unsalted butter shouldn't cost more than salted?!

[Herrena]

Morrisson's, this morning:

Own brand salted butter = £1.20
Own brand unsalted butter = £1.36

Ok I admit it is not a huge difference, but it's the principle of the thing!!

I am genuinely surprised that they thought this was ok....

Urg, this reminds me of when I went out for coffee with my mother who wanted decaff, which cost more and she had a go at the barista about how unfair it was. In the end I made her leave, it was so embarrassing.

callmeal Here's how it works in my head.

Average customer comes up to counter and wants some butter, preferably cheap. Sees salted is less than unsalted, so buys that despite the knowledge that unsalted would probably be healthier, what with all the anti-salt messages out there.

Customer may feel a bit annoyed at not being able to buy the 'healthier' option for same price, so complains to supermarket. Supermarket, in a grand show of 'see how much we CARE?' announces that price will be lowered because they want all customers to be able to take advantage of healthy option.

I just assume that supermarkets plan for scenarios like that and just lower the price automatically so the situation doesn't arise. I was mildly surprised that it did not seem to be the case here.

That probably still doesn't make sense to you but it's how my head works!

LRD I wouldn't say unsalted is healthy, just healthier.... I had friends at work who scolded me constantly over my avowed fondness for salt and I guess the health warnings stuck.

nizlopi I'm not actually going to complain to the supermarket, I don't care as much as that! Just enough to have a conversation about it on an online forum, if that's ok with everyone...

Herrena, two words for you:

Supply

Demand

That's all there is to supermarket pricing. They will price the products at the highest point they can to maintain the right volumes of sales for the amount of produce they can stock.

If it's too low priced, they will run out of stock and make less profits.

If it is too high priced, they will have too much stock and make less profits.

Re. Loss leaders, yes this is very common. Bread used to be a massive loss leader. If you can draw people in to buy your bread, then they will tend to also buy the margarine, butters, jams, marmalades, etc.

herrera - yes, but that I meant was, aren't they used for different things? I know you can put unsalted on your bread if you like, but most people I know buy it as a cooking product. So my question was more, aren't you not comparing like with like on the 'health' front, since most shoppers are not buying unsalted as a healthy alternative to salted, but because they want to bake cakes with it or fry with it?

I may be wrong, just thinking as a cook with mates who cook, really.

LRD you may have a point there - unsalted does taste awful on bread....

Alright, I am still a bit surprised at the pricing but with so many people saying (or implying) that IABU, I suppose I need to reassess that opinion. Thank you all for weighing in.

Return to your lives, citizens :)

herrena yes, the famous baked bean wars were around 1997 when I was a broke student. You could get KwikSave beans for 1p a can but they were horrible so we splashed out on Coop ones at a whole 2p a can!

Milk and basic bread are permanent loss leaders for supermarkets, to get people in through the door.

I doubt any supermarket is ever going to sell a block of 100% saturated fat as a 'healthy' option!

A nice AIBU for a Sunday morning.

I quite fancy some bread and salty butter now ..

I have a still warm french stick in the kitchen and some naice butter in the dish...but I also have DS fast asleep on me :(

No, I'm afraid that doesn't make sense to me. Firstly, anyone worrying about the relative health differences in salted or unsalted butter would probably buy some pseudo-healthy margarine crap instead. And secondly, the supermarkets job is to make money, not look after your health. Thats why vegetables cost more than chocolate.

I thought it was something to do with fat content.

Salt is simply cheaper than butter so by adding the cheaper ingredient to the butter, the same weight of end product is cheaper.

And neither are healthier than the other - it would depend on the rest of your diet.

I always buy both, salted for toast, unsalted for baking, and I've never seen them at different prices before, so I can say it's not a standard Morrisons policy :). They probably just had stock that was close to the use by date.

Unsalted is better quality with more butter content and that is why some bakers advise you to use it in baking even when you are adding salt to the recipe. It also doesn't last as long so the costs of getting rid of unsold products are higher. Ergo - higher prices.

Are you sure OP?

I just bought 2 packs of butter from Morrisons to do some baking (fairy cakes and shortbread in case you're wondering) and I'm pretty sure the UNSALTED was £1.20, with the salted being more expensive (can't remember how much exactly, just that it was).

Maybe your Morrisons has the prices mixed?

snowboarder

Yep, I bought 2 blocks of salted butter and they're listed as £1.20 each! Maybe I should tell the shop

I must say I never thought I'd be considering the manufacture of unsalted butter in such detail! The things we learn...