Take the RapeseedOilBenefits.com challenge: non-testers add your feedback - you could win a £150 voucher NOW CLOSED

[KatieBMumsnet]

Did you know rapeseed oil, sometimes labelled vegetable oil, is one of the healthiest and most versatile cooking oils you can buy? That's the message from RapeseedOilBenefits.com, a not-for-profit campaign that aims to inspire people to use this cooking oil.

Take part in the RapeseedOilBenefits.com challenge and add your feedback here by to be entered into the prize draw:

~ Official testers (those selected by MNHQ) can win a £250 supermarket voucher of their choice
~ Non-official testers' who add a comment can win a £150 supermarket voucher of their choice

The challenge is to buy two bottles of rapeseed oil - one labelled 'vegetable oil' and the other labelled 'cold pressed' - and then to use these in place of your normal cooking oils for two weeks and tell us what you think. (If you already use rapeseed oil, feel free to take part in this challenge too.)

If you have any questions about rapeseed oil, go to RapeseedOilBenefits.com to ask the nutritionist and check out their guide to rapeseed oil FAQs.

Do try their easy and tasty recipes while you're there.

Please add your feedback here on the following:

~ Let us know what you think of rapeseed oil and if you knew about the benefits already or not

~ Have you tried out any RapeseedOilBenefits.com recipes? How did you and your family find them?

~ Please add any other comments, recipes, tips or ideas you have too - we'd love to hear from you at various stages of the challenge

Thanks

MNHQ

Please note comments made on this thread may be reproduced by Rapeseed Oil Benefits (AHDB)
Closing date: 19 August 2013, winners will be selected at random from all posting a comment: either a tester or non tester - prizes as above.

Non-tester but already a HUGE fan of rapeseed oil!

We made the switch a few months ago to using rapeseed oil for cooking initially as we were concerned about how even olive oil can deteriorate at high temperatures but rapeseed oil remains stable and healthy. A friend of ours mentioned it to us but then we noticed lots of top TV chefs saying the same thing.

Then we tried the cold pressed rapeseed oil for salads, dressings etc and found we loved that too. So now we pretty much only used rapeseed oil in our household.

One of the things I was concerned about was that the smell and flavour would not be nice - but amazingly it smells nothing like the yukky smell of rapeseed fields and tastes great so it was not an issue at all.

Usually works out as good value in comparison to olive oil so we love it!

Bought my two bottles of rapeseed oil today, and the more expensive one also had a competition to win a holiday to Malaysia;))
As it was such a hot day, it was salad for tea tonight, so used the rapeseed oil to make a salad dressing which tasted delicious.
Will use it in a different way tomorrow, plus looking forward to working my way through the recipes in the booklet that was sent.:))

We have been using rapeseed oil for around 3 months as Aldi sell a really good value one and I had been reading about it's health benefits. My husband hasn't noticed any difference in the taste of his food although we use very little oil. Tonight as a special treat I made deep fried chicken goujons and they took on a beautiful golden colour and tasted really delicious. I am sure the oil made a difference. Other things I have used it for are salad dressings, frying crepes, stir fries and paella.

Made a beef and spinach stir fry tonight and used the cold-pressed oil instead of sesame oil. It was really nice, tasted less greasy and had a good flavour.

1 week in and we are very impressed. It is really nice in dressings and I am trying out some of the recipes next week as one of my new mindees is dairy intolerant so can use it in place of butter, you may have a total convert!

I too am very impressed at using it in salad dressings. It really is nicer and not heavy like I thought. I love that it is British too!!

I'm not that keen on it in salad dressings. It's fine but I do prefer the flavour of olive oil.

However, I used it in place of butter in a loaf of bread I was doing in the breadmaker and that turned out well so I might carry on with that. Cheaper and healthier and you can't taste the difference!

Sorry Ive not been to do my report on the oil I forgot No excuse either.

Anyway we have been using a bit this last week.

TBH I haven't noticed much difference, but DH says that he finds the Rapeseed oil to be nicer on his salads. He also does the cooking and prefers to use Rapeseed than other oils now.

Im not sure about the health benefits as I really can't tell TBH, but that doesnt mean that nothing is happening on the inside of me.

I was surprised to see that it wasn't really overpriced either. The little bottles look like they should be costly.

~ Let us know what you think of rapeseed oil and if you knew about the benefits already or not
I love rapeseed oil and had been using it occasionally but it will be a definite regular purchase from now. I must admit I didn't realise the health benefits before.

~ Have you tried out any RapeseedOilBenefits.com recipes? How did you and your family find them?
Yes, we have made the scones, eastern lamb and quinoa patties and the bacon, mustard & potato salad. I have also substituted the rapeseed oil for other oil/s in my own recipes.

DCs have not noticed any change yet, but I am always experimenting with food (so they just get used to it!)

~ Please add any other comments, recipes, tips or ideas you have too - we'd love to hear from you at various stages of the challenge
I had hoped that the cold-pressed would be a more reasonable price because it is from the UK.

I had no idea about the benefits of using rapeseed oil, I have always used olive oil as i've always assumed this was the healthiest oil.

Today we made the tear and share cheese seedy scones which were delicious.

I made a salad dressing from the cold pressed oil which I found in a Hugh F-W book which was tasty and I have so far used the other oil to fry various foods (tonight it was falafels), and i've been really impressed with it. I am going to have a browse on the website for more inspiration.

I'm one of the 'official' testers.

We have used the cold pressed stuff in place of olive oil all week, and for most cooking it has been fine, DH hasn't noticed most of the time :) I used it to make a honey and mustard dressing to have with new potatoes and with salad, and I really like it - DH doesn't like honey mustard dressings though, or so he tells me now!

I also used it in making a chicken and sweet potato bake, which I thought was delicious - the oil is VERY orange though, which I found off putting, as it was so vibrant! Also in a pasta sauce, and I did miss the flavour of olive oil, but DH and DCs didn't notice.

The regular vegetable oil, I have been using as vegetable oil - so I made a cake with it (DELICIOUS!) and also used it to fry some eggy bread for lunch today.

I think we will stick with the regular vegetable oil rapeseedoil, but not that impressed with the cold pressed, as I can't see any flavour benefits over olive oil - we don't cook with oil at every meal, or even every day, so the health benefits are not so exciting for us.

Not sure about the cold pressed in dressing, I made my usual, substituting the rape seed for Olive oil, it wasnt horrible, but it just wasnt as nice, a bit tasteless I think. Ds loves any kind of dressing and volunteered to drink it up, and Dp didnt pass comment, (I havnt mentioned the substitution)

Ok I am converted. It is tasty. I am using it instead of butter in cakes (they turn out fine) and today tried it with bread and balsamic vinegar as I would olive oil. Very delicious. Given that it is so much cheaper than olive oil, I would definitely use it again.

so far we have made scones with the cold pressed, and wholemeal flour. (not such a good idea. they are heavy, but may be the wholemeal flour and little fingers)

also made spagetti bolognase and stir fry... using vegetable oil to cook with. i thiink that both were better...

mum is concerned as her cholesterol has gone up again, but her weight is dropping. told her i had substituted the oil for one with less cholesterol and she seemed happier, as my cooking is very greasy apparently. (that would be the stir fry then and she is very meat and two veg, but as these do not freeze well as ready meals she either cooks for herself, faffs about with the instuctions on shop ready meals or whacks one of my meals into the microwave until hot aaaaggghh) i shall continue using the oil at her house.

I have used the oil instead of butter today to make a banana loaf with left over bananas. I couldn't taste a difference but am sure it is healthier than butter (lower cholesterol). DD wants to make jaffa cakes tomorrow (any excuse).
:)

Getting on great with cooking! Will update properly as soon as I can!

I'm not entering the challenge but I can confirm things go a bit orange when Rapeseed oil is involved. Not that that matters.

Loving the cold pressed oil! just seen a celebrity chef on t.v recommend rapeseed oil for making mayonnaise instead of olive oil so think im gonna give it a try!

I'm making two things today - firstly the cheese and seed tear and share scones and secondly I am using a product from another MN test, the Schwartz 2 in 1 Chicken tikka bites mix, where instead of olive oil I have used cold pressed rapeseed oil.

I'll update once they have been cooked and eaten!

I have spent the week using the coldpressed oil, and have found it an improvement on the olive. Less greasy IMO. I have used it in flatbread to great effect, to roast chicken, in spag bol and to fry eggs. Much less overpowering than olive oil, and doesn't burn like butter. What's not to like?
Next week I will use the vegetable oil, which tbh I'm dubious of, but we'll see.

Hi meal 2 completed. This time another recipe from the booklet 'thai turkey burgers in wholemeal baps'. This used rapeseed oil to fry the burgers off in. Worked absolutely fine. Didn't smoke at the temperatures I was cooking at and is a lot less expensive but still with the health benefits of olive oil. The burgers were really tasty as well. Win win situation. I look forward to continuing my rapeseed oil trial....

So far with my little experiment of switching all of our oils with rapeseed oil, without telling my partner, is going rather swimmingly. He hasn't noticed at all, which is pretty amazing as he can always tell if I've changed brand of tea, bread, butter etc. I will secretly get us healthier and healthier bit by bit. Now if only I could make us think we're sat eating chocolate when we're in fact at the gym...then my plans will be complete :P

Totally going to try baking this tomorrow -
englishmum.com/rapeseed-oil-and-a-lemon-and-almond-cake.html

Just to add to my healthy eating :P

We had the cheese bread, it was really good! I have literally replaced olive oil completely now. We eat salad most days so it makes a great dressing, I have used it in a stiryfry, cooking pork chops and baking. It's much more versatile than olive oil.

Got mine and took them camping! (Even bottles of oil need a holiday).
Cooked two lots of bacon sandwiches first morning and did a blind taste test...none of us could taste any difference at all..which suggests the flavour is mild and overpowered by stronger tastes..so, bearing in mind the health benefits of rapeseed would be happy to use the cheaper one for general cooking. (Sweating onions, frying eggs, browning mince etc) Back home we had a dinner party. In the name of research and developing arm muscles like popeye I made mayo. One batch with the cheaper rapeseed, one with sunflower oil and olive oil. There was a definate difference. The olive oil batch had a 'grassy' note that was quite defined, the rapeseeda more neutral taste and our favourite..so win win for cheap rapeseed so far. Going head to head with oil and balsamic dips tomorrow and going to try baking.