Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Favorite Thing - Gallon o' Mayo

As a child, I ate a lot of Miracle Whip.  Sometimes, though, Mother would squeeze a jar of Hellman's mayonnaise out of her tiny, household allowance, especially in the summer months, when she was grilling chicken, and potato salad wasn't potato salad, unless it was made with mayonnaise.

I bought a jar of Miracle Whip once — for old times sake — and my children started looking for suitcases.  No aspersions cast upon the lovers of Miracle Whip, for ya gotta eat what ya like, but we're a mayonnaise family.  And I've learned I prefer the creaminess of Kraft, so it's my mayo of choice.  It gets even better, though...

Kraft offers its creamy goodness in a sturdy, gallon jug, and that's the best of the best!


Now watch that unit pricing when you're selecting size at the grocery store, because we baby boomers were trained to buy "family size" or "bulk" or "economy size," which offerings began appearing on grocery store shelves when we were kids.  Imagine my surprise, when a few years ago I discovered many companies have made a switch, and economy size often isn't the most economical size to buy.  But the gallon of Kraft mayonnaise has the lowest unit pricing, AND (*drum roll*) when you're finished eating the creamy goodness, you have a gallon storage container for your forever use! 

They recently redesigned the label, and now it's ugly, but you're going to scrub that off anyway, so don't twitch too much.  [Taste of Home magazine recently changed their font, aesthetically ruining the magazine, but we can abide that; don't scrub your magazine, or you won't be able to read the tasty recipes.]  A clean gallon jug can receive a strip of Scotch tape with marker scrawl identification of the contents — bread flour, frosted flakes, pancake mix — and be changed with a flick of the fingers.

Favorite thing — Gallon o' Mayo


I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope.  ~Psalm 130:5

9 comments:

zoomer1 said...

I've always been a Best Foods girl myself, though for the last year I've been *gasp* making my own mayo! Talk about nummy, though I don't get a gallon jug out of the deal. For those, I have to save the cat food containers!

Lacey said...

Now that's pioneering; I can't stomach home made mayonnaise!! :o) Something about actually seeing all the junk that goes into a batch...
Interesting trivia: "Hellman's" in the East = "Best Foods" in the West. Same blue bow and everything. They even change the TV commercial jingle to fit the region: "Bring out the (Best Foods / Hellman's) and bring out the best!"

zoomer1 said...

Lace, I can still remember the old Best Foods commercial, with the tag at the end, "Hellman's, east of the Rockies". And what do you mean junk? Only the finest ingredients go into this girl's mayonnaise! *L*

CarolineNot said...

I think Little Loo doesn't like to see those fine ingredients. *phflubb* Remember, she prays fervently over her meals, too.

Zoomer, which oil do you use for your mayonnaise? I don't want the flavor of olive; canola, soy, and corn are bad; peanut is iffy; coconut's solid point would make it uncooperative. I haven't made mayonnaise since last summer (or the summer before?), and I must have used peanut. Could I have used coconut? I remember the result being warm upon completion, which may mean I successfully used coconut. What say you? Do you have a safe supply of corn oil?

[I don't read the label on Kraft, so I in feigned ignorance can enjoy it. *snort*] ºÜº

Annie T. said...

Kinda funny, I never buy food in bulk or it would go to waste with just Don & I, but as I was in the coffee aisle at WM yesterday, guess what I happened upon on the opposite side?? HUGE vats of MAYO!!! I smiled & thought to myself, "I just saw that jug & label online today!" As for me, my mom always used Miracle Whip, but would buy a small jar of Hellman's mayo for my North Carolina b-i-l when he visited. I came to like the "real" stuff, getting to eat what was left of Rick's. Now, I can eat either & wane back & forth. I usually end up with the cheap stuff tho', my favorite being Hy-Vee's Lite Salad Dressing...not quite as tangy as MW, but is pretty good.

WHEW! That was more than anyone cared to know! :0)

CarolineNot said...

Annie, you win the easy-to-please prize for the day. I'm emotionally allergic to "lite" anything, so I applaud your grown-up choice.

I'm lovin' and laughin' over a jug of mayonnaise prompting perhaps the most and longest comments ever on a blogpost o' mine.

MamaHen said...

I have never seen a jug of mayo like that. I wonder if they will carry the "olive oil" mayo in those? We like that particular kind, and in the summer use quite a bit of mayo for the potato salads, pasta salads, etc.

CarolineNot said...

Okay, MamaHen, now you've piqued my interest, and I'm going to have to make some mayonnaise with olive oil. If it gets a round of blekks at our house, I'll be asking for an address, so I can ship it to yours. No gallon for a taste-test, though. Would it travel well in a Ziploc sandwich bag? ºÜº

zoomer1 said...

I don't like EVOO for mayonnaise, myself. Tastes bitter to me. And you're right Coconut Oil sets up. My latest mayo batches have been made with peanut oil. Don't use the unrefined though, unless you want peanut-flavored mayo. I'm still looking for the perfect mayonnaise oil.

And I, too, am giggling over how much feedback you've gotten over your mention of a condiment. :o)