I can’t believe it’s not 250 g of butter!

Allira, you’ve made me yearn for one of the delights of colder weather, to me anyway - sticky gingerbread! I have a very old Mary Berry recipe which includes sultanas - I leave those out and add a bit more ginger and mixed spice than she states.

One and a half times the recipe fits very nicely in one of my baking tins, and better still, the finished item just fits perfectly inside one of my M&S 🎄shortbread tins. I have 4 of those - they each fit a dozen of the fairy cakes I usually make for Gdcs’ birthday parties.

350grm. packs of butter - never, generally 250grm

I just compare the price per kilo on the supermarket label and choose the cheapest. Not so easy when they do special offers though!

I do remember the small packs of butter. MIL used to buy them sometimes.

Does anyone remember a time in the 1980s when they were selling half packs or smaller packs of butter because inflation was biting? They were more upfront about it though
..Then later that so called *butter mountain*…sounded delicious. Was it surplus EE stock?

Sago well I never thought of that but my mum got a cream maker (blame Green Shield Stamps) and that required just unsalted butter (not as common then) and a small amount of tepid milk - we always had Gold Top it made delicious cream for cakes, trifles and my favourite on porridge.😺 So I suppose the reverse of this is logical.

Saffron dough cake was popular in Cornwall and in Devon too.
The Friday Dough Cake from a local baker's was wonderful (why Friday's was better, I don't know), particularly with butter, from a pack containing 8 ozs.
I've never made one.

Used to get Lardy cakes from the bakers, & homemade parkin, in the west midlands. To Mum, running out of homemade cake was like running out of bread - she always had something in the cake tins.We did farm & had elevenses out in the fields for the gang & I guess making your own was cheaper than shop-bought as well as nicer - not like now. I like baking & love homemade cakes but I don't have the willpower to keep cake in - I just make it for visitors, birthdays or to take with me to friends / work etc.

Whiff

I know Parkin is a Yorkshire cake but I am from the black country and we knew it well . And you could get it easily in bakeries as well as gingerbread. Lardy cake was well known in the area but other counties had their own version.
Anyone can learn to cook they just have to want to. Some of my daughter's friends uni couldn't cook so she taught them .
I have had to adapt ways of cooking as my strength and mobility has gotten worse but still do all the things I want but my way.

My mother called her ginger cake parkin but it wasn't a traditional parkin with oats, it was a lovely sticky ginger cake baked in a square tin.

I could just eat some now!

The (English) butter I bought in Aldi on Friday is 250gms. I haven't bought any from Waitrose in the past week, but the packets seem to have shrunk. I always used to buy 500gm packs from Waitrose but - at least in my nearest branch - these have been unavailable for several months.

Baggs

Müller, standard at the Co-op, haven't shrunk yet and it's very nice butter. Usually the cheapest too.

I disabused Minibaggs of the idea that she'd been brought up on Lurpak. Nope, I said, Co-op cheapest always. Co-op used to do their "own brand" which was fine but now it's Müller. Both just as good as Lurpak, which I was brought up on as it happens.

I often buy own brand - as long as it’s from our own farmers. I would much prefer to support them, rather than French or Danish or any others.

I know Parkin is a Yorkshire cake but I am from the black country and we knew it well . And you could get it easily in bakeries as well as gingerbread. Lardy cake was well known in the area but other counties had their own version.
Anyone can learn to cook they just have to want to. Some of my daughter's friends uni couldn't cook so she taught them .
I have had to adapt ways of cooking as my strength and mobility has gotten worse but still do all the things I want but my way.

Phew! Having just read the OP. I had to dash off to the fridge and check the weight on the Tesco unsalted butter and block Stork margarine.........delighted to. say BOTH are 250g.......I wonder how long for though

Sago

I no longer buy butter it’s so expensive, I buy cream and make my own, it takes about 5 minutes in my food processor and tastes delicious.

Years ago my MIL used to make clotted cream, Sago as the milk delivered by the local dairy used to be so rich and creamy.

I no longer buy butter it’s so expensive, I buy cream and make my own, it takes about 5 minutes in my food processor and tastes delicious.

Whiff

I made Bakewell tart for my craft group 2 weeks ago after making sure no one was allergic to nuts. One of my friends said it looked lovely but wouldn't have a piece as she doesn't like cherries. I asked why she thought there where cherries in it. Turned out she thought Bakewell tart was what Mr Kipling's was . I put strawberry jam in it . And definitely no icing on the top. Used a very rich short crust pastry with the olive spread and egg yolk . And Franizpane. Everyone loved it . And they requested it again.

What amazes me people my age 66 had never had steamed sponge ,bread pudding ,bread and butter pudding ,treacle tart which is made with golden syrup not treacle, parkin had been a revelation to some. And yet these are all things I grew up with plus many other basic puds and cakes .

I’m surprised that you’re surprised! Not everyone had good/enthusiastic cooks for mothers (and Parkin of course is a regional thing - we had homemade gingerbread but not Parkin). Many people would have stopped traditional baking once they could buy ready-made. Guess what? Not everyone grew up the same as you.

I have found this with chocolate (for Brownies) and goats' cheese (quiche); so annoying when in the middle of cooking.

Allira never been to Bakewell but know about the Bakewell tart pudding feud. Looking back in old cookbooks books Bakewell pudding is the original the tart came years later when people could afford dearer ingredients.

When I have a scone with jam and cream I do eat each half the opposite way both tastes delicious. Especially if it's clotted cream. 😋

I grew up with all those, Whiff

Have you been to Bakewell? There is hot debate whether it should be Bakewell Tart or Bakewell Pudding.
There are shops/cafés there named after both.

It's rather like the Devon/Cornwall scone whether it should be jam or cream first.

I made Bakewell tart for my craft group 2 weeks ago after making sure no one was allergic to nuts. One of my friends said it looked lovely but wouldn't have a piece as she doesn't like cherries. I asked why she thought there where cherries in it. Turned out she thought Bakewell tart was what Mr Kipling's was . I put strawberry jam in it . And definitely no icing on the top. Used a very rich short crust pastry with the olive spread and egg yolk . And Franizpane. Everyone loved it . And they requested it again.

What amazes me people my age 66 had never had steamed sponge ,bread pudding ,bread and butter pudding ,treacle tart which is made with golden syrup not treacle, parkin had been a revelation to some. And yet these are all things I grew up with plus many other basic puds and cakes .

Yes, I nearly got caught out with this a couple of months ago. I am now getting very good at doing maths when buying butter.

If it is 200gr divide by 4, if 250 gr divide by 5 and you have comparable prices. The result can sometimes be quie surprising.

I think the 250g must be out of stock at my nearest Tesco. Last time i bought it, it was considerably cheaper than Lurpak, but almost identical ingredients/proportions.

Granmarderby10

Yep RosiesMaw2 this lark has been going on for at least a year now.
You really have to examine things when shopping now AND those spreadables too, they have re+jigged the recipe /ingredients so that the ratio of butter to ..erm other junk has altered to more junk than butter (really don’t like rapeseed oil)
‘‘Tis the way of the world 🫤 sneaky gits

A few months ago I compared the ingredients of Lurpak and Tesco's Butterpak. They were almost identical - the 250g pack of Lurpak had 52% butter and 24% rapeseed oil (plus water etc)

When I read this thread, I checked on the Tesco website and and both still have 52/23 split.

What was more interesting is the prices -

250g Lurpak £3.10, (Tesco 250g seems unavailable)
400g Lurpak £3.75 , but Tesco 500g £2.09 !! (Aldi Price Match)

With Tesco's the same proportions as Lurpak at considerably less, it is worth nipping to Tesco and stocking up with 500g packs. It freezes well, BTW.

Tesco’s own brand is 250, hadn’t noticed until now as I never bake.

Kerrygold do make a 200 gram pack - bought it in the Spar. Was a ‘special offer’. Not seen it again though.

aldi and lidle are still 250gms