two damn tablespoons of olive oil...

September 9, 2013 2:09 PM

I'm going car camping next week, and I'd like to bring a small amount of oil to cook with. I currently have a giant jug of oil and no desire to spend $6 on a tiny glass bottle of the same stuff. is there a container I can decant the oil into that WILL NOT spill in my car? I'm also looking to avoid a leaky container in an oily nasty ziploc. Clearly a cheap or recycled option would be best, but I'd be willing to buy something if it could be washed and reused and would never, ever leak.
posted by genmonster to Grab Bag (31 answers total)

How about one of those tiny plastic containers in sold drugstores, so travelers can take a small amount of shampoo or whatever and not the whole family-sized bottle?
posted by easily confused at 2:11 PM on September 9, 2013 [3 favorites]

Baby food jar (cheap even if you throw out the contents).
posted by susanvance at 2:14 PM on September 9, 2013

You could pour it into an empty 24 oz soda/water bottle with a funnel. Fill it as high as you think you need.
posted by rancidchickn at 2:14 PM on September 9, 2013 [1 favorite]

Nalgene.
posted by oceanjesse at 2:14 PM on September 9, 2013 [3 favorites]

Plastic 20 oz soda bottles are pretty sturdy and seal well.
posted by ryanrs at 2:14 PM on September 9, 2013 [2 favorites]

Nalgene makes smaller containers too-- I have one of the 8 oz. ones and it's great. No leakage issues.
posted by jetlagaddict at 2:17 PM on September 9, 2013 [2 favorites]

A fifty milliliter disposable centrifuge tube works well, completely trustworthy and just the right size, at a little over three tablespoons, but you can't buy just one. The cost of a case would be completely prohibitive. If you have a friend who works in a biochemistry lab you might be able to beg an unused one, though.
posted by Ery at 2:18 PM on September 9, 2013

I recommend buying a $0.99 nip of your favorite liquor, drinking it, and refilling the bottle.
posted by aimedwander at 2:19 PM on September 9, 2013 [17 favorites]

There is a whole industry built up around these small bottles, especially after the TSA restrictions on carrying toiletries came into effect a few years ago. You can often find them at REI, Cabelas, or other camping stores. The current consensus seems to be that "silicone bulb" models are the best combination of form factor, tight-seal, and price. Here is a good write-up with some links.
posted by seasparrow at 2:23 PM on September 9, 2013 [4 favorites]

I take dressing for lunches, and these are the very best I've found. Baby food jars leak.
posted by CheeseLouise at 2:24 PM on September 9, 2013 [1 favorite]

Seconding the recommendation for nalgene containers. As long as you screw the top on snugly and not cross-threaded, they do not leak and they do not break. I've done a lot of camping, much of it as an instructor/counselor for various organizations. We always had piled of different-sized nalgenes for our food packout.

They make travel sizes, which may be what you're looking for. I'd trust it over a drug store bottle.

Also, you I sometimes bring along an extra one (the 16 oz storage jar) to use as a bowl and/or to store leftovers (or you can just wait until you empty one of the ones that had food in it).
posted by pompelmo at 2:25 PM on September 9, 2013 [2 favorites]

When we go canoe camping, we often use shortening since it's (mostly) a solid at room temp. That makes it far less likely to leak.
posted by advicepig at 2:26 PM on September 9, 2013 [1 favorite]

Your local Target or whatever should have an aisle with tiny Tupperware or similar containers. In the Tupperware product lineup, these are called Smidgets. There are similar products that are very common for baby food, because infant servings are like one or two ice-cube-sized portions. They'll be in the Plastic Crap for Babies aisle.

Alternatively, buy a jar of baby food for 49 cents, dump it, rinse, and store your oil in that jar. They reseal airtight.
posted by DarlingBri at 2:26 PM on September 9, 2013

I'd get a small, cheap bottle of water, drink it and use that.
posted by jeff-o-matic at 2:28 PM on September 9, 2013 [1 favorite]

Everywhere in the olive oil producing world you buy your olive oil from farmers at open market stands in various sizes of plastic pepsi or coke bottles, from the small ones to the two liter sizes. The only people who buy it in glass bottles in supermarkets are... geez, I don't know anybody who does that.
posted by zaelic at 2:29 PM on September 9, 2013

I use Mio containers (the flavored drink concentrate stuff) for trips like these.
posted by amicamentis at 2:29 PM on September 9, 2013

I like to use half-cup mason jars for this.
posted by Sara C. at 2:31 PM on September 9, 2013

Dude, just use an empty plastic water bottle, you know, like a Dasani bottle or whatever. Just because they are meant to be disposable doesn't mean they have to be, they are in fact very reusable. They are actually very strong, have excellent caps that seal well, are washable, pour nicely, and are super lightweight compared to most purpose-built options. They are also dirt cheap, come in lots of sizes, are available at just about every store in the country, and hey you get some water to drink in the bargain. They are excellent for camping, I use them for lots of stuff. Just label them with a Sharpie if you use them for something other than water storage.
posted by Scientist at 2:31 PM on September 9, 2013 [7 favorites]

We use plastic pop bottles for this kind of thing. We used to use water bottles but the plastic has gotten so thin on water bottles that they aren't durable enough.

In the spring and fall we'll also pack coconut oil in a margarine tub which is solid below 80F or so.

Finally if you keep all this sort of thing in a dry cooler without drain even a catastrophe can't spread past that cooler. We've got a little 18? can cooler that we use for oil, salt, pepper, flour, etc. Also keeps the bugs out.
posted by Mitheral at 2:43 PM on September 9, 2013 [2 favorites]

Whole Foods or a natural food market (in the US) has these in their bulk section and are pretty inexpensive.
posted by dawkins_7 at 2:51 PM on September 9, 2013 [1 favorite]

Back in my laundromat days I'd take premeasured amounts of detergent and fabric softener back and forth in old (disposable) water bottles.

Never ever had a leaking problem.

That's what I'd recommend.
posted by phunniemee at 2:54 PM on September 9, 2013

For camping, I hit the dollar store and pick up a plastic condiment bottle (used for ketchup or mustard) - great for storing olive oil, dishwashing liquids, etc. easy to label.
posted by HeyAllie at 3:10 PM on September 9, 2013

I use this 4-oz. travel bottle to take a small amount of cooking oil with me on short bike camping trips. I've never had a spill, and I only make the slightest effort to secure it--basically I just make sure I don't put it in my bag upside-down. I imagine a Nalgene bottle or other bottle with a non-spouted lid would be even more secure, but I like the spout this one has in the lid.
posted by rhiannonstone at 3:15 PM on September 9, 2013

I cater, so bringing food from the base kitchen to the event is half the job.

When we need oil we'll put it in a squirt bottle. The size varies based on how much we need.

Don't put the lid on the bottle. Get some plastic wrap and put it over the top so nothing can come out. Make sure there's some extra hanging out on the sides. Then screw the lid over that.

Wrap that extra plastic wrap over the spout on the top of the bottle. That's to keep stuff from getting in there.
posted by theichibun at 3:28 PM on September 9, 2013 [2 favorites]

No idea whether this is food safe, but Sephora gives out free, tiny, empty sample bottles you can fill up with whatever. I use them for moisturizer and cuticle oil when I'm traveling, but each one would hold a tablespoon or so. And they are free!
posted by mochapickle at 3:28 PM on September 9, 2013

There's no reason to resort to random containers from non-food-safe plastics. Just use a funnel and an emptied bottle of water, like you buy at the 7-11 for a dollar.
posted by fingersandtoes at 4:07 PM on September 9, 2013

If you genuinely want only a few tablespoons at a time, use drinking straws. See this video for the dead-cheap technique.
posted by peakcomm at 4:15 PM on September 9, 2013 [2 favorites]

Seems like you will end up spending a few bucks either way. I'd just buy a small bottle of oil and be done with it. Otherwise, you can save a whole dollar or two by buying an empty glass jar and filling it yourself. If you can't find empty glass jars, maybe buy baby food or jam and clean our the jar. I'd still put it in a plastic baggie in case it leaks. But I brought lest oil with me when I moved in a jam jar and it never leaked and lest oil smells horrible. It worked fine.
posted by AppleTurnover at 4:47 PM on September 9, 2013

Seconding the recommendation for one of those little bottles designed for putting shampoo or whatever in when you fly. I kept some olive oil in one of those for exactly this reason. (And sunscreen in another, and shampoo in another and one day when I was particularly spaced out I put olive oil in my hair and smeared shampoo on my face, but you probably aren't that dumb. Also it made my hair really silky.)

No leaks.
posted by lollusc at 4:58 PM on September 9, 2013

If you know someone who had a kid within the last year, a small baby bottle or the bottles meant for breast pumps do not leak when lidded properly. I have a bunch lying around, some that have never been used because they were free or whatever.
posted by dpx.mfx at 5:46 PM on September 9, 2013

Wine bottle with a Stelvin screw-top closure. It's what I use to store the 5 liters of olive oil I bring back to the US from France every year.
posted by jet_silver at 9:13 PM on September 9, 2013