Eye Drops, Calamine, Benadryl...EVOO?

[Pickles]

Went to Eckerd Drugs today, and lo and behold! What's nestled between the iodine, and the boric acid? A four-ounce bottle of olive oil! In a medicinal looking bottle with the Eckert name on it. For $4.29. So...I picked it up for a look.

Ingredients: Olive Oil

Directions: For use in salads and cooking.

This may be a good little marketing gimic for Eckerd, eh? Doctor says "eat more olive oil, it's healthy!" So they package it like they would mineral oil or ipecac and get people paying about $5.00 for 4 ounces. Anyone have any thoughts on this? I thought I was so interesting/strange/amusing.

Edited July 16, 2004 by Pickles (log)

[razzar]

Was there an eye-dropper in the bottle too?

But, on the whole, this just seems wrong.

[gingerly]

for many years,the only place to buy olive oil(in small cans or tiny bottles)in india was at the chemists!used primarily for skin and hair care but also as the token dose of healty fat by those following the latest fads.frightfully expensive too.it's changed now of course-most well stocked department stores carry some kind of olive oil !

[LEdlund]

I am a sucker for "beauty" products. One time I bought a bottle of schmancy cuticle oil, but when I got home and used it, I realized it was plain old olive oil that I just paid a ridiculous amount of money for. See, I told you I was a sucker. At least now I have a pretty bottle that I can keep my olive oil in!

[Rachel Perlow]

I did a search for olive oil on Drugstore.com and several products came up, but none where the only ingredient is olive oil; soaps and body or facial scrubs.

[gingerly]

hair balls,pest control,garlic bread..take your pick.

A sip of olive oil before you go to sleep stops snoring. It makes the throat slippery. Your spouse can sleep.

[Ovenfrenzy]

I have heard it called "sweet oil" in a medicinal/health/beauty context. Some women I was working with told me to use it on my scalp to moisturize- I found a bottle of said oil in drugstore and said "Ahh, olive oil."

[hjshorter]

You can use it, warmed, as ear drops. Old folk remedy for earache.

[Mabelline]

gingerly, I went to your link, and I liked this one: melt with some beeswax and pour into a tin--makes a good lipbalm, leather conditioner, or furniture polish. Hell, none of my other lipbalms are 'multi-taskers' like that!

[razzar]

You can use it, warmed, as ear drops.  Old folk remedy for earache.

Or drink a teaspoonful before you go out drinking to prevent inebriation. Old folk preventative from my father.

[gingerly]

gingerly, I went to your link, and I liked this one: melt with some beeswax and pour into a tin--makes a good lipbalm, leather conditioner, or furniture polish. Hell, none of my other lipbalms are 'multi-taskers' like that!

yup!all skin types catered for too!

[Pickles]

But can anyone offer any comments on why Eckerd would package olive oil in this manner, in with the other drug products? If someone has been told by their gramma to use olive oil for an ear ache, would some people actually go to the drug store for it instead of the salad dressing aisle at the market? There's actually a small food section at Eckerd's Drugstore, and olive oil is there...small bottles of it.

Edited July 16, 2004 by Pickles (log)

[Mabelline]

Perhaps it's just an archaic carryover from the days when you also got your food extracts from the druggist.

[hjshorter]

I remember seeing it in the drugstore long before my mother ever started using it in food.

[Rachel Perlow]

Ah, here it is: Eckerd Olive Oil. It's listed under First Aid/Alcohol & Antiseptics. I'm going to email their customer service for more info.

[jmcgrath]

But can anyone offer any comments on why Eckert would package olive oil in this manner, in with the other drug products?  If someone has been told by their gramma to use olive oil for an ear ache, would some people actually go to the drug store for it instead of the salad dressing aisle at the market?  There's actually a small food section at Eckert's Drugstore, and olive oil is there...small bottles of it.

I can remember a bottle of olive oil in my parent's medicine cabinet back in the '40s and '50s. Nobody in suburbia used it for cooking back then. It was either Crisco or Wesson Oil. We've come a long way, folks!

Jim

[hathor]

Ah, here it is: Eckerd Olive Oil. It's listed under First Aid/Alcohol & Antiseptics. I'm going to email their customer service for more info.

Makes you realize how subjective we are to packaging. I just wouldn't put anything on my salad that came out of a bottle like that...even it had a protective neckband!

Don't you wonder how their sales of olive oil are doing???

[Mabelline]

I guess I was fortunate in that my father spent some time on Sicily and at Palermo during WWII. Therefore he came back with a passionate obsession for Italian food, and encouraged my mama and myself to cook Italian anytime.

[Pickles]

Ah, here it is: Eckerd Olive Oil. It's listed under First Aid/Alcohol & Antiseptics. I'm going to email their customer service for more info.

Ah groovy! The one in my store was in a clear bottle. And it didn't look half bad!

edited my posts to spell Eckerd with a "d."

Edited July 16, 2004 by Pickles (log)

[Mabelline]

Whoa, Nelly! 4.29 for 4 ounces? Yipes!

[Pickles]

Whoa, Nelly! 4.29 for 4 ounces? Yipes!

That's what I say in post one. Great little racket they have with their snake oil. I mean...olive oil.

[Rachel Perlow]

I have a feeling it's still on the shelf for their older customers who still consider it something for the medicine chest rather than the kitchen pantry. Hopefully, someone from eckerd.com will come on and let us know who buys this stuff.

[Mabelline]

Yep...too bad they couldn't determine them by age. I remember sweet oil quite well.

[gingerly]

But can anyone offer any comments on why Eckert would package olive oil in this manner, in with the other drug products?  If someone has been told by their gramma to use olive oil for an ear ache, would some people actually go to the drug store for it instead of the salad dressing aisle at the market?  There's actually a small food section at Eckert's Drugstore, and olive oil is there...small bottles of it.

I can remember a bottle of olive oil in my parent's medicine cabinet back in the '40s and '50s. Nobody in suburbia used it for cooking back then. It was either Crisco or Wesson Oil. We've come a long way, folks!

Jim

i'm guessing there are enough people out there who do not use olive oil in cooking on a regular basis( and also might not fancy smelling like the makings of bruschetta when they do use olive oil for topical application or whatever)to make it worthwhile for drug companies to package what i think may be something close to deodorised oil.that's pretty much what we found way back when!

[Mabelline]

I'm guessing you're spot on. I know some more aged ladies who use nothing but Crisco-oil or shortening-for everything.