The Mayo Myth: Why Homemade Beats Premium Store-Bought Every Time
Hunter & Gather olive oil mayo costs up to £18 a jar. Making the same quantity at home costs £4.50. Here's the maths, and why homemade is actually better in every way.
Low Carb Life
Contributor
We’ve all been there. You’ve decided to cut out seed oils, you’re standing in the supermarket aisle, and you pick up a jar of “clean” avocado oil mayonnaise. Then you see the price tag. £6.50? £8? For a small jar?
If you want the larger 630g “family size” jars from premium brands like Hunter & Gather or Dr. Will’s, you can be looking at anything from £13 to a staggering £18 depending on where you shop. It’s enough to make you wonder if a low-carb, seed-oil-free lifestyle is only for the wealthy.
But here’s the secret the “clean label” brands don’t want you to focus on: mayonnaise is just an emulsion. And the markup on that emulsion is absolutely astronomical.
What’s actually in standard supermarket mayo?
If you buy a standard jar of Hellmann’s or a supermarket own-brand mayo, the first ingredient is almost always “vegetable oil” or “sunflower oil.” As we’ve covered in our comprehensive guide to seed oils, these oils are highly processed, chemically extracted, and inherently unstable when exposed to heat or light.
They are used because they are incredibly cheap. But for those of us trying to reduce systemic inflammation and improve metabolic health, they are an ingredient we want to avoid entirely.
The premium alternative — and its price
Brands like Hunter & Gather and Dr. Will’s have done a brilliant thing: they’ve created mayonnaise using high-quality avocado or olive oil. They are genuinely great products with clean ingredients.
The problem is the “Emulsion Markup.” Mayonnaise is roughly 80% oil, 10% egg, and 10% acid (vinegar or lemon juice) and seasonings. When you buy a premium jar, you aren’t just paying for the high-quality oil; you are paying a massive premium for the fact that someone else put those ingredients in a blender for you.
The Emulsion Markup
Let’s look at the maths. To make 630g of mayonnaise at home, you need about 500ml of oil and one or two eggs.
| Mayo Type | Example Product | Cost per 630g jar | Cost per 100g | Annual saving vs premium* |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Premium Avocado Oil | Dr. Will’s / Hunter & Gather | £16.00 | £2.54 | — |
| Premium Olive Oil | Hunter & Gather | £14.50 | £2.30 | — |
| Homemade Avocado Oil | Pure Avocado Oil + Egg | £8.35 | £1.33 | £198.90 |
| Homemade Olive Oil | Extra Light Olive Oil + Egg | £4.50 | £0.71 | £260.00 |
*Based on consuming one 630g jar per fortnight.
By making your own olive oil mayo at home, you are saving over £10 per jar. Over a year, that’s £260 back in your pocket—just for one condiment.
Why homemade is actually better
Price aside, there are several reasons why the jar you make in your kitchen beats the one from the shop:
- Fresher Oil: Oil starts to oxidise the moment it is processed. Store-bought mayo might have been sitting in a warehouse or on a shelf for months. Your homemade version uses fresh oil.
- No Shelf-Life Additives: Even “clean” brands often have to add citrus fibre or other thickeners to ensure the emulsion stays stable for a year on a shelf. Your fridge doesn’t need that.
- Ingredient Control: You can use the highest quality pastured eggs, real organic lemon juice, and proper grey sea salt.
- Custom Texture: Like it thicker? Add more oil. Want it zingier? More lemon. It’s your mayo.
- Less Waste: No more glass jars or plastic squeeze bottles going into the recycling every two weeks.
The 2-minute method
If you think making mayo is a difficult, delicate process of adding oil drop-by-drop, I have good news. If you have an immersion blender (a stick blender), it takes exactly two minutes.
You put all the ingredients into a tall, narrow jug (most stick blenders come with one). You put the blender right at the bottom, turn it on, and hold it still for 20 seconds as the white emulsion forms at the base. Then, you slowly tilt and lift the blender to pull in the remaining oil.
That’s it. You’re done.
Get the full 2-Minute Mayo recipe here
When to buy premium instead
I’m not saying you should never buy a jar. If you’re travelling, if you’re in the middle of a house move and your blender is in a box, or if you genuinely have a week where 120 seconds feels like too much of a commitment, these premium brands are a lifesaver. It’s always better to pay the premium than to settle for seed-oil-filled supermarket alternatives.
Summary
The “Mayo Myth” is that clean eating has to be expensive. By understanding that mayonnaise is a simple kitchen task rather than a complex industrial product, you can enjoy the highest quality fats for a fraction of the cost of store-bought alternatives.
Stop paying the emulsion markup. Get your blender out.
Some links in this article may be affiliate links. If you buy through them, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you — it helps keep this site free. We only ever link to products we’d actually use.