scrape the bottom of the barrel

Meaning

Verb

• to settle for a poor option due to a lack or unavailability of anything better

Origin

• Derived from the historical practice in the early United States of storing food in barrel; when food supplies ran low, only what was on the very bottom of the barrel remained, and had to be removed by scraping.
• Oil in a barrel has different fractions with a different weight. The heavier fractions like asphaltum sink to the bottom of the barrel and can be difficult to scrape from the bottom.{{cite book
• |year=2014
• |author=Alex Epstein
• |title=The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels
• |pageurl=https://books.google.com/books?id=_ld9AwAAQBAJ&pg=PA76
• |isbn=9780698175488
• |page=76
• |publisher=Penguin
• |lang=en