October 14, 2011

No, not Peanut Butter too!!

Due to the drought in the southern states, the peanut crop has not done well at all which means peanut products will be going up in prices an estimated 40%.

My husband has peanut butter on a bagel every morning and I love crunchy peanut butter granola bars for breakfast.  I even make homemade dog treats that contain peanut butter.  Peanut butter is a staple for a lot of people.  I'm not going to go into the good and bad of regular peanut butter versus natural peanut butter.  The fact is it is a good source of protein for many people.

I have several jars in my pantry that I purchased for 99 cents a jar over the spring and summer.  Now I wish I would have purchased more.  Perhaps I should pay attention to what is an actual serving size of peanut butter so it will last longer.  Then again I should do this with all food.  For peanut butter a serving size is 2 tablespoons.  I know that we spread more than that on piece of bread or bagel slice.  So with everything pay attention to the exact serving sizes.

When I was a child I remember that peanut butter was one of the things that our family would receive in the commodity program.  When my father was out of work we would get some food from the government commodity program.  I remember peanut butter came in a large institutional can and I thought that was kinda "cool" as peanut butter in the store came in a jar. 

This week has been a week of excess spending because we adopted Buddy our new dog and had as of yesterday $238.00 in veterinary expenses.  The dog may have been free, but the upkeep and maintenance isn't.  Now that Buddy is in our family we will budget his expenses as we have with other pets.

Buddy is a gentle, wonderful dog and it just seems that him being  part of our family was meant to be.  With the addition of a new pet there comes new routines and more time has been spent getting Buddy used to his new home.  Also, there is the training.  Fortunately Buddy is housebroken but not leash trained so I am spending more of my time to get him leash trained so that I will be able to walk him without him straining at the leash. 

Buddy will be my new exercise partner as our older dog, Griffey, doesn't walk very fast due to her age.  She kind of lumbers along and I doubt that I burn 10 calories if that when I walk her.  But old dog or not, Griffey enjoys and savors her daily walks no matter how long it takes her.  Perhaps this is something we as human beings can learn from our pets - to savor the small things such as a slow lumbersome walk on a cool fall day. 

10 comments:

Out My window said...

Note that peanut butter does go rancid. so you do need to rotate it and keep it in a cool place. But thank for the input, I will go stock up on peanut butter tomorrow.

Anonymous said...

I did buy 4 jars of peter pan this week when it was on sale. We eat at least a jar a month so I figure I am good for 4 months.

But I am keeping my eye out for more sales

Judy

Juhli said...

I was buying peanut butter at Trader Joe's a few days ago and the cashier mentioned that they weren't going to carry it once their current stock ran out until peanut prices went back down. Yesterday I made another trip their to stock up on what we will eat before the expiration date. The drought here in the south was really bad and I understand Florida citrus was also impacted. I think we can count on higher food prices in many areas this coming year and had better plan for that.

Unknown said...

Will get some, just in case.

Sft x

Theresa said...

I will have to buy a jar or two of peanut butter now as it is on sale. Regular price was outrageous before they had an excuse to raise the price.

I have 2 Boxers. They are the sweetest dogs ever. They look scary which is good, but they are sweet too.

Unknown said...

Sad to hear this news - peanut butter is most certainly a staple here at our house.

Martha said...

When I was grocery shopping today, I noticed that peanut butter has definitely gone up. 60 cents a jar for store brand and about $1.00 for national brands. My peanut butter granola bars were the same price so I was able to buy 7 boxes. That was all I could find at 2 stores. People are stocking up when they are finding peanut butter items at a good price. When the granola bars run out, I will return to my former staple of oatmeal for breakfast.

Rose said...

I heard about the peanut butter price hike a couple of weeks ago. I personally like the old fashioned peanut butter without hydrogenated oils, but my daughters like the Skippy and Jif brands. I bought the hydrogenated kind on sale and I think it probably has a longer shelf life with that and the mono and diglycerides in it.

Anonymous said...

Very bummed about the rise in PB costs. It is a staple in our house.. especially for my 8 year old. I have 2 jars of our favorite left in my stock. Hoping for a sale...

beaskneas said...

I read a blog recently where they made their own peanut butter. I forget which blog! They said it was much cheaper though. Here's a link to a bunch of homemade peanut butter recipes. Maybe one will interest you. I really like your blog!