This Mama loves JIF

In light of all our sharing about favorite bread, O's, and about our ziploc-reuse habits, I thought I'd share with you my peanut butter problem: This mama loves JIF.  That's right.  I love that sinfully homogenous thick stuff, made of "roasted peanuts, sugar, molasses, fully hydrogenated vegetable oils, and salt."

I ought to know more about this stuff that I'm putting into my body daily by the spoonful, but I haven't done the research or given it much thought.  Do you stock nut butter in the house?  What kind?  What factors into your choice of nut butters?

Comments

[Merry]

I grew up on Jif...I know it's good...but I felt like I really needed to switch to the Natural peanut butter basically because of the added sugar and hydrogenated oils--which is basically CRISCO! Ick! It was a hard switch for me...but now, all my kiddos know is the Adams natural peanut butter...which is made out of...peanuts...

[Melissa]

Guilty also. I love Jif, as does the rest of my family, and my husband always reaches for it at Costco. I try to rotate, so that when we finish a Jif we buy a natural brand. It's amazing how much longer those small jars last compared to the giant plastic tub of Jif. :-(

My 20 month old is not quite ready for peanut butter yet (waiting for the 2 year mark) but I think I may put my foot down and insist she eat the good stuff. We'll see if it works!

[SusanOR]

We use TJ's sunflower seed butter for the kiddo, as we started when we were sending lunch to her (nutfree) daycare.

We actually have TWO other nut butters in the house -- I prefer Jif (creamy) and hubby prefers super crunchy (whatever's on sale).

[AnomaLily]

My ex-partner's biggest weakness was that he was raised on the stuff. Even after doing all the research and being thoroughly freaked out about eating it, he'd find himself craving it over the hippy-you-have-to-stir versions of peanut butter.

Myself, however, was raised on the hippy-you-have-to-stir versions, and I think they're great and am very well put off by the
consistency. (I can actually remember the first time I discovered that other kids didn't need to stir their peanut butter or store it in the fridge.) So perhaps what you're raised on is very important.

Hazelnut Butter as well as Sun butter (both can be local and sunflowers are actually a native plant) is great for consistency similar to the hydrogenated goodness of Jif.

Organic peanut butter is off the hook expensive and nearly unavailable in bulk right now, however.

[Anomalily]

I meant that I'm put off my the consistency of jif.

[Makeshift Mama]

We use grind-your-own peanut butter and almond butter here, but the occasional jar of Jif does sneak in, because it's easier to make energy bars with. I want to try the organic creamy peanut butter like Safeway has now, to see if it works just as well. The lure of free WIC peanut butter is hard to resist...

[Sara]

My husband only likes Adams crunchy. I've tried others a couple time, and he throws a fit, so that's all we get. Me, I don't care. It's one of the few things he's particular about.

[MamaMMM]

I, too, love the JIF. I have eradicated all other sources of partially and fully hydrogenated oils in the house, but don't really like other peanut butters. This time, when we run out I will make myself get the better-for-you stuff! Really, I will.

[Kim]

I also love, and grew up eating Jif.
But, like so many other folks, I have switched to eating a more natural peanut butter.
I have recently tried Safeway's Organics Old Fashioned peanut butter, and I really like it. Dry roasted peanuts and sea salt. No crazy ingredients, and it wasn't terribly pricey.

[megan]

we love the maranatha natural no-stir sweet and creamy pb. it tastes a lot better than jif (and other natural nut butters), but has more of a familiar taste to me than the other natural pbs (i was raised on jif, too). it's the only one served in our house.

[e.]

I was raised on the natural stuff and when I tasted Skippy, I wondered why I had been so deprived. I think most things taste better when they are natural and un-processed. Peanut butter is not one of them.

[rockstar mama]

Honestly, after years of the hippie bulks stuff, JIF tastes too sweet to me - you grow accustomed to certain tastes, I guess. I'm surprised to see Anomalily's remark that the bulk stuff is harder to find. We get it regularly at the co-op.

When we're feeling rich, we like almond butter (also bulk) but whew, it's pricey.

[Aarin]

my current favorite is the santa cruz organics dark roasted, creamy, salted. the flavor is the best. yes, you have to stir it but i was also raised on the hippie stuff so i don't mind. it's super spendy but goes on decent sale at new seasons regularly. so good.

[Leah]

Grew up on Skippy but now, after switching to the natural stuff a few years ago, it tastes too sweet to me when I put it on my toast at my parent's house. I'm a fan of the big jar of Adams at Fred Meyer, we go through about a jar a week. I tried the bulk at New Seasons, it's more expensive and I didnt like the consistency so Adams is the most cost effective natural option I've found. One of my favorite weekday lunches is PB&J made out of Adams and homemade strawberry freezer jam on Dave's Bread...yum! Or Adams, banana and a little drizzle of local honey on either Dave's or homemade bread...another yum!

[Susan H.]

I grew up on Jif- my mom imported cases of it from the States as we lived overseas. A year or two ago I switched to Simply Jif which is mostly a little lower in sugar and salt. Recently I tried Smart Balance Omega Peanut Butter and was surprised to really like it. It comes closest to Jif in my opinion while being a little better for you. Its ingredients are peanuts, flaxseed and palm fruit oils, salt and molasses.

[Ash]

I'll second the Maranatha natural no-stir sweet and creamy pb. It's awesome! I think it might appeal to you Jiff loving mamas. We just stock up whenver it's on sale. Seriously though, keep searching for an alternative to conventional pb. Peanuts really suck up the pesticides out of the soil. I wonder if this is why so many people have nut allergies?

[Anjani]

It's been so long since I've had the commercial brands (Jiff, Skippy, etc) mostly because my husband is militant about keeping partially hydrogenated foods out of the house, that I don't even remember how it tastes different than the Adams crunchy we eat now. Fortunately, I love the Adams crunchy (am actually eating spoonfuls out of the jar as I type this!) so I don't feel deprived! I'll admit I hate the stirring part, but you just have to do it the once, so it doesn't seem too big a burden. I do wish it were cheaper though and came in bigger jars. Between the three of us, we go through jars SO quickly.

[dvmmom]

a 3rd vote for maranatha natural no-stir. i grew up on the stir type of PB, but i like not having to stir and still eating good PB! it's just delicious. my brother turned me on to maranatha no-stir (he was also raised on stir PB)....and he also taught me to pop it from the fridge into the microwave for a few seconds so it's easier to spread. i give it to my 18 month old. he loves it. and just curious...why wait until 2 years to give PB? allergies or choking hazard or what? my pediatrician said ok to me when i asked at one year.

[Courtney]

I grew up on an Adams type brand in California - Laura something? - so that is what we have. I don't think I tried JIFF until college - it tasted fake. Costco has a really big jar of Adams for a good price. Turn the jar upside down before use, it helps mix it up and make stirring easier. We also have the sun-butter (Trader Joes brand) for my son (nut free till three) and I like it too. Question - I grew up storing the stir PB in fridge, my husband leaves it in the cupboard. It makes it much easier to spread, but is there spoilage potential? In 8 years together we have not had a problem, but I wonder?

[leslie]

adam's crunchy in our house...though i grew up on jif. my husband has had the job of stirring bestowed upon him because he eats the majority of it, but he uses a blender so it's relatively quick, clean, and painless.

it's one of the few essentials for our bimonthly trip to costco - ~$8 for a 5 lb tub

[leslie]

adam's crunchy in our house...though i grew up on jif. my husband has had the job of stirring bestowed upon him because he eats the majority of it, but he uses a blender so it's relatively quick, clean, and painless.

it's one of the few essentials for our bimonthly trip to costco - ~$8 for a 5 lb tub

[AmyS]

I grew up on Skippy and can't stand Jif. We eat Trader Joe's Organic Creamy now, you only have to stir it a bit the first time you open it. We keep it in the fridge and it is easy to spread. I used to get the grind-your-own but it so needs salt!

[anon]

I was raised on Peter Pan...peanut butter... Anyway, we now eat Adams, but I like Maranatha better. I try to mix up my nut butters by alternating between tahini, almond, and sometimes even cashew (a very little goes a long way). I've completely lost my taste for pnut butter like Peter Pan or Jif. It's like dessert. Or the inside of a Reese's cup. Good, but just too much for me anymore. Now Marshmallow Fluff...don't get me started. Anyone had a good Fluffernutter on white bread lately?

[Laura S.]

my hubby and I were both raised on Jiff and Skippy, but we have officially switched over to Adams Creamy. He actually told me the other day that he's starting to prefer Adams now, which he didn't think would happen. He also came up with a great way to get it more malleable when it comes out of the fridge - stick it in the microwave for 20 seconds -- works like a charm. yes, yes, the microwaves... I know...

[H]

Costco has a wonderful organic PB-Kirkland brand and it is really reasonably priced-just a couple dollars more than the jiff.Its no stir and we keep it in the fridge with good results. They also have the maranatha almond butter-huge jar for 7ish dollars.

[mom22]

I loathed PB as a child and think it was because the choice was Jif. When I discovered Adams I was in heaven. We currently use creamy but I'm planning the move to crunchy soon. It's my fave. If it weren't for the PB&J, I think my eldest would starve. We keep ours in the cabinet. I never knew I should use the fridge? We did just get some of the grind your own at New Seasons because the boys wanted to see how it worked. For some reason I felt like I should keep that in the fridge but then it's really hard to spread. In fact, when my son opened up the sandwich (as is his prefrred eating method) it stuck to the jam on the other side and he wouldn't eat it. So, I've been leaving it out and we seem okay. But it's only been a couple of days. I really like that stuff, but keep thinking it needs some Nutella to go with it. And a banana.

[mo]

Reduced Fat(does that count for being just a bit better?) Jif is one of my greatest pleasures in life! I'd rather have it than ice cream, chocolate, potato chips.... My kids eat the natural kind. But this mama is not giving up her vice. I buy multiple jars whenever I go to Target--much better deal there than grocery store.

[Vivian]

K, first of all, I could eat peanut butter on just about everything, (there should be a cook book with recipes on how to accomplish this).
I have always like Smucker's Natural Creamy PB, made of: peanuts and salt, has the oil that comes to the top, all that stuff. I luuuuuv it. But I've found that even Whole Foods 365 brand natural creamy and a few others taste just as good- the key is "peanuts and salt". I have NO idea why organic peanut butter tastes like toe jam, but I just don't like it.
I can probably count on one hand the amount of times I've had the Jif or the Peter Pan or any of the sugary, homogenized ones, so I just don't like them. Ick- like dessert instead of peanut butter.

[Rasa]

Before baby, we didn't really eat much nut butter but I could REALLY get into Jif (and have in the past!) if I didn't know what was in it. Even before baby we were going through a personal food revolution and said goodbye to processed peanut butter. I fell in love with an artisan walnut butter that I've only found at New Seasons but the price has skyrocketed. If I think of it in per-sandwich cost terms and figure what it would cost to buy a sandwich out, it's not as bad. Yes it is. But the stuff is so dang YUMMY! We've been keeping baby away from peanuts but after a while, introduced walnuts, so this is what she gets (but by no means a staple). I've tried mimicking it on my own (grind walnuts and cashews in food processor) but can't get consistency right. We also like the 'grind your own' roasted almond butter at New Seasons. Jeez, this sounds elitist.

[Rebecca]

I was raised on Peter Pan and I am not ashamed to admit that I still love it and prefer it! My little children like peanut butter and, living here in London, am THRILLED that one can buy PB, even if it is just JIF.

My theory: A little bit of those "bad" ingredients is not going to kill anyone....everything in moderation. We eat PB about once per month, while the rest of the time I focus on buying organic fruits, vegetables, and meats.

Now if I could only find some of those Hostess cupcakes here in the UK! Haa Haa