Did you know that peanut butter does not have a long shelf life? I didn't. Duh. You would think the fact that it's practically swimming in oils would have clued me in but no. I bought a whole years worth before I realized I had a problem.
It really is a tragedy. Peanut butter is beautiful on so many levels. First it's a good protein source, it's also a great thickener, it's delicious, and in a pinch it really will satisfy a sweet tooth if you have nothing else. But alas, I have to move on to peanut butter plan B.
So I purchase some powdered peanut butter. Not my idea of fun, but then neither is living without peanut butter. I found a
company that seemed very excited about their product AND they would let me purchase just a
small trial package - BONUS! I love that some companies are doing that now. No more buying a #10 can of something just to try it and find you hate it.
However, if you are ready to take the plunge and get a whole jar of it, you can also find it at
Amazon, which is very convenient because I pretty much shop there weekly......
Anyway, they actually have different flavors of peanut butter, one of which is
CHOCOLATE peanut butter. Seriously. I would never kid about chocolate for food storage. Of course I bought a trial package of that too.
So here is the run down. Instructions say it is 2 parts PB powder to one part water. I tried that and the flavor was actually really good, however the consistency was a bit off. So next I tried half/half water and oil with the PB powder. That made the consistency better, but now the flavor was off.
In the end I decided that it is better with just the water. I can live with a slightly different consistency. Plus I'm imagining 1,000 beautiful uses for chocolate peanut butter in food storage :)
The shelf life of powdered peanut butter is not fabulous, just 12 months, but that is probably because there are no preservatives in it. The only ingredients are roasted peanuts, sugar, and salt. It's a solid alternative to regular peanut butter but it will have to be rotated regularly.