Eco-challenge #6: Kicking off the official eating season!

Post by dina in BabySteps

November 16, 2009

You’d think after all the coffee drama last week, MightyNest would take it easy on me. But noooooo…

MightyNest Eco-challenge #6 – Swap my favorite daily snack – peanut butter and apples - for organic versions

First my coffee and now my peanut butter? What - are they trying to make me a healthier person or something?? :) You see....I crave peanut butter and apples all the time. In fact, while pregnant I would often sit in my office on conference calls with the door shut eating peanut butter right out of the jar loong after the apples were gone. (for some of you, this explains why I was so quiet during those months. And you thought I was just listening intently…hahahaha)

So - why pick on peanut butter and apples?

Well…I guess the peanut butter I’ve been enjoying since birth is so darn good because its loaded with corn syrup, sugar, partially hydrogenated and/or fully hydrogenated fats, mono- and diglycerides, the pesticides ferric orthophosphate18 and copper sulfate19. Mmmmmm…sounds really yummy, right?

And apples? Yup – bad too. Non-organic apples are consistently in the USDA’s top-10 list of the most contaminated fruits.

Ok ok - i get the why but HOW ON EARTH am I going to stomach digging through nasty inch of oil at the top of all of those natural peanut butters?????!!!!!!! Does anyone have any suggestions for non-icky peanut organic peanut butters?? Help me out by leaving them in the comments below or on Twitter @ecochallenged.

Back on Thursday with an update. Have a great week everyone!

User comments and ratings

Comment left by molly on Nov. 18 @ 01:25pm

I second the suggestion for Maranatha, but recommend avoiding the no-stir version! The no-stir is still organic, yes, but it contains palm oil and sugar (absent in the regular versions). We accidentally bought the no-stir version once, and found the texture and taste really unappealing compared to their regular creamy version.

Anyway, we deal with the oil-on-top by storing the jar upside down in the refrigerator through the first few servings. It helps incorporate the oil more evenly into the whole jar. You'll still want to give it a good stir, but we usually only have to do this for the first few uses -- after that, it's a non-issue.

Give real peanut butter a chance -- you'll never look back!

Comment left by melinda on Nov. 17 @ 08:09pm

I love peanut butter too. I was aware of all the sugar but had never thought about the pesticides. I've never been able to stomach the natural kind that separates, so thank you Chris for the suggestion on a brand to try.

Comment left by chris on Nov. 17 @ 07:23am

We use the no stir peanut butter from Maranatha. Unlike most organic peanut butters is does not come with the oil layer on top which is great. Something else we discovered I thought I would share is that organic peanut butter needs to be refrigerated. Since non-organic peanut butter does not need to be refrigerated this is an easy miss.

Good luck Dina!

Comment left by Kristina Sauerwein on Nov. 17 @ 06:53am

No suggestions, since my daughter will only eat honey peanut butter by Jif (we tried a Smuckers version and all of that oil was on top and we had to keep mixing and the last third of the bottle always got gross so it was a waste of food and $$). BUT I wanted to tell you I am happy to have found your blog. I love the eco-challenges. I'm like you, for the most part, although I am OCD about recycling.

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