OK, please DON’T panic.
It’s bad for your health and to paraphrase someone very wise, worrying won’t even buy you an extra hour anyhow.
So here’s the scoop: peanut prices are on the rise due to a really dismal peanut growing season. Kraft will increase the price of its peanut butter by 40% starting October 31st. Scary coincidental, right?
A number of you have shared this information with me, so I thought I better address it. What can you do about the peanut butter price hike?
1) Stock up NOW. But be reasonable folks. There is no reason to steal from a food bank or clear out store shelves to accomplish this. (If you’ve been following my blog for sometime, you probably already stocked up on peanut butter for the year because September is generally one of those great months to do so.) In the absence of sales, I would recommend you check a store like WinCo or Grocery Outlet for good deals. Just mind expiration dates.
2) Look to leverage online vouchers. Got Groupon? Living Social? Sometimes daily deal sites put out vouchers for natural markets or online retailers (think Abe’s Market, VitaCost). Use these to save 50% or more on a nice stock up of peanut butter.
3) Don’t forget Amazon. It’s worth keeping an eye on Amazon for Peanut Butter deals. In many instances, orders over $25 ship for free. Plus, you can earn free Amazon gift cards with Swagbucks.
4) Consider peanut butter alternatives. I recently wrote about almond butter as part of my Bulk Foods series. There are many different kinds of nut and seed butters on the market now. My friend Susan makes her son cream cheese and jelly sandwiches instead of peanut butter. Not all these options are cheap, but may be worth considering depending on store sales and your coupons.
5) Try making your own. Admittedly, I’ve never tried this before, but it looks cheap and easy to do. The more I’ve been cooking foods from bulk, the more I’m realizing how easy and frugal it can be to cook from scratch.
6) Use Catalinas, UPs, and Register Rewards, etc. If you have earned store credit, this may be a very good use of it right now.
Can I also add a word here about generosity? It can be so easy to start thinking inwardly when situations like these arise, but I would encourage you to take a minute to consider what this may mean for food banks. Peanut butter is one of those items that they are almost always requesting. Think donations on this item might go down at a time like this? I know many of you are generous couponers out there, so ’nuff said on that topic.
When it comes to price hikes on peanut butter, tuna fish, paper towels, orange juice, or anything else that’s a staple in your house, the goal is going to be the same. Be creative, consider your options, and above all: don’t panic. Remember: even if there is a coupon apocalypse, we all have each other.
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Thanks for the post! I love reading your blog because of your down to earth attitude, and your gentle encouragements toward self-controll and generosity.
Thanks Erin! I still believe laughter is the best medicine.
I cannot second this enough! I feel like slowly a lot of the other blogs are getting a bit.. negative – how you can take a topic and turn it around and then also add in – think outside yourself! I wasn’t worried about the peanut butter hike – we just don’t eat enough to worry – but seeing the reminder that food banks may see it and feel it is awesome – now maybe I’ll stock up a bit and donate !
I really appreciate that, Annie!
I like the idea of cream cheese and jam – will have to try it. Less fat too.
Was at Costco this last weekend to pick some up, as we’re out and the last stock up I had was store brand and had to listen to the family whine that it wasn’t as good, so I caved and purchased some Skippy that Costco has for a decent price.
I’ve never seen the pallets so low?! Even the natural stuff which is usually full was half gone. The Skippy that they had for regular brand (they seem to switch between that and Jif) was down to about the last 20 or so packs.
We picked up three packs (6 total jars) but we go through nearly a pack a month around here. So that’s about 3-4 months for us.
They currently have it for $7.99 for two 48oz jars, .083c an oz. I’ll have to watch Amazon now that I know my family will eat both Jif and Skippy.
(I think they need to learn to stop being picky!! LOL)
I can never stay well stocked on peanut butter, because we eat so darn much of it, but I refuse to go into peanut panic!
Love your tips. I think we’ll definitely give almond butter a try.
Peanut butter is one of the #1 requested items from food banks because it’s high in protein, portable, and it doesn’t require a heat source to prepare it. The first time someone explained that to me, I felt really humbled thinking about how truly blessed my life is.
Do you know of any good deals on peanut butter right now. I was just realizing I need a good stock up sale because I’m on my last jar (I stocked up on like 6 small jars last time I found it on sale) and we eat a lot of it. But I didn’t realize the price would be going up.
I’m not aware of any – and if someone is – please DO speak up. My normal stock up price is $1 a jar, but I think it highly unlikely you’d find that price now. If you could find it for $1.50 a jar or less, I would consider stocking up.
Anyone know where you might find it at that price right now?
Try Aldi’s. We bought a 40oz. jar for $3.49 last night. Granted it’s not a name brand but my kids have learned not to be picky. =0)
Thank you for mentioning the last part about the impact on the food banks! I work for a non-profit that runs a back pack program (we send food home over the weekend to approximately 1,000 students weekly), and peanut butter is a staple in our backpacks! We run on donations and food bank purchases, so it will be interesting (and sad) to see how this affects our community.
I actually bought the Skippy peanut butter at Costco this afternoon. It came out to about $1.49 for a regular small size (18 oz.) jar. Not too bad. I haven’t seen the $1 a jar price for a while.
Yes – I had just remarked to someone else – perhaps on Facebook? That I would now stock up at $1.50 or less as $1 or less may be harder to come by.
It was me
I believe starting next week you can get Skippy peanut butter at Walgreens for $1.50 each, not too bad of a price, but not a major stock up price either.
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