I am on a crusade to continuously reduce the amount of garbage my household creates. While I think we’re doing a very good job – we recycle everything and because we don’t buy much processed foods a lot of what we do throw away comes from food scraps and leftovers – there is always room for improvement. I make homemade yogurt and homemade laundry detergent to avoid the plastic containers, we haven’t purchased paper towels/napkins in years, and I made all of Evelyn’s baby food when she was only eating purees. The next venture?
Homemade peanut butter!
This is really the easiest homemade mothering trick yet. And, not only does it help the planet by reducing waste, but it was also cheaper than buying factory-made peanut butter. But, I think the best part is that the only ingredients in my peanut butter are peanuts! Popular peanut butters available at the grocery store also contain sugar, fully hydrogenated vegetable oils, and mono and diglycerides. Ick!
I brought a re-used plastic bag to Whole Foods and filled it with a pound of bulk peanuts for $1.99. At home I dropped the nuts into a food processor, pressed “on”, waited 90 seconds, pressed “off”, and poured the homemade peanut butter into an old peanut butter jar. Could not be any easier!!
Homemade Mothering is a movement that aims to simplify life and foster self-reliance while being kinder to our families and the planet. Its about encouraging people to get back to the basics when it comes to mothering and homekeeping. 
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WOW! This is such a wonderful idea. My husband and I have been looking for an organic, natural and preservative-free peanut butter. But this would be so easy and relatively inexpensive to do. How long does the peanut butter keep?
Not sure how long it keeps – it tastes so good that we go through a jar (about a pound of peanuts) a week! We keep it in the fridge, so I would guess that it would be good for at least a month, if not longer.
I am going to try this… Seems obvious. Do no know why I have not thought of it in the past.
How do you keep your refrigerated peanutbutter from getting too hard to spread?
I’ve found that the longer it sits in the fridge, the harder it becomes. We usually go through our jars before that happens, but when it does I pop it in the microwave at 10 second intervals until it is soft enough to spread.
How much peanut butter does a pound of nuts make?
A pound of peanuts will make about 2 cups of peanut butter. A pound of pureed peanuts will fit in a re-used 16 oz peanut butter jar.
So it is just plain peanuts. Raw I am guessing? For the price, I will have to try it!
Yep, just plain peanuts in a food processor (not a blender!). I buy roasted peanuts from Trader Joe’s.
I got my peanuts and have been processing them for several minutes but they look more like sand than peanut butter. Not sure where to go from here…help?
Wait…roasted peanuts? I got raw…perhaps that is my problem. 🙁
This is just a guess, but roasting the nuts probably brings out the oils better so it blends smooth. Hope you’ll give it another shot 🙂
I have been really iinterested in cold pressed extra virgin coconut oil ,Im wondering if you add a little to your peanut butter it will keep it more spreadable ,and you get the good benefits of the coconut oil ,coconut oil doesnt have to be refridgerated just a thougt
Do you think that I could do the same thing with almonds?
Yes, this would work with almonds (or walnuts or cashews…!)