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Monday, January 9, 2023

What I'm Grateful for Today

I'm grateful that peanut butter comes in straight and smooth-sided jars with large openings.

The other night, I had this strange dream. I had ordered a case of natural, chunky-style peanut butter online to be shipped to my home. I had gotten a stellar deal on this purchase. When the case arrived, I opened the box, and to my surprise, the "jars" were tall, narrow, plastic squeeze bottles. I could only imagine the squeeze nozzle would get blocked by a chunky-style peanut fragment on the first squeeze. So I set out to decant these bottles into a large jar. Only, the insides of the squeeze bottle were convoluted and ridged, like a cross between a Gatorade bottle, a plastic applesauce jar, and a Honey Bear honey squeeze bottle. I used my most flexible, narrow rubber spatula, but was only able to get about 2/3 of the peanut butter out of the squeeze bottle. And I was picturing myself scraping out the natural peanut butter from every single squeeze bottle in the case.

Fortunately, I woke up about this point. But I did find myself surprised by my initial thought upon waking, "I'm so glad peanut butter doesn't come in narrow squeeze bottles."

I'm writing about this today, in part to amuse you. But also, I was thinking about what I would do if this did happen to me. A sane person would simply return the case of squeeze-bottle peanut butter. But remember, I had gotten a great deal on that peanut butter. The frugal side of me wouldn't want to lose the "savings" of such a deal. I would get out the most flexible and narrow rubber spatula from the drawer and begin scooping and scraping as best I could. I would probably then try shaking the remaining peanut butter up with a liquid for making a smoothie or adding to a peanut sauce. I am certain that I would spend more time extracting as much peanut butter out as possible than my own time was worth. And I would console myself with the dollars and cents savings.

Weird dream. But it did make me think about the efforts I'd likely go to save food and money. What would you have done? Would you have returned the case to get a refund, or would you have tried to scrape the peanut butter out of the strange bottles?


14 comments:

  1. I actually think peanut butter does come in a squeeze bottle/pouch. I feel like I've had it before. So your dream really isn't too far "off". I think we used this kind on a trip but would never buy it again. I still like the wide mouthed plastic bottles we get peanut butter in. I've been enjoying peanut butter on no knead toasted bread lately. I'm doing my own freezer/pantry challenge this month and perhaps even next month. Only buying fruit, veggies, dairy, and other essentials.
    Alice

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    Replies
    1. Hi Alice,
      That's interesting about your experience with squeeze bottle peanut butter. I never would have guessed it existed in reality.

      Good luck with your freezer and pantry challenge this month!

      Delete
  2. Dreams are strange, aren't they? I would have to weigh the effort of returning the peanut butter with the effort of getting the peanut butter out of the jar, but I think I would return it. If I had ordered it from Amazon, there would be a chance that they would let me keep the peanut butter and give me a refund. They do that with some returns. Then I would write a review describing the shape of the bottles so others would be forewarned.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I would respond in a similar way, June. I didn't know that Amazon sometimes gives refunds and lets you keep the purchase--good to know!

      Lili, you had me chuckling. Glad to know I'm not the only one who has strange dreams.

      Delete
    2. Hi Live and Learn,
      I had that same experience ordering from other companies before, where they told me t just keep it, and they refunded me the full amount.

      Good idea to also write a review warning other potential customers. I am one of those people who do read all the reviews to get an idea of what I'm getting with an order. I've discovered through the reviews before that items were not as pictured.

      Delete
    3. Hi Kris,
      I've always had very vivid dreams that I remember in the morning, even as a child. And I've had some real doozies. Not that I want others to have strange dreams, but its is reassuring to know they happen to a lot of folks.

      Delete
  3. Luckily it was a dream and reason enough why peanut butter is sold in a wide mouth jar. But it is an interesting question, how far would you go to save money. I find the older I am the more willing. Something about being on fixed income and having more time than money. I have grown to love recycling, repurposing, etc to challenge myself. It's free and good for the environment. I take it to the extreme, where I've made scratch paper pads from the blank areas of junk mail. I am in constant need to jot things down so having these paper pads around the house is handy. Of course being a crafter I have to pretty it up.

    Have a good day,
    Laura

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    Replies
    1. Hi Laura,
      I have made notepads from junk paper before, too. I need to do more of that. Mine haven't turned out terribly attractive, however. But now you've inspired me to make something a little nicer than a bunch of papers stapled together!

      I can relate to your thoughts. It's not just the dollar's and cents, but also trying to use everything and be a good steward.

      Delete
  4. That's quite a dream. I chuckled at it. I dreamed I lost my bottle of vanilla flavoring and wasn't sure where to get another one. Glad to wake up
    Have a better sleep tonight!



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    Replies
    1. Hi Jude,
      Oh no! That would be a nightmare, losing the bottle of vanilla.
      Thanks. I hope we all have a good night's sleep tonight!

      Delete
  5. There are many things I do like that - it isn't saving more than pennies to extract whatever out of the container. However, it is kind of free entertainment or a challenge for me. Maybe I'm odd (my family would agree) - but I can live with that!

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    1. Hi Ruthie,
      I love your attitude, of this being a sort of free entertainment. I will remember that the next time I'm faced with a challenging (but relatively unimportant) situation. Thank you!

      Delete
  6. Funny you should mention this after what happened to me just late last night (because unfortunately it was NOT a dream lol). I was about to head to bed last evening when I had the notion to go ahead and whip up a "quick" batch of hummus in preparation for my long work day today. I added a can of chickpeas, a bit of lemon juice and fresh garlic to my blender, then thought to add a few sprinkles from my container of commercial garlic salt before blending. Since I'm actually trying to be more mindful of my sodium these days, I just figured a few shakes would do it. But upon my second shake, the top of the garlic salt container popped right off, dumping the whole of it (which was new and still pretty much full) right into my blender. Ay Carumba! Well, of course I fished out as much of the dry salt mixture as I salvage, but of course there was plenty left in the blender that had gotten damp along with the other ingredients. As such, I tried adding a can of white beans in order to dilute things a bit...., but of course the end result was still far too salty to eat as is. So I ended up carefully spooning the whole shebang into ice cube trays to freeze -- the thought being that I can add these salty/pasty 'cubes' to future recipes that will call for seasoned saltiness: soups/stews, stir-fries, sauces and the like (heck, even future batches of hummus lol). I was still tinkering with all this well after my intended bedtime lol. So, lots of nonsense on my end -- yet it never occurred to me to just chuck it all (well, to be honest it DID occur to me (because what a pain in the neck!!!), I just couldn't bring myself to waste all those raw ingredients, ha). So indeed yes, I think I can relate lol....!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi friend,
      Oh no, oh no, oh no! I can imagine your frustration with the situation. I think in the end you came up with a good solution. I would probably do the same. At least now you have some "seasoning cubes" all ready and waiting in the freezer. I'm glad you could salvage the hummus in some form. Bravo!

      Delete

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