From where this predilection springs, I don’t know.
I didn’t grow up in the Great Depression.
I’ve never been denied peanut butter.
It’s not equivalent in value to spun gold.
In fact, my peanut butter ownership probably borders on obscene gluttony. It is rare to find fewer than two jars of peanut butter in my cupboard, one creamy Jif, one crunchy Skippy.
Peanut butter jar, properly scraped
So why this compulsion to scrape every last spoonful from the bottom of the jar?
I am similarly compelled to squeeze every last bit of salad dressing from the bottle, to add water to my shampoo so I can use it until my conditioner runs out, to screw the top off my facial moisturizer pump so as to extract its last drops of wrinkle eraser.
Perhaps the label of “wasteful” strikes my Midwestern soul as too near to a deadly sin. But interestingly, I am not alone.
After typing in “scraping the bottom of the peanut butter jar,” Google reveals there’s a group on Facebook dedicated to just such a subject: “Scraping the bottom of the peanut butter jar to get the very last of it.”
Apparently there’s a Facebook group for just about every strange predeliction and obsession.
The group’s mission? “Sometimes you just have to get it ALL out before you can call it empty.”
I think they make the jars so narrow just because they know us peanut butter fans will never stop. I’ve almost cut a jar open just to taste a little bit more. Me and peanut butter are too close.
Too close? Now THAT’S blasphemy.
I eat them by the jar. It’s like that Alex Claire song “…just too close to love you.” or something like that.
I’m the same way — using every last bit or drop. I know in my case it comes from being raised poor with a very strong “waste not” ethic. You simply don’t throw away food — all those staving children in India would be ashamed of you.
Thing is… intellectually, childhood programming aside, I still think waste is a sin.
If waste is a sin, then perhaps I should be confessing to throwing away rotting cucumbers and soft tomatoes I didn’t get to before time did.
Well, spoilage is a little different. (Although, if you have a compost heap handy, no harm done.)
Compost heap?! My mother had one of those.
Say, I’m reading the Star Trib again. First spring training game is this weekend, I hear. Yay!
You callin’ me old?! 😛
I’m shocked to learn that we lost both Ben Revere (he’s a Philly now) and Denard Span (Nats). I. Am. Bummed. I’m going to have to check the new roster,.. you know,… one of these days. (Like soon!)
After a 162-game season, I’m definitely getting a little weary of baseball (only a little), but by now I’m craving a game! The World Baseball Classic is coming in March, so that’s something.
Totally with you on this. I use a rubber spatula to get out the last of the peanut butter. I twist and turn the toothpaste tube to be sure I get the last little bit. I keep shampoo bottles with just a little bit left in them, jsut in case I ever run out. It is a bit of a sickness……or cheapness……or practical. I am not sure which I should admit to.
Are you equally agressive when it comes to jelly? The world wants to know.
No. I suppose that’s wasteful?
I’m more of a Jif extra crunchy guy myself (preferably with homemade strawberry jam on top!!
Well, if you’re going for extra crunchy, at least Jif is the way to go.
I’ve always wondered why they put the ridges in the peanut butter jars it just makes it that much tougher to get the last drop. I’m the king of getting the last squeeze out of a toothpaste tube.
Do you cut it open? That’s the only way to be sure.
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I have thought of it but visions of me saving small pieces of soap and dying with a million dollar savings account come to mind.
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