# Canned Peanut Butter and Peanuts US Surplus



## redwood90 (Sep 4, 2014)

Does anybody remember the canned Peanut butter and peanuts that the US Government use to give to groups and needy organizations? Can this still be gotten, they were great!


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## camo2460 (Feb 10, 2013)

I remember them, but haven't seen them for a while now. I don't know if you can still get them or not.


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## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

I loved that stuff!

Haven't seen it in years, though....


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## weedygarden (Apr 27, 2011)

I remember the peanuts and the peanut butter.

However, my memory is not quite like yours. We did not like the peanut butter. I have met many others who also used to get commodities who did not like the peanut butter. Maybe you got different peanut butter than we did.

The peanuts and the peanut butter in our house were used to make peanut cookies. This was a peanut butter cookie with whole peanuts in them. Now that was good.

I have considered that the canned peanut butter did not have any sugar that much of today's peanut butter has in it. Salt, I can't tell you if it had any salt in it. 

It was because of this peanut butter that I thought I really did not like peanut butter for many years. Kids who grew up in more affluent homes did not understand how I could not like peanut butter. My siblings were of the same opinion.


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## Sparky_D (Jun 3, 2013)

When I was in high school, our civics class volunteered to hand out government surplus food to those in need at the local Army Reserves post every month.

If I remember correctly, in the mid to late 80's or early 90's several of the big name brand food companies lobbied the government to switch from distributing actual food stuffs to increasing food stamp programs (likely so they could get a cut of the government pie).

I don't know of any programs in my area that hand out government surplus food stuffs anymore.


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## notyermomma (Feb 11, 2014)

Several years ago I got a jar of "government peanut butter " from a food bank. It was so nasty even my dog didn't want it. Which is not necessarily to say that all gummit surplus food or even peanut butter is bad. Just my own experience. ...


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## Txcatlady1 (Nov 9, 2014)

the only thing that peanut butter was good for was peanut butter cookies! Our school cook could make the best cookies. my parents were teachers and sometimes they were given cans of peanut butter and peanuts. we ate the peanuts alot!


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## redwood90 (Sep 4, 2014)

LincTex, I guess I am older and remember the good stuff you do! I also got some cans of Government Surplus in meats and veggies about 10 years ago that were junk!


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## weedygarden (Apr 27, 2011)

redwood90 said:


> LincTex, I guess I am older and remember the good stuff you do! I also got some cans of Government Surplus in meats and veggies about 10 years ago that were junk!


We got commodities in the early 60s. We never got any canned vegetables or vegetable anything. We did get a couple cans of pork. It was not good either. Some friends fed it to their pets, and the pets got the runs.

As a family of 7, we did get more than 100 pounds of flour a month. We ate homemade bread, and other things made from the flour--cookies, etc. We also got cornmeal, oats, butter, American type cheese, dried beans, powdered milk. Maybe there was more, but I do not remember it.


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## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

The whole peanuts were great, the cheese was ok ... but not great. 
The peanut butter was OK for sandwiches with lots of jelly, and good to make cookies with. 
I didn't eat it right out of the can, like how you can with Jif


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## DM1791 (Oct 6, 2014)

*Speaking of Gov't programs from days past....*

My grandmother was going through some of her old cookbooks a couple of years ago and came across some very interesting pamphlets. She set them aside and passed them on to me.

These pamphlets were instructional booklets put out by the Dept. of Agriculture that showed farmers and average citizens how to can all kinds of foods. There were step by step instructions for canning and preserving fresh veggies (tomatoes, beans, peas, cabbage, etc.), fruits (peaches and apples were most commonly used examples), and even meats (sausage and ground beef).

I find it fascinating that up until the mid-late 60's the government not only approved of private citizens storing long-term food supplies and making sure they were "prepped" in case of disaster, they actually went out of their way to provide instruction on how to do so effectively. Compare that to the present day when people are ridiculed, laughed at, and denigrated as "extremists" for doing the same things.

I mean, the DHS has put out numerous training materials and advisory reports that classify citizens who "stockpile food and water" as potential home grown terrorists. Talk about a monumental shift in worldview.

We have gone from a society that encourages people to plan ahead and take personal responsibility to a society that is so focused on hand outs and freebies that social programs now take up almost 1/3 of our national budget.


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## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

DM1791 said:


> Compare that to the present day when people are ridiculed, laughed at, and denigrated as "extremists" for doing the same things.
> 
> I mean, the DHS has put out numerous training materials and advisory reports that classify citizens who "stockpile food and water" as potential home grown terrorists. Talk about a monumental shift in worldview.


It's sad enough that disaster preparedness is not just "no longer encouraged", but more so that measures are being taken to actively, as you say, "denigrate" those who do.


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## Gians (Nov 8, 2012)

DM1791 said:


> My grandmother was going through some of her old cookbooks a couple of years ago and came across some very interesting pamphlets. She set them aside and passed them on to me.
> 
> These pamphlets were instructional booklets put out by the Dept. of Agriculture that showed farmers and average citizens how to can all kinds of foods. There were step by step instructions for canning and preserving fresh veggies (tomatoes, beans, peas, cabbage, etc.), fruits (peaches and apples were most commonly used examples), and even meats (sausage and ground beef).
> 
> ...


lots still free but PDF format, use to get hard copy back in the 70s iirc
http://nchfp.uga.edu/publications/publications_usda.html

More free stuff, a few they charge for.
http://publications.usa.gov/USAPubs.php


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## RevWC (Mar 28, 2011)

The only thing I got was an Obama phone, ebt card, project housing, and amnesty.


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