# Shelf Life of Peanut Butter



## Sonnyjim

It seems like the going rate for peanut butter is 2 years. Some people say as long as up to 5 years before the oil goes rancid. In our military rations it comes with peanut butter in small packages. I have eaten a 6 year old ration with peanut butter and it was still good. Most of the butter is pretty dry and does not have a lot of oil in it. I know that it is the oil that is the fat needed but what about pouring off/using the oil before it's life and re-canning what's left for another few years? Any thoughts? I might have a little project on my hands....


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## sailaway

The oldest peanut butter I have eaten was 2 1/2 years old and it was ok.


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## gypsysue

The canned peanut butter in metal cans or foil packs seems to last the longest, followed by peanut butter in glass jars. Plastic jars have the shortest shelf life. 

Other things factor in too, such as light and heat. If you keep the peanut butter in a cold, dark place, it lasts a lot longer. Heat, light, and air are the enemies of all edible oils. 

I don't know if draining off the oil and re-canning would help. Logic says it would, if the floating oil is the majority of the fat content. When you opened it to eat it, I would think it could be thinned out with a little oil stirred into it. It probably wouldn't even matter which kind of oil you used?


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## The_Blob

gypsysue said:


> It probably wouldn't even matter which kind of oil you used?


:hmmm: as long as it's NOT motor oil!    :nuts:


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## gypsysue

The_Blob said:


> :hmmm: as long as it's NOT motor oil!    :nuts:




Depends if it's YOUR family you're feeding or the roving hordes...

:gaah:

(just kidding, for those who need to know that! lol)


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## PintoBob

Edible oils are subject to rancidity with a limited shelf life. Another word used to describe this is Oxidation. Remove the oxygen and the problem is solved. I use two methods to accomplish this. I store oil foods in sealed Mason jars that have had all the atmosphere removed down to 29.9999" hg. It's not a perfect vacuum but in my experience it's close enough for my work. Remember that only 20% of the atmosphere is oxygen. The rest is mostly Nitrogen which is a good thing. An easier method to accomplish nearly the same thing but in the average home situation is to use O2 absorbers which I also do a lot. I would guess using a 2 qt Mason jar with a 300cc O2 absorber would do the trick. But with peanut butter I'd put the O2 absorber into a zip lock bag that has many little holes punched into the top of it, the part that contacts the lid seal. In this manner the O2 absorber would never contact the oily food but would still have access to the environment within the sealed jar. An O2 absorber consists of powdered iron filings which absorb oxygen when they rust or oxidize. I use this and/or the first method for stored nuts, roasted coffee beans, olive oil (which is also wrapped in tin foil to keep light out and kept cool) etc.


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## ronald_stufflebeam

*Dead food keeps longer.*

The length of time peanut butter will keep depends on the type. If it's a commercial brand like Skippy or Jiff which are full of chemicals to help preserve it's good at least 1 year probably much longer opened on the shelf. I have yet to see it go bad in the refrigerator.
If it's an organic peanut butter your better off keeping it in a refrigerator or at the very least a root cellar. Natural, organic or fresh ground by yourself is best kept in a refrigerator where it will keep for 6 months. If you cant keep it in the refrigerator the next best way would be a root cellar where it stay good for probably at least 3 months.


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## weedygarden

My personal experience is that once the jar is opened, it loses shelf life much more quickly. I once saw that someone kept their peanut butter in the refrigerator. I have never done that, but I thought about how p.b. does go rancid more quickly after it is opened and maybe I should do that. It will be stiff from being cold, but even letting an amount for a serving sit out for a little while would help with spreading.


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## JayJay

ronald_stufflebeam said:


> The length of time peanut butter will keep depends on the type. If it's a commercial brand like Skippy or Jiff which are full of chemicals to help preserve it's good at least 1 year probably much longer opened on the shelf. I have yet to see it go bad in the refrigerator.
> If it's an organic peanut butter your better off keeping it in a refrigerator or at the very least a root cellar. Natural, organic or fresh ground by yourself is best kept in a refrigerator where it will keep for 6 months. If you cant keep it in the refrigerator the next best way would be a root cellar where it stay good for probably at least 3 months.


I'm eating PB I have had for 5 years!!
You guys make me laugh some times.:brickwall:


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## weedygarden

JayJay said:


> I'm eating PB I have had for 5 years!!
> You guys make me laugh some times.:brickwall:


THanks, JayJay, I was just thinking about some peanut butter that I know is 4 years old in my basement! I am so glad that you posted this. I have never been so much about expiration dates on non refrigerated foods. I read the date, use the sniff test, and then maybe the taste test. I know that not everyone can do this, but I can. When SHTF, it may change things up for what people can and can't do.


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## Woody

weedygarden said:


> THanks, JayJay, I was just thinking about some peanut butter that I know is 4 years old in my basement! I am so glad that you posted this. I have never been so much about expiration dates on non refrigerated foods. I read the date, use the sniff test, and then maybe the taste test. I know that not everyone can do this, but I can. When SHTF, it may change things up for what people can and can't do.


That is my general technique also. Checking the date lets me know how close to get when giving it the first smell test. If it is several years it gets the 'waft' test first.


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## lotsoflead

most of our peanut butter is over 5 years old, it's stored where it's cool, dry and dark.right now I'm looking at a jar that says best if used by June 03.2009. we don't eat the stuff ourselves, but at some point in time there may be people here that do and if it's rancid, then we'll toss it.

About 45 yrs ago, the government was giving away peanut butter, cheese, butter, flour and some kind of meat, I would take a town truck and go to the assigned place and pick up whatever they allotted the town, anyway, people told me that the peanut butter was so old that it wouldn't spread but the needy people ate it anyway, if it ain't poison, it'll taste better than a snowball.


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## mamamouse

why not dehydrate and powder it? That would increase shelf life, and make it easier to condense a lot into a small container


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## weedygarden

lotsoflead said:


> most of our peanut butter is over 5 years old, it's stored where it's cool, dry and dark.right now I'm looking at a jar that says best if used by June 03.2009. we don't eat the stuff ourselves, but at some point in time there may be people here that do and if it's rancid, then we'll toss it.
> 
> About 45 yrs ago, the government was giving away peanut butter, cheese, butter, flour and some kind of meat, I would take a town truck and go to the assigned place and pick up whatever they allotted the town, anyway, people told me that the peanut butter was so old that it wouldn't spread but the needy people ate it anyway, if it ain't poison, it'll taste better than a snowball.


When I was a kid growing up, we used to get this government food, called commodities. Over the years, I have talked to many others who also grew up getting this food. Many of these people still have a hard time eating peanut butter. I don't know if it was old, or if it lacked the sugar, oil and salt that most p.b. has in it. We used to get lots of flour each month. Our peanut butter mostly went into cookies. 
We really liked the cheese in mac and cheese, or grilled cheese. The butter was great. We would get canned pork and somehow, many people really did not like it. If I could get it now, I would use it in green chile.


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## weedygarden

mamamouse said:


> why not dehydrate and powder it? That would increase shelf life, and make it easier to condense a lot into a small container


I wonder about this. I think that commercially produced dehydrated peanut butter powder does not have a long shelf life. I have some in the basement and recently saw something that made me think it was over the expiration date.

I wonder if anyone has ever tried to dehydrate it at home? And if it really makes a difference in shelf life?


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## lotsoflead

weedygarden said:


> When I was a kid growing up, we used to get this government food, called commodities. Over the years, I have talked to many others who also grew up getting this food. Many of these people still have a hard time eating peanut butter. I don't know if it was old, or if it lacked the sugar, oil and salt that most p.b. has in it. We used to get lots of flour each month. Our peanut butter mostly went into cookies.
> We really liked the cheese in mac and cheese, or grilled cheese. The butter was great. We would get canned pork and somehow, many people really did not like it. If I could get it now, I would use it in green chile.


I think all the peanut oil was robbed from it and replaced with tallow from a cow, if it was replaced with lard, at least I think it would be spreadable.. I don't know when that government food ended, our town got to cheap to send a truck over for it, the town fathers were stealing all the good stuff anyway, butter, ect. All I done was drive the trk over and pick up the load and park it at the town hall, the politicians handed it out like they were paying for it.


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## JayJay

UncleJoe said:


> Yep. I have a lot of PB I bought in '10 before the big "shortage" and price increase. Kept it cool and dark. No problems as of yet and I don't anticipate any.


Mine is and has been in a dark room(a bedroom with insulated curtains and closed blind behind that and no sun because the window is under the porch.
Cool, no sun, and dry. No heat in the winter, and cooled in the summer with A/C.
My oldest best by date is 2011, so that was probably bought in 2010?
We eat lots of PB in this house, because I started storing in 2008.
I did discard a huge cardboard box of crackers...yuk--plastic taste from the sleeve.
Since then, vacuum sealed in mason jars and ritz too!!

Be weary of Kroger's crackers--I bought 10 boxes and all were stale. Never happened before.:scratch


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## JayJay

mamamouse said:


> why not dehydrate and powder it? That would increase shelf life, and make it easier to condense a lot into a small container


Nope--it has oil in it.

Oh, best PB cookies ever--1 cup peanut butter, 1 cup sugar, and 1 egg--bake 15 minutes @ 350°

very good and easy.


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## Davarm

I recently ordered a bag of Maltodextrin and made some powders from oils, I've been meaning to try it with peanut butter but haven't gotten around to it yet.

Guess I'll give it a try in the next few days, the "make or break" will be how much liquid other than oil the PB has in it.


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## LincTex

UncleJoe said:


> Chickens don't seem to mind though.


I probably shouldn't feed them half the stuff that I throw in there...

I have watched them; they will "spit out" the stuff that tastes bad - But, it must have to taste pretty bad for them to do that, since they'll eat most anything!


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## mamamouse

yeah, like devarm said, maltodextrin for the oils


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## SierraWhiskey

I "discovered" some well aged Peanut Butter and though it looked ok, I nevertheless hit the internet and ended up here.

It's been about six hours now since I partook of my PB&J. So far there have been no signs of immediate toxicity - not that I expected any.

The PB color was fine. There was only the slightest separation of oil at the top, no more than that of any PB that might have been sitting around for a few months. The aroma is fine although maybe not as peanutty as when fresh. Same with the taste which may be slightly off by maybe 5% but that could also be a brand thing. The texture may be slightly drier than usual but I again I would consider it well within the normal range of variances.

The PB is in no way "bad" and is even enjoyable. In fact, the label fared worse than the contents. And now, the nitty gritty. It is a local grocery store brand in a standard 40oz plastic jar. The use by date is stamped: 07 31 06.


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## UniqueOldGal

I had a can of SamAndy powdered peanut butter from Y2K (1999)I'd never gotten rid of,in a box,that got moved with my stuff a couple of times. I always figured I'd save the "nice"can and plastic lid that came with it anyway,so I left it.(exp. was approx. 5 years) Finally this year I got a bag to dump it in and a can opener. I was in the back of the house where my closet-pantry is and I sat down and opened it. A reek poured out and hit me but before I even had seconds it took to dump it I looked up and 5 sets of eyes were on me. ALL 3 of our cats and our 2 dogs (who really don't co-mingle) were all Instantly in the doorway staring at me from all over our 1700 sq ft home! 
Hey Suvivalists (or those who "remove" problem rats,raccoons, coyotes etc)----- Animal Lure!!!!!!!!


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## rawhide2971

This subject has come up here and other places that I have been active on and I am currently "experimenting" with a couple of jars of Jiff low fat. It's in the plastic jar and I inserted it into a vacuum bag and pulled it down and sealed it. The two I have currently are going on 18 months and I don't "intentionally" plan to open and taste it for at least 5 years and see if I have wasted my time and money. Worth trying of course. Wish I could find it in Glass but that is pretty hard to do anymore....


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## Davarm

I finally got around to making the "Peanut Butter Powder" using the Maltodextrin, I have to say that I was surprised that it came out so well.

I put a few large spoon fulls(of PB) in a big bowl and started working in the powder with a fork until the mixture looked like a fine meal. I went a few steps further and added cocoa powder and dried whole milk powder then vacuum sealed it for a few days to see if it would cake together and it did not.

The PB, cocoa and milk powder mix tasted pretty good eaten plain but it really took some work to get it down, being so dry, tasted like some "Survival Bars" that I have tried.

I added a little vegetable oil to the powder, mixed it up and it formed into a paste similar to a peanut butter flavored "Nutella" spread that was pretty good on toast.

I added a little oil to the plain PB powder and it also formed back into a spreadable paste that tasted like some of the "sugar added" brands of PB.

I dont know if there is any advantage to doing this but I am going to make up some more of the cocoa/milk/pb powder, vacuum seal it and see how it stores for the long term.


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## JayJay

UncleJoe said:


> We discovered that a couple months ago. AuntJoe opened a box that was over a year old. Spread a bit of tuna on one and promptly spit it out. :thumbdown:
> 
> They definitely do not keep well in the original packaging. Chickens don't seem to mind though.


I do have saltines and Ritz sealed in mason jars--I open a can every couple of months and enjoy.
Gene bought me a huge jug of animal crackers just for the jug(nice) and I don't like those crackers(after 39 years, you'd think he knew!!!) so I sealed the crackers in jars--someone may like those one day.


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## Moose33

I just finished a jar that "expired" February 2013. The jar I just opened expired April 2013. Not dreadfully old, only a year out. I'm still alive. I found no deterioration in either jar. Which is good, since I have nine more jars.
Moose


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## Beaniemaster2

Personally, I think it's the plastic jar.... I have a Foodsaver with a jar attachment so I transfer the PB into canning jars and vacuum pack it... Have some about 4yrs old I need to open and try and I kept one of the jars to compare...


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## JayJay

My oldest case is best by Aug., 2011.
Yes, I buy cases, not jars..LOL.
That means I bought that case in 2009 probably.
That means that case has been here for 4 1/2 years and it tastes fine.

And it is in plastic.
I for one am not transferring my PB from plastic to glass to get another year shelf life.


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## SierraWhiskey

Well, I've shown that PB can be good for at least 8+ years. Now, I'll show where you can find lots of it after SHTF:

A million jars of peanut butter dumped in New Mexico landfill after Costco refused to take the product or let it be donated to food banks. Here's the link: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2591338/Million-jars-peanut-butter-dumped-New-Mexico.html

Yep, dumpster diving on a mega-scale!


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## backlash

SierraWhiskey said:


> Well, I've shown that PB can be good for at least 8+ years. Now, I'll show where you can find lots of it after SHTF:
> 
> A million jars of peanut butter dumped in New Mexico landfill after Costco refused to take the product or let it be donated to food banks. Here's the link: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2591338/Million-jars-peanut-butter-dumped-New-Mexico.html
> 
> Yep, dumpster diving on a mega-scale!


I read that this morning.
Just ticks me off.
Costco dumps stuff like that all the time so they can write it off as a loss on taxes.
Still it's such a waste.


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## drgnhntr37

I work for a large supplier whose name I am not allowed to post. Lets just say we provide a lot of sandwich meats and sausage products to all grocery chains. We also take our surplus to the land fill for disposal. Last trip was 5 tip dumpsters full of perfectly good product. We used to donate to the food banks until some freeloader at the soup kitchen got ill and blamed it on his free meal. Of course a bunch of hungry lawyers jumped on the band wagon and sued. The homeless one won the suit. Needless to say the liability from this suit was too much so now all excess goes to the landfill to be destroyed. What a waste. 


Sent from my iPhone using Survival Forum


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## LincTex

SierraWhiskey said:


> Now, I'll show where you can find lots of it after SHTF: Yep, dumpster diving on a mega-scale!


58 truckloads

Wow....

I'll bet they specifically told the compactor drivers to make sure they drive over it and not just bury it.... :brickwall:


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