I can't believe this product! I've personally never seen it in stores and don't understand why anyone needs PB encased in a plastic container like this! Have we really become this lazy that we can't take out a jar and a knife and spread the PB on the bread, crackers or celery? I wonder how hard it is even open this plastic 'bag' ... it doesn't look that easy, more of an annoyance! Do away with this waste!

My "chemically enhanced foods" detector went off on this one, so I did some research. I know that to make margarine solid at room temperature, they use saturated fats as a stabilizer. According to their site, each slice has 2.5 g of sat fats, which isn't too terrible. I did some research and came up with this site: http://cowboyjournal.okstate.edu/cjspring00/cjp24.html

...where I found this food was patent pending. A search of the USPTO database came up with notta though. I think I'll stick with the real thing for now.

I became nauseated just reading the article. Nevermind the packaging--I don't even want to know what they do to the peanut butter to make it like that.

So...somebody spilled peanut butter into the Kraft Singles machine?

Atrocious.

Not only a waste but kinda gross looking if you ask me.

What's the point with this product? Is it really that hard to get PB out of the jar? Also, unsticky PB sounds gross.

Okay, so this does seem a tad ridiculous, however it's not exactly new. If you're going to complain about wasteful individual PB packaging, then we shall not forget about jelly. Been to a restauraunt lately? Jelly, jam, honey, marmalade....It's everywhere!!!

I'm thinking that if you can't be trusted to smear peanut butter...

Perhaps pointy or cutting implements aren't for you.

If you're too busy, perhaps you need a blackmarket houseslave.

Yet another horrible product for people living in the fast past world.

This actually looks useful. It could prevent food spoilage and waste. It replaces a heavy glass or plastic jar (this is probably less material by both weight and volume). And it's convenient. Hopefully the cellophane is the biodegradable kind, and then I think there's really not much of a problem with this product.

this is a great idea! if you have kids and need to pack this in their lunch its cool. I have 3 kids and this works for me. Also this is great for disaster preparedness kits. The US gov. already has these int the MREs in IRAQ.
You should look closer at cookie packages and other crap on the snack aisle.

I've had this stuff (no, I won't call it Peanut Butter). It was available here in Kansas City a year or so ago...couldn't bring myself to finish it or to give it to the dog...

Poor dog...

My vote goes to this product because it represents the great American excuse for destrying the environment: I'm BUSY. News flash: We're all busy. Behaving ethically toward the planet and fellow human beings isn't exused because you have had kids, a stressful job, or a bad day. You make time for things you make a priority.

Sorry for being heavy. When I first saw a Smucker's "Uncrustable" I couldn't believe my eyes. But now, instead of a regrigerated, individually wrapped half-ounces of peanut butter, I can have the extra-preservable kind! Food that lasts longer than a new car!

This is also a product that replaces one that is available even here in middle-of-nowhere, Midwest USA: Refillable jars of locally made natural peanut butter. Score!

The peanut butter slice was designed as a 'messless' and easy was for kids to make their own lunches. Apparently, households throughout the country were being devastated by children dipping blunt knives into peanut butter jars. Therefore, this design aims at the 'grab a slice and go' market, which might not be too keen on having a large block of peanut butter that kids then need to slice with an even sharper knife! Some would say that we coddle our young (I know of 3 yr.-olds in other countries who can skin cucumbers in under 5 seconds), but I doubt that would go over. For further ridiculous food innovations, check out a NYTimes article about pre-sliced and packaged apples, treated so as not to turn brown. It's the wave of the future, because as one consumer put it, we don't want to spend our lives in the kitchen slicing apples.

Ok, I beleive in dealing with all things with common sense. I see this product in 2 ways. Convienient for truck drivers like me that worry about spoilage and mess. LAZY for the kind of parent that doesn't want to watch thier kids. I could see use on a trip for a parent with a lot of kids, but it then leads to lazy parents, or just plain lazy people.
With smart use, and the right thought placed on the package, could it be made in such a way as to use less packaging over big jars? And still use jars at home? How about designing the packaging so that it can be REUSED as some kind of drinking container or tupperware. Slow down the use of throw away tupperware, but actually make the package be reusable. I.E. how many of us had nails/screws/loose goods in glass jars in the garage that lasted 10-20 years.

It seems to me that if parents are so overwhelmed with children, then perhaps they never really wanted the children in the first place. Perhaps they really only "wanted" them because society 'told' them they should have them, because it's only normal to have children. You need to WANT to have children, to dedicate yourself to their every need ... and that means "spending your life in the kitchen slicing apples" because that's the healthiest choice for your children for 1) your are now with your children, 2) the apple has not been handled by at least a dozen people with who knows what grotesquely dirty hands, 3) the apple is being cut freshly and isn't subjected to all sorts of "freshness chemicals" - i.e. anti-browning agents - that your kids will ingest, and, 4) since the apple slices don't need to be packaged in MORE plastic, you're helping the environment by reducing petroleum drilling, processing, transportation and consumption. All this, if people actually thought about the purcahse of a single WHOLE apple vs. pre-sliced apple.

Why do you, marselle, make it sound like such a burden to make time for your children? Do you not love them? Did you not want them? It sounds as though you want time for yourself, but that your children are interferring, expecting you to slice apples. Perhaps you should have waited to have children ... perhaps more young couples should reevaluate their hastiness to have children; instead, they should finish out their own childhood and only have children when they are good and ready ...

Wow. I think "Anonymous" 's response was completely out of line. So, the logic is that if I feel busy with children I don't love them? Children take time and energy - I know my parents often felt stressed and rushed raising two kids - but that does not give any one the right to question their love or devotion. I don't know what the poster's situation is, but maybe he has to raise children and work at the same time, maybe he has care for an elderly parent -- or may he's just busy like the rest of us.

I feel like one of the strongest themes in Treehugger is being environmentally-aware in the modern age. And newsflash: the modern age is busy. Let's not be judgemental without basis - and let's realize we all are balancing many interests here. Convenient and environmentally-friendly do not have to be mutually exclusive categories.

This stuff isn't what you had, because this stuff wasn't available a year ago...

In response to anonymous:

so as it turns out, i don't have children, and i find your attack on my value system unwarranted (slightly amusing), and a failed attempt to drive into my psyche. actually, my previous statements were loaded with sarcasm, which i thought would be obvious... perhaps i was wrong.

one further comment, if you read the apple article I referred to, the summarized surveys indicate that the average citizen has grown weary of eating an entire apple, since it is 'difficult to manage', and most find it a burden to invest in eating the whole thing (since you can't take a few bites and save it for later without an 'icky' brown color). my sarcastic commentary was on the modern trend for streamlining our lives, which is encouraging a mode of living and thinking that is the antithesis of my own worldview.

Gods you self important treehugging folks make me grin.

I bet each and every one of you has something as wasteful or polluting in your homes right now.

Anyone actually know how much crap each iPod manufactured dumps into the world? But I bet you still use them, eh?

What do you expect from something invented at Oklahoma STATE University? I still can't believe they spent millions of dollars researching sliced peanut butter. A waste of research money if you ask me. Oh well, that's the Pokes for you. ;)

Although I agree that this is a stupid product...why is it any different than sliced cheese that you see everywhere? People use sliced cheese on their sandwiches all the time and it looks to me that the packaging on them is exactly the same.

Melissa, you are right. But then, I'm not a big fan of individually wrapped cheese slices either... It could have been nominated too; the only thing that this had going over it was the novelty factor.

This is definitely a garbage product, but I think that Kraft Singles still should have one if for no other reason that its ubiquity. Why anyone would by "cheese" (actually congealed vegetable oil) that is wrapped in individual plastic is mind boggling to me, yet it's probably one of the most popular products in the world.

I live the slices, how else can you easily make a peanut butter and cheese sandwich?

Yum! You guys are crazy! ;)

I think it's a great idea. I go on bicycle tours and cannot carry jars and knives around with me.

Peanut Butter is a staple energy source on my rides, and lightweight is a must.

The emissions I save the environment by riding my bicycle should more than make up for the waste in the packaging.

I'll just start tossing it on the ground to balance things.

I reuse my jars for nut&bolts. Matches everything.
I have about 40 in boxes, all sizes.

mmmm... i can't wait to try it.

i lika the peeputt butter. very tasty

Yes, it may seem like a "lazy" way to make a peanut butter sandwhich, however, this product literally helped save and sustain the life of a beloved pet of mine. I have a beautiful little ferret named BENNY - he's completely bald, skinny with little "elephant" wrinkles on his butt, completely blind, and most importantly, he has the spirit of a lion and a most loving little heart and soul.

Two years ago, Benny was diagnosed with Hypoglycemia; yes, ferrets can get it quite easily! We needed to give him Prednisone twice a day for the rest of his life. The absolute, absolute only thing that we found that we could hide the pill in that he would accept is the peanut butter slices. We rolled little balls and hid the pill inside. Without his pills everyday, on time, he crashes just like a diabetic human. Without his daily pills his little body goes into seizures and he gets very cold and "out of it". Needless to say, it's very scary each and every time as he may or may not come out of these crashes one of these days.

The Peanut Butter slices have helped save our little guy, and now, guess what, because people have either made fun of them or have deemed them needless, we can no longer find them in our area. So silly, maybe - seen as a joke, maybe - but for me, i would buy every package left as I know it has allowed me to keep my beloved Benny.

K.Wall

Kathryn:

this is their website, and where they are available.

http://www.pbslices.com/retail/index.html

If none of those stores are local to you, contact the company or see if a person on a ferret forum who can get it can send it to you.

Best wishes,

S.