A staple of back-to-school lunches everywhere. Almost a no-brainer, right? Or so I thought. See, I have a "child" of sorts: My husband. He, like most children of his age, grew up with, and out of, peanut butter. Probably Skippy, Peter Pan, Jif. I don't know. I do know that by the time I met him, he wouldn't touch the stuff, and with good reason. As anyone who read labels today will attest, it (and darn near everything else) has changed. Every product label reads like a science experiment, and in this day and age, we want fresh, natural, simple and good. And that's getting hard to find. Now, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that in the last 5 years or so, my "child" has gone through what I'll call a peanut butter renaissance. He has rediscovered his love of the stuff, but we're picky consumers. Again, as anyone who shops for peanut butter today will also attest to, it's not cheap anymore. So when I buy, I want to make it count. Hopefully this review will give my readers a window into the product to make an informed decision. Enough babble, on to the review.
Planters NUT-rition Energy Mix Peanut Butter
A big thank you to Klout for sending these items to me to try. If you haven't signed up to Klout, do it now. Go ahead. I'll wait.
Done? Okay then. I received these items free of charge and I am under no obligation to anyone to say things. good or bad, about this product. Theses opinions are my own, but I encourage you to try these items for yourself and make you own decision if you don't agree with mine. For the purpose of this review, I'm going to compare this product to two I frequently buy and have on hand. One if a major national "premium" brand, Maranatha All Natural creamy no-stir, and a generic store brand, Fresh & Easy creamy.
First things first, you'll notice that the Planter's bottle is smaller. Significantly so, at only 12 ounces. Whereas the Maranatha weighs in at a standard 16 ounces, and the F. & E. at a hefty 18 ounces. Interesting, especially when you consider the MSRP of the three: Marantha at $4.99 or higher, F. & E. at $2.99 or less, and the Planter's at $4.99 and up. So, for those interested, that breaks down to $0.42 per ounce for Planter's, $0.31 per ounce for Maranatha, and a very enticing $0.16 per ounce for F. & E.. Very interesting indeed. But, price isn't everything, especially since Planter's is advertising a value-added feature of fruit, nuts, and granola, referred to as their "Energy Mix".
Hmm. Chunky. It doesn't spread well either, what with the chunks and nuts and berries. But, Maranatha fails there as well, since it is the only one of the three that requires refrigeration, and when hubby wants his peanut butter sammich, he wants in now. Fresh & Easy wins this round. First impressions are mixed, since I think I should smell banana, raisins or cinnamon, right? I get some subtle hints of them, which I'll chalk up to being a good thing, since this is, after all, a peanut butter first and foremost. Mouth feel is what you'd expect. Not too greasy, not too oily, but just firm enough. Good job there, Planters. But, much to my dismay, the banana flavor in the "Banana Granola Nut" mix is just not there. Sad. The "Berry Nut" mix is peanuts and cranberries, and while you can tell they are there, you're not getting any real flavor out of them. Disappointing. What is a pleasant surprise is the "Cinnamon Raisin Granola Nut" mix. Wow. Perfect balance flavors, with everything well represented and nothing beating down anything else. Score!
So, let's dig into the labels, shall we?
For the sake of simplicity, I'll use the best of the bunch, the Cinnamon Raisin mix, for comparison purposes. Otherwise, this will start to look like a U.S. patent application and bore the bejesus out of everyone. The first thing that jumps out at me is the ingredient list. Holy monkey, what's going on with the Planters? That's a complex list of ingredients for what is supposed to be a simple product. Calories and fat are all statistically negligible in their differences, so that's a moot point. Sugar, however, is a very different story. Nearly twice as much. Maybe that's where the "energy" comes from? There does also seem to be less protein, which is disappointing as well. There's a laundry list of "vitamins and minerals" there that can be a good or bad thing depending on your views on vitamin supplements. Personally, we're against them, so that's another minus. Also, I'm very wary when anyone uses a the smokescreen of "natural flavors". If the product is natural and healthy, and has it's own flavors, why add more "natural" flavorings? Brown rice syrup? Evaporated cane juice? Sugar? Why so much sweetener? And with all that sugar, why did of the three have such a salty-flavored finish? Ick.
So, here's my final verdict: No go. Too many negatives here in comparison to the others. It's as pricey as the national premium brand, but not as healthy or natural (fair disclosure, Maranatha is also an organic product. I'll let you decide if that works for or against Planters). It's smaller than the store brand, but nearly 3 times as expensive as the store-branded product. And to be blunt, as good as the Cinnamon Raisin mix was, it's hand down my least favorite of the three. The Maranatha and Fresh & Easy products just plain taste better. I would pass on Planter's Energy Mix peanut butters in favor of the two others, without fail. Too bad. I like the idea Planter's had, and I can see it catching on in a big way, but the execution needs some fine tuning.
And I'm still waiting for that "energy" they advertised on the label.
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