Peanut Butter Problems

You’d be forgiven for thinking that these are the usual clear plastic peanut butter jars.

I wonder if I’m the only person with their knickers in a knot over Kraft’s decision to stop making family size peanut butter jars out of clear plastic?

If you don’t buy this size or brand, you’d never notice the change. They blend right in with the myriad choices on the shelves, (See Help! TMI, posted several weeks ago) and unless you opened the lid and dipped in, you’d be none the wiser. Look at the picture. See what I mean? The two jars sitting here both appear to be full, right? Wrong.

Several weeks ago I bought these two jars of peanut butter. (There must have been a great sale because I don’t usually buy two giant jars!) When I opened the first one I shook my head and took a closer look. The jar was exactly the same colour as the peanut butter, and it was hard to tell where the peanut butter stopped and the jar began.

“Weird,” I thought to myself, but it didn’t exactly ruin my day. No, the day-ruining bit came when the jar was almost empty. Do you know how hard it is to find and scrape out the last inch of peanut butter that looks exactly — and I mean exactly — the colour of the jar. Couple that with bleary early-morning eyes and me without my glasses on, and there’s a problem.

Every time I used that nearly-empty peanut butter jar I felt annoyed, and that took the shine off a day that had started out well if you don’t count actually getting out of bed. I’d feel annoyed for letting such a petty thing bother me, and after a few days of swiping blindly at the peanut butter, my bad attitude made the exercise a lot more trouble than it was worth.

That’s when I decided to do this post with the hope that it would act as a catharsis, moving me beyond this early morning annoyance. I’m so glad I did because it helped me realize something very important. A clear peanut butter jar wouldn’t hide my 75% Off Bulk Barn Easter eggs very well, would it?

Tee hee.