Frugal F&*@up

I'd like to introduce you to a new feature on my blog-- the Frugal F&*!up. In this feature I will be sharing with you frugal attempts that have gone horribly awry.

In this episode I'd like to share with you my recent experience with almond butter.

Long story short, almond butter has become a diet staple for me because when I eat peanut butter it seems to bother the nursling. All good and dandy except the generic Whole Foods brand runs about $6.99 a pop. And I go through about a pop a week. So, I decided to try making my own.

I purchased about $5 worth of almonds, and we used a gift card to Bed Bath and Beyond (plus coupon! plus mail in rebate!) upgrade our leaky blender to a shiny new blender-slash-food processor. We were in business.

Per online recommendations I roasted the almonds in the oven at 350 for about 10 minutes. Then I called in the hubby to fire up the new Cuisinart. (Ever since my child was born I seem to have acquired this helpless thing. I think a integral part of my brain slipped out with the placenta. And how come I don't remember the first time I tried to nurse my baby, but I do remember the midwife asking "are you sure you don't want to see the placenta? Most people do!" The little glimpse of it I got was enough-- it's cool that it was inside of me, bringing sweet life to little one but gross!) Anyways, hubby ground up the almonds until they had "released their own oil" (isn't that what skunks do?), added a dash of olive oil, and we had instant almond butter! It was tasty, too. So where does teh F@*!up come in? Well, though it wasn't terribly labor intensive, it turns out that $5 worth of almonds (even bought at the bulk bin) doesn't go too far. I had enough to spread on maybe two rice cakes. And we were left with a sticky Cuisinart mess that looked like the cat had hurled on it.

On the bright side however, I have the satisfaction of knowing that if I was ever in a survivalist situation with a working Cuisinart and a sack o' almonds, I could totally make my own almond butter. For now however, think I'll stick to the Whole Foods brand. Or maybe start looking for cheaper snacks.