"Fake" Peanut Butter

My daughter goes to a peanut free school, and they have a link for the top 9 peanut butter alternatives:

http://foodallergies.about.com/od/commonfoodallergies/tp/...

My kids love nutella, also.

Sunbutter and almond butter are the best. We switched several years ago and haven't missed peanut butter at all.

Sunflower seed butter. I think Sunbutter, is delicious!! I have never tried any others, but that specific brand. They have lots of other brands out there, though.

P.S.
Unless every single child washes their hands and faces each time they have contact with peanut butter, and every service that has contact is cleaned thoroughly...there is NO way to ensure a kid won't have a deadly reaction. EXPOSURE is just as dangerous as ingestion. If someone who has come into contact with peanuts touches me, I can die. I'm sick of people who are completely uneducated about it, thinking we can can just have the kid be careful and they won't be in danger!!! If you've never been around a nut allergy, Rachel K and Cheryl O...well obviously you haven't...you have NO idea what you are talking about.
Sorry - of my soap box...

how sucky that you can't bring peanut butter!! URGH!!

I don't know...I haven't found one and if I wasn't allowed to bring peanut butter, I think I'd find another camp to go to - one that isn't politically correct...I know that sounds harsh - I realize there are people out there with food allergies - but why should the masses have to restructure their lives because of the few who have allergies?

Sorry - off my soap box....

Good luck in finding an alternative!!! Hope you have fun at camp!!!

I wouldn't be going. Soy butter and sunbutter are nasty they taste nothing like peanutbutter those that say you cant tell the difference need to get their tastebuds checked. I understand why schools go peanut free but it should not be a life style forced on people especially if their will be other kids parents their they should make sure that their child avoids peanutbutter and that any necessary precautions are taken during group activities.
There are actually more deaths from bee stings than peanut allergies a year.

I buy the Maranotha brand no-stir almond butter at WalMart. It's wonderful! I put it on a flour tortilla and rolled it up and if I hadn't made it myself I wouldn't have known it wasn't peanut butter. The texture is very similar and it tastes really good. I like it even better with a little fruit spread, apple butter, or syrup. I am allergic to peanuts, though not to the extent some are, and my parents used to buy almond and cashew butter for me at the Amish store. I found this brand at WalMart and like it even better. Some kinds will separate a little and you have to stir them to redistribute the oil. Also, some kinds don't have any added sugar. If you eat natural peanut butter anyway, you wont notice. But if you eat a sweetened kind you will probably want a little jam or something to sweeten it up.
Good luck!

Almond butter is great.

Ok to the other posters. Please realize that people have SEVERE nut allergies. I'm sure that is why they aren't allowing peanut butter. If it was just a mild allergy, then I'm sure they wouldn't put such an enforcement. I know several people that couldn't be around anybody that had eaten a pb&j hours earlier and they had a reaction. If I knew someone had a severe allergy, I would be glad to give up whatever it is so that I know that they are safe.
T., I would suggest finding out if all nuts are banned or if it's just peanuts. If it's just peanuts, then cashew and almond butter are divine! LOVE them! Nutella is also a favorite :D

Soy-nut butter is a great alternative if no nuts are allowed or sun-butter. That is if sunflower seeds are allowed and or soy products.

I just had to respond to the the person I quoted below. The answer as to why the masses need to help out the few is because those few have so many restrictions on their lives already that being able to go to a camp or anywhere and be safe is such a rare experience for them, that if people would do this more they could have more freedom. My daughter has a severe life threatening peanut allergy, airborne and contact, she cannot go to a grocery store, she cannot go out to eat unless the place is completely nut free and there is only one place in this area which is. She cannot to go to school. She cannot go to playgrounds or play-dates at peoples houses who eat nuts. She can't see movies in the theater. She can't go to all the places most kids take for granted. Her reaction to the allergist opening a jar of PB in the allergists office was extreme, she cannot be exposed at all to anyone who has eaten peanuts or anything containing peanuts. Her life is very limited, and if she could attend a camp that was peanut free she would have a life changing experience knowing people were willing to allow her to some semblance of normalcy without worrying she could die at any time. And this summer she did attend a week of drama camp where they completely made the facility peanut/tree-nut free and no one was allowed to eat them before coming and everyone washed their hands before coming in. She still had two minor reactions, despite all the precautions. But she was able to attend due to the care of these people. The reason again is to give some hope to children that they might be able to do something and be safe, this isn't about political correctness, it is about not only saving lives, but allowing children to get a taste of what all your children take for granted. Every time my daughter leaves the house her life is at risk. Places like this are such a blessing to these children who don't get to very much in life at all. I bet you can find it in your heart to give up something for a week or two to allow a child to do something they would never be able to otherwise.

"I don't know...I haven't found one and if I wasn't allowed to bring peanut butter, I think I'd find another camp to go to - one that isn't politically correct...I know that sounds harsh - I realize there are people out there with food allergies - but why should the masses have to restructure their lives because of the few who have allergies?"

would you be allowed Nutella?

we had to deal with this for camp too. We love all nut butters but are not allowed to bring any snacks or foods made anywhere that tree nuts are manufactured. It's really hard to find snack like this. We started using the I.M. healthy soy nut butter too and we all like it. it doesn't taste like PB but it's a nice alternative. I don't like the added salts and sugar but there isn't anything we can do about that. I've heard the WOW brand is good too. You can find it at walmart but I haven't tried it. We haven't tried sunbutter either but it also has added salt and sugar. We love almond butter however. Trader Joes has the best prices on it. It is rather expensive. You can also make your own nut butters if you have the right machine. Good luck.

I've heard great things about Sunbutter too.

I have 2 that you might enjoy, apricot butter and vanilla almond butter, both homemade:
- http://www.elanaspantry.com/apricot-butter/
- http://www.elanaspantry.com/vanilla-almond-butter/

Good luck!

We've used 'I. M. Healthy' brand soynut butter... my 6 year old has a peanut allergy. It honestly tasted pretty much the same! It's more expensive, but it's a great compromise :)

Sun butter. It is made from sunflower seeds. It think it most closely resembles peanut butter in flavor and texture. In our house we have almond butter, cashew butter, peanut butter and sun butter, but when we run out of PB and my dd wants a sandwich, I reach for the sun butter and she can't tell the difference.

I can't help with recommendations, but i'm confused, don't most camps like that provide you with food??? So you need to pack something that doesn't need refridgerated?? That would be a question i had, do you need to refridergerate Pb alternatives. Have a great time at camp.

Mmmm SunButter. I also like Almond butter!

I think you need to find out specifically what is allowed. Are nut butters allowed? If so, we really like almond butter... depending on brand and your kids' tastes, you might have to add some salt and sugar to it to get your kids to eat it (there is a lot of sugar in regular peanut butter). If nut butters aren't allowed, what about cheese pizzas, grilled cheeses, quesidillas, portobello mushroom sandwiches, veggies and hummus, veggie burgers? (I'm assuming no refrigeration...)

Seems like a silly reason not to go to a camp (Oh! They're protecting children who have life threatening allergies! We should go somewhere else where they don't care about kids!) And a good way to break your kids out of a food rut!

I don't have any answers but wondering why you can't have it?

My favorite (my 4 yr old daughter has a life-threatening peanut/nut allergy) is the I.M. Healthy brand: http://www.soynutbutter.com.

It's easy to find (most grocery stores, Wal-Mart, etc. carry it) and it is sweet like peanut butter. If the camp doesn't allow any nuts, that's the way to go. It is made with soy, so if that's an issue, not sure what to advise. There are some great tree nut butters at Trader Joe's, but if the camp is peanut-free, they probably don't endorse Almond butters or other tree nuts (the allergies are often linked).

Nutella is made with chocolate and hazelnut, so again, if tree nuts are allowed, then technically, it would be ok. However, as most chocolate is coprocessed with nuts, our preschool that is peanut-free is also chocolate-free. My daughter associates chocolate with peanuts (her first two reactions were a peanut chocolate easter egg, then a Butterfinger), so she avoids chocolate at all costs.

By the way, what camp is it? It's hard for us to find camps that work with food allergies! Good for you in finding one!;)