I have 2 sons, and they’re literally nuts about nut butters. As small children it was mainly peanut butter, but as they reached their teens, their tastes seemed to change. Not that they didn’t still like peanut butter, but now they wanted a variety to choose from. Of course that translates to buying more of different types, which equals more money.

As a mother who is always looking for more ways to save money, I got on the internet to see if anyone had any hacks for a situation like this. I wasn’t surprised by what I found, but I was pretty impressed with other mom’s savviness when it came to figuring out ways to save. I found other valuable information as well, but that’s a post for another time.

Obviously my main goal was nut butters. It was really cool to find out that I could make all different kinds of nut butters pretty easily at home with a food processor. The thought had just never crossed my mind. It seemed like a no-brainer, but if it isn’t something you’re thinking about, then it wouldn’t necessarily occur to someone.

I didn’t currently own a food processor, so I took some time to see what was out there, and what people liked. I decided on a Cuisinart DFP-14BCWNY Food Processor from Kitchen Works Inc. They sell authentic Cuisinart products, and I had heard great things. I was so excited for its arrival.

So I sat down with my 2 sons, and had them decide on 2 different types each that they would want to try, but something different than traditional peanut butter, since that was the cheapest one of the options that we could continue to buy at the grocery store. They were both on board and excited to give it a try.

My one son wanted to try cashew butter and sunflower butter, which we had never thought of since it’s a seed. But he loved sunflowers, so he figured he’d enjoy sunflower butter just as much.

My younger son of course wanted something Nutella-like. I told him that counted as 2, since it had more ingredients and also because hazelnuts are pretty expensive overall. He was fine, as long as he got the concoction all to himself after we had a try. It was a deal, because secretly I didn’t like Nutella.

The recipes were relatively easy. After I looked them up I felt bad for my younger son because I limited him to only one recipe, when the homemade Nutella consisted of about the same amount of ingredients as the sunflower butter. I allowed him another option, and he chose to do basically the same type of thing, but chocolate and walnuts instead of hazelnuts. So we decided to do half and half.

We started with the more complicated ones first, which were the hazelnut Nutella and the walnut Nutella, then the sunflower butter. We saved the cashew butter for last. They all came out to be pretty good! Of course, nothing is going to taste like the store bought stuff, but that’s because it’s loaded with sugars and preservatives and all of the additives that we just don’t need to be putting in our bodies.

Aside from the obvious benefits of not putting a bunch of garbage in our bodies, we saved so much money. My kids didn’t even want to be bothered eating the regular peanut butter anymore either! Now we make 2 batches of their choice once a week. It’s also really fun to try new and different things and let my sons be creative. I’m really glad I made this discovery about my Cuisinart food processor!