I'm a huge fan of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Not the healthiest item out there but it's good and I gotta have it.
Right now I'm using kraft light peanut butter which has 80 cals per tbsp. Does anybody have any options out there with an even lower calorie content? I'm not especially interested in the all natural peanuts only peanut butter because I want a somewhat authentic pb & j... picky I know :S
tHANKS!!

Personally, I use Peanut Butter & Co. flavored peanut butter (Dark Chocolate Dreams is delicious!), but it's not lower in calories, so I don't know what to tell ya. Also, it is all natural. The regular PB often has trans fats or other nasty things to stabilize it and I try and stay away from those...

Not sure what you mean by 'authentic' pb&j, not sure how more authentic you can get than natural peanut butters. If calories is your only concern, then I'd just scout out your grocery aisles, reading calorie labels. That is how I find new stuff.

Although I love natural peanut butter but really it is the only peanut butter I've ever known. Trader Joe's has some awesome natural peanut butter.

I second it on Dark Chocolate Dreams, I notice it's 170 cal per 2 tbsp (I'd been getting Skippy Natural which is 180 cal per 2 tbsp). I wouldn't know how to precisely measure 2 tbsp of pb, but I try to spread it thinly to minimize the calorie load

I used to eat the regular (brand names) peanut butter, then I tried the natural ones and I'd never go back. Honestly, after eating natural peanut butter, the others taste like they have lard in them, which I'm sure some do with the hydrogenated fats.

I love Teddie unsalted super chunky one, I use it on sandwiches, salad dressings, stir fry, it's so good. I also like getting the honey roasted peanut butter at Whole Foods. They have the grinders right where the bulk section is, just turn the dial on and get as much as you want, it's got a sweet/salty combo flavor that is really yummy.

I like SnacLite Power PB. It has 1/2 the fat (and 1/2 the saturated fat), 1.5 times the fiber, and 1.5 times the protein of regular peanut butter. 1 tbsp is 80 calories but you can't beat the nutrition you get for those 80 calories. Good fats in moderation, fiber, and protein--this peanut butter counts as health food. It's all natural and is a blend of peanuts, flax seed, wheat germ, egg whites, honey, salt, and flax seeds (that's the entire ingredient list--no chemicals or stabilizers and at least the sweetener is the #5 ingredient). It tastes like peanut butter to me, but I only eat natural peanut butter. If you normally eat peanut butter with added sugar as the #2 or #3 ingredient, you probably won't like this.

I get Skippy Natural.

I didn't realize that PB and co's peanut butters are actually somewhat low cal, considering how decadent they are!! THat's great! That's probably what I'll be picking up at the store tomorrow.
Thanks guys!!!

Someone recommended powdered PB. http://www.bellplantation.com/ sounds interesting.

I buy peanut butter that has one ingredient: peanuts.

Other times I've purchased Smuckers Natural, which also adds salt.

Beware of other so-called "natural" peanut butters, like Skippy. Read the ingredients. Skippy Natural also uses sugar and palm oil. Palm oil is very high in saturated fat. I don't need saturated fat added to my peanut butter.

Even the reduced-fat Smuckers is 200 cal per 2 tbsp (Smuckers full-fat is 210 cal). To each their own, and I realize some people really need to watch their fat intake, but wherever I can shave off a few calories I don't fret so much about content ::ducks and runs::

I use Adams Natural Organic Creamy peanut butter (just peanuts and minimal salt.) I will only buy organic because peanuts have an enormously large pesticide load since they are rotated with cotton crops. I also prefer glass jars, so my selection is limited (I buy the cheapest organic I can find in glass jars.)

I find that I only need 1 Tablespoon (1/2 serving) of peanut butter for a sandwich so I don't worry about the calories or fat (besides it's good fat in the natural kind.) I use a 1 Tablespoon sized cookie scoop to measure my peanut butter, that way there is no gooey measuring spoon/spatula mess.

Reduced fat peanut butters typically add sugar to replace the fat taken out, so the calories don't end up much different anyway. If you don't mind the added sugar then go for it, but I've gotten so used to natural pb that regular tastes strange to me.

It's hard to find a tasty peanut butter low in calories because peanuts themselves are pretty high in calories. If you remove some of the peanuts to remove some of the calories, then you have to replace it with something else (usually crap ).

A pbj sandwich can be VERY healthy. I eat one (sometimes 2!) almost every single day. I use Nature's Own double fiber whole grain bread (50 cals per slice and soft without tasting like cardboard!), 1 tablespoon peanut butter (I used to use the natural where the only ingredient was peanuts, but it's just not the same as the processed crap I grew up with. Now I use Smart Balance creamy peanut butter--it is sweetened with a bit of molasses and has added flax seed oil for healthy Omega 3s), and 1 tablespoon Polaner all fruit spread (all natural, sweetened only with fruit juice, no processed sugar added, 40 cals per tablespoon). That gives me a whole pbj with about 235 calories and 11g fiber and 9g sugar.

I rarely eat peanut butter, so I don't worry about it too much. Every once in a great while I'll have like maybe a half of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (one of life's little pleasures to me ) but not very often.