Jump to content

Packaged pre-prepared foods are a scam


Dirtyhip

Recommended Posts

Bread, cereals, sauces and frozen dinners are expensive, full of preservatives and lower quality. 

Nothing compares to homemade. 

I made a giant container of granola, a large batch of naan bread, and our weekly whole wheat loaf.  I saved a bundle in markups. Plus, my foods are sustainably packaged. 

Super stoked on my home skills. 

They should teach more home economics in schools. What happened with that? Kids are not taught enough life skills. 

  • Heart 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, Dirtyhip said:

Bread, cereals, sauces and frozen dinners are expensive, full of preservatives and lower quality. 

Nothing compares to homemade. 

I made a giant container of granola, a large batch of naan bread, and our weekly whole wheat loaf.  I saved a bundle in markups. Plus, my foods are sustainably packaged. 

Super stoked on my home skills. 

They should teach more home economics in schools. What happened with that? Kids are not taught enough life skills. 

Granola is evil. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 minutes ago, Dirtyhip said:

Bread, cereals, sauces and frozen dinners are expensive, full of preservatives and lower quality. 

Nothing compares to homemade. 

I made a giant container of granola, a large batch of naan bread, and our weekly whole wheat loaf.  I saved a bundle in markups. Plus, my foods are sustainably packaged. 

Super stoked on my home skills. 

They should teach more home economics in schools. What happened with that? Kids are not taught enough life skills. 

I have cereal daily for breakfast. That's probably my most processed food of the day. And dried pasta. I guess soy sauce falls into same realm  We buy artisanal bread from bakery in neighbourhood.  

We very rarely buy frozen dinners.  Maybe that was 25 yrs. ago or something like that.

We have never bought pre-made sauces.  The last time I had instant ramen noodles was nearly 40 yrs. ago when I was a university student.

No, I will not be making my own pasta -European or Chinese.  I think there is a way of buying whole foods and looking out for the healthiest pre-made foods which might make up 10-20% of all meals.  for instance, does any one here, buy freshly made Asian noodles?  There is a huge selection...and yes, they might have a preservative.  So maybe buy dried noodles-- less preservatives, less food colouring. They aren't as heavy as the Italian noodles.  I buy them once a month or so.  Makes 4-6 dinners.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 minutes ago, Randomguy said:

Granola is evil. 

Am I evil? Yes, I am. 

I love a 1/2 cup of granola in my smoothie bowl. It’s divine. The bowl is mostly fruit and almond milk. Yummy

i can control The sweetness of it. Most cereals are too sweet. Blackberry blossom honey. 

  • Heart 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Processed foods are not that good for you but they were developed to feed people remote from a decent food source. Preservation was important at the time. It turned out that far fewer people would be nutritionally deficient, essentially bringing cheap food to the masses. Improving profitability soon took over and resulted in foods adulterated to improve sales. I read a story during the run up to the Olympics in China. One street vendor was selling dumplings made from cardboard. He was executed.

  • Heart 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I enjoy making my food from scratch but there are some things like spaghetti sauce where it’s much easier and time efficient for me to use jarred. But I can make a really good spaghetti sauce from scratch.

I don’t eat much bread or pasta not prepackaged meals so my foods are mostly made from scratch.

  • Heart 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 minutes ago, ChrisL said:

I enjoy making my food from scratch but there are some things like spaghetti sauce where it’s much easier and time efficient for me to use jarred. But I can make a really good spaghetti sauce from scratch.

I don’t eat much bread or pasta not prepackaged meals so my foods are mostly made from scratch.

I do my sauce jn a crock pot.  It is very tasty.  It does take some coordination though.  

LOL@ ====> I spent about 3 hours in the kitchen yesterday, so maybe people that eat prepared things are smarter.  HAHA

  • Heart 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Dirtyhip said:

Bread, cereals, sauces and frozen dinners are expensive, full of preservatives and lower quality. 

Nothing compares to homemade. 

I made a giant container of granola, a large batch of naan bread, and our weekly whole wheat loaf.  I saved a bundle in markups. Plus, my foods are sustainably packaged. 

Super stoked on my home skills. 

They should teach more home economics in schools. What happened with that? Kids are not taught enough life skills. 

They are too busy training to be HR staff.

  • Awesome 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am in the kitchen right now. Big pot of veggie soup with a little beef, broth I made months ago and froze.  Threw in some of each veggie that was in the Co-op box:  kale, tomatoes, Jerusalem artichokes, carrots, celery, onion, garlic,  and couple beets. 

Also just made Brussel sprout slaw for a few lunches. I prefer dressing on the side so that is now in little containers. Other Brussels sprouts just put in to marinade in a little olive oil and spices. Those are tonight’s dinner with pesto encrusted salmon and whatever I do with all these purple potatoes. 

FBD0832B-44D1-49E7-83D4-91A4FB167BCD.jpeg

  • Heart 2
  • Awesome 2
  • Envious 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Dirtyhip said:

I do my sauce jn a crock pot.  It is very tasty.  It does take some coordination though.  

LOL@ ====> I spent about 3 hours in the kitchen yesterday, so maybe people that eat prepared things are smarter.  HAHA

I think it’s easier now that my kids are grown to spend time cooking from scratch. Except now it’s just my wife & I.
 

Making a homemade dish from scratch when you worked 10 hours, spent 2.5 hours on the freeway and have two hungry kids and a frazzled wife at home ain’t easy... 

  • Heart 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, ChrisL said:

I think it’s easier now that my kids are grown to spend time cooking from scratch. Except now it’s just my wife & I.
 

Making a homemade dish from scratch when you worked 10 hours, spent 2.5 hours on the freeway and have two hungry kids and a frazzled wife at home ain’t easy... 

True. I find vat cooking  a couple meals makes week nights easier.   I realized as an adult what a gift it was to have my grandmother do most of the cooking when we were kids. 

  • Awesome 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

49 minutes ago, Airehead said:

True. I find vat cooking  a couple meals makes week nights easier.   I realized as an adult what a gift it was to have my grandmother do most of the cooking when we were kids. 

I don't mind eating lentil soup or chili many nights in a row, so I also am a fan of vat cooking.  It makes more sense to just have to cook once if your time is snot unlimited.

  • Heart 1
  • Hugs 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, Dirtyhip said:

Bread, cereals, sauces and frozen dinners are expensive, full of preservatives and lower quality. 

Nothing compares to homemade. 

I made a giant container of granola, a large batch of naan bread, and our weekly whole wheat loaf.  I saved a bundle in markups. Plus, my foods are sustainably packaged. 

Super stoked on my home skills. 

They should teach more home economics in schools. What happened with that? Kids are not taught enough life skills. 

I congratulate you on the effort and passion for it.

Home Economics was killed in the early 2000's by G W Bush's "No Child Left Behind" which assumed EVERY student should aim for college and it diluted classes like Physics because, "Eventually special ed students will be taking it," as well as cheating kids of skills who could have earned good money in auto repair, carpentry, etc.  Eventually, teachers from Texas exposed the fact the Gov. Bush's No Child data was faked and it had never worked there and eventually it was phased out - but the damage had been done and schools still have not recovered the level of Vo Tech as well as home ec, business math, etc. classes that many kids need.

The Home Ec teacher at the high school where I taught chemistry and physics saw the writing on the wall and decided to modify Home Ec into a science credit course called "Nutrition Science," in which she had majored at Penn State.  She and I had previously worked together on other projects and I had coached her kids in Cross Country so I was asked to work with her and help create the curriculum and to modify the college-level labs so they used safer chemicals and could be completed in one or two high school class periods.

We attended teacher conferences all around the mid-Atlantic, demonstrating the labs and teaching teachers how to run the course. It is now taught in many high schools in the mid-Atlantic as a one-semester, 1/2 science credit.

  • Heart 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've been eating a lot of take out, diet has pretty much gone to shit.

Rotisserie chicken has been my "good" stuff

Bought some raw chicken breasts today, boiled them & made chicken & rice, just like I do with rotisserie chicken. the difference was amazing. Way less salt, and just cleaner tasting, if that makes any sense. And really no more trouble to make, tossing the breasts into boiling stock was easier than stripping down a rotisserie bird.    

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 minutes ago, Further said:

I've been eating a lot of take out, diet has pretty much gone to shit.

Rotisserie chicken has been my "good" stuff

Bought some raw chicken breasts today, boiled them & made chicken & rice, just like I do with rotisserie chicken. the difference was amazing. Way less salt, and just cleaner tasting, if that makes any sense. And really no more trouble to make, tossing the breasts into boiling stock was easier than stripping down a rotisserie bird.    

I do know what you mean.  I feel gross when I eat too many foods out and about.  If I don't get enough vegetables and fruits, I feel badly. It just about makes me depressed and anxious.  

  • Heart 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 11/3/2019 at 9:38 AM, Dirtyhip said:

Bread, cereals, sauces and frozen dinners are expensive, full of preservatives and lower quality. 

Nothing compares to homemade. 

I made a giant container of granola, a large batch of naan bread, and our weekly whole wheat loaf.  I saved a bundle in markups. Plus, my foods are sustainably packaged. 

Super stoked on my home skills. 

They should teach more home economics in schools. What happened with that? Kids are not taught enough life skills. 

I think back to all the home cooked meals of my childhood, and I gotta say, selective purchasing of "pre-prepared foods" really trumps much of it.  The variety and wide spectrum of options makes it so, if you are buying & eating a Tostinos, the blame is on you, not the food.  Anyone can make shitty self-prepared food - full of crap and tasting of crap.  Anyone can buy shitty pre-prepared food - full of crap and tasting of crap.  On the flip side, anyone can now BUY delicious pre-prepared food made with good ingredients and tasting great - for a price and with some time spent researching & testing.  However, not everyone can make their own self-prepared food that is healthy and tasty - mainly due to skills (practice and the home economics need), food deserts/limited fresh options, TIME (single parent with kids and full time job), and imagination (my weakest point).  Money also plays into the mix as eating for one or two, with good ingredients, can be lots more expensive than buying and preparing for a larger group.  Spices are often expensive, and can't easily be bought in small portions.

Anyway, we still prepare most of our food and it is quite delicious.  We have already discussed here, though, that few if any of us go back that extra step or two. I don't raise cows or chickens. Nor do I churn butter or harvest my own coffee beans. I think most if not all of my food goes through more than one level of distance from the source. Several go through many levels.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree that packaged foods are more expensive and overall less healthy, but like most things, they have their place and time.  I used to bring my Mom a prepared meal or two every week from a local grocery store.  At her age she wasn't up for cooking much, and the meals gave her a chance to have some more variety in her diet.  It would have been hard for her to make one serving of pot roast, or beef stew or certain other meals that she enjoyed now and then.   When we were young, she'd cook a full meal every night and we'd have a sit down dinner (and at one point in her life she was a home ec teacher),  but a few expensive conveniences made sense for her later in life.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

45 minutes ago, Razors Edge said:

I think back to all the home cooked meals of my childhood, and I gotta say, selective purchasing of "pre-prepared foods" really trumps much of it.  The variety and wide spectrum of options makes it so, if you are buying & eating a Tostinos, the blame is on you, not the food.  Anyone can make shitty self-prepared food - full of crap and tasting of crap.  Anyone can buy shitty pre-prepared food - full of crap and tasting of crap.  On the flip side, anyone can now BUY delicious pre-prepared food made with good ingredients and tasting great - for a price and with some time spent researching & testing.  However, not everyone can make their own self-prepared food that is healthy and tasty - mainly due to skills (practice and the home economics need), food deserts/limited fresh options, TIME (single parent with kids and full time job), and imagination (my weakest point).  Money also plays into the mix as eating for one or two, with good ingredients, can be lots more expensive than buying and preparing for a larger group.  Spices are often expensive, and can't easily be bought in small portions.

Anyway, we still prepare most of our food and it is quite delicious.  We have already discussed here, though, that few if any of us go back that extra step or two. I don't raise cows or chickens. Nor do I churn butter or harvest my own coffee beans. I think most if not all of my food goes through more than one level of distance from the source. Several go through many levels.

You can buy spices in small amounts.  Buy them in bulk.  They have tiny little bags that I use many times for my spice runs.  I can buy about 3 tbsp, easily.  

Packages foods are just way more expensive than homemade.  We eat gourmet, from scratch and it can be cheap if you are wise with it.  Example, I've switched off broccoli for a while, because it got more expensive.  So, I am sticking to cauliflower and kale now.  I watch my sales.  Beans and rice is cheap.  Food deserts do exist though, and I am fortunate to have grocery within walking or riding distance.  The town of Beaver Marsh comes to mind.  I have no idea how that small population eats or exists for that matter. . 

Of course, I don't churn butter.  I rarely use it anyway.  I do buy my raw materials like produce.  I was mostly talking about all these prepared dinners, lunches, etc.  It just makes no sense.  In regards to the kid argument, I know a lot of parents that don't eat out, have multiple kids and work as full time doctors.  IT can be easily done.  Time management, IMHO

Link to comment
Share on other sites

52 minutes ago, Kirby said:

I agree that packaged foods are more expensive and overall less healthy, but like most things, they have their place and time.  I used to bring my Mom a prepared meal or two every week from a local grocery store.  At her age she wasn't up for cooking much, and the meals gave her a chance to have some more variety in her diet.  It would have been hard for her to make one serving of pot roast, or beef stew or certain other meals that she enjoyed now and then.   When we were young, she'd cook a full meal every night and we'd have a sit down dinner (and at one point in her life she was a home ec teacher),  but a few expensive conveniences made sense for her later in life.

I didn't consider the elderly or disabled.  Kirby, you always make me think.  Thank you.

  • Hugs 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

33 minutes ago, Dirtyhip said:

I didn't consider the elderly or disabled.  Kirby, you always make me think.  Thank you.

It kind of reminds us we can’t paint every situation with the same broad brush. I forgot we had my mom eating out a lot and eating prepackaged meals as she had limited physical & cognitive skills.  But I also brought over several meals too so there are ways to eat more healthy. 

In some situations there is value in pre packaging but as a general rule, fresh food made from scratch in a healthy manner is best.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 hours ago, MickinMD said:

I congratulate you on the effort and passion for it.

Home Economics was killed in the early 2000's by G W Bush's "No Child Left Behind" which assumed EVERY student should aim for college and it diluted classes like Physics because, "Eventually special ed students will be taking it," as well as cheating kids of skills who could have earned good money in auto repair, carpentry, etc.  Eventually, teachers from Texas exposed the fact the Gov. Bush's No Child data was faked and it had never worked there and eventually it was phased out - but the damage had been done and schools still have not recovered the level of Vo Tech as well as home ec, business math, etc. classes that many kids need.

The Home Ec teacher at the high school where I taught chemistry and physics saw the writing on the wall and decided to modify Home Ec into a science credit course called "Nutrition Science," in which she had majored at Penn State.  She and I had previously worked together on other projects and I had coached her kids in Cross Country so I was asked to work with her and help create the curriculum and to modify the college-level labs so they used safer chemicals and could be completed in one or two high school class periods.

We attended teacher conferences all around the mid-Atlantic, demonstrating the labs and teaching teachers how to run the course. It is now taught in many high schools in the mid-Atlantic as a one-semester, 1/2 science credit.

It wasn't just NCLB. It's been the push toward more STEM classes and changes in special education delivery of services, too.

I will never forget a truckload of brand new stoves, refrigerators, and sewing machines being hauled out of the former Home Ec classroom at a mid school where I worked. And the Industrial Arts room being gutted at the school where mr. worked at the time.

The Home Ec room was refashioned into a Motor-sensory gym for the autism specific program. The Industrial Arts room was changed into a computer lab. But they have a robotics program in there, as well.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...