Convenience Foods Save Little Time...

[Macky]

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070807135415.htm

Discuss? This is a topic that has me really riled up lately. ETA: The last paragraph sums up my frustration.

"There was one woman relaxing and reading a food magazine, but this information didn't make it into the weekday dinner that night," Beck said. "Cooking from scratch is seen as a hobby. It has become this other realm of entertainment."

P.S. We're out for the day, so I'm just posting this quickly now, hoping I have something to read when I come back. ;)

[Macky]

Really? No one else finds this interesting? Okay then. Never mind thread killer... I can't even start them (this seems to be a trend). :shrug3

[bananacake]

It probably just got buried. I'm on here all the time, and I didn't see it.

Off to read article
Posted via Mobile Device

[Pragmatist]

Interesting that few people actually eat fast food, but most cook with convenience foods. I don't use things like Hamburger Helper and other mixes like that but the author considered canned/frozen vegetables convenience foods too. I need canned/frozen vegetables to function in my kitchen.

[bananacake]

It's iterating that frozen veggies and jarred sauce are considered to be convenience foods. I guess technically they are, but to me, that certainly throws off the statistical analysis.
Posted via Mobile Device

[chasingbutterflies]

:hug: I've had a lot of threads go unnoticed lately too, I think stuff just gets hidden quickly.

from the article:

With almost all of the home-cooked meals, families served some sort of packaged convenience food. Frozen entrées (such as stir-fry mixes, potstickers, chicken dishes and barbecued ribs) were the most popular products, followed by vegetables (canned or frozen),

since when are frozen vegetables a convenience food? unless you're talking about something like "peas with butter sauce" I don't get how frozen veggies are a convenience food but tortillas aren't. which is totally nitpicky of me, I just am confused by that.

past that, I'm kind of surprised by her findings. I wonder if I cook more elaborately when I cook from scratch? Because convenience stuff generally at least seems easier/faster.

[saturnfire16]

It doesn't surprise me. I can easily whip up something like burritos or big dinner salad or noodles and veges as quickly as dh can make something frozen/packaged.

[bananacake]

I will add that I think people just lack creativity. Throw some beans in the crock, cook some rice, and throw some chopped tomatoes and/or cheese on top, and you have a meal far healthier than Hamburger Helper :shrug
Posted via Mobile Device

[swimming with sharks]

I have to agree that frozen veggies don't seem to be convenience food to me. :think I know we've had these discussions before but :shrug3

[momyshaver]

Interesting that few people actually eat fast food, but most cook with convenience foods. I don't use things like Hamburger Helper and other mixes like that but the author considered canned/frozen vegetables convenience foods too. I need canned/frozen vegetables to function in my kitchen.


Me too. :shifty IIRC, I remember hearing at a LLL meeting with my first...that fresh is best (if it is FRESH), if not FRESH fresh...then frozen fresh, then canned (as far as nutrition was concerned). I definately think there is a huge difference between using frozen fruits and veggies and a boxed meal like Kraft Mac n Cheese or Hamburger Helper. I have used both and I know I definately feel and function better if I am using whole grains and those frozen fruits and veggies IYKWM?

Off to read the article.

[Country Bumpkin]

:hug: I've had a lot of threads go unnoticed lately too, I think stuff just gets hidden quickly.

Yeah that. I've been on here on and off all day and I didn't see it until now. I tried to read it just now, but we just had company go home, and after 8 kids 7 and under my brain is too tired to comprehend what I'm reading. LOL

[momyshaver]

I will add that I think people just lack creativity. Throw some beans in the crock, cook some rice, and throw some chopped tomatoes and/or cheese on top, and you have a meal far healthier than Hamburger Helper :shrug
Posted via Mobile Device

:yes

[charla]

Yeah, I don't see frozen veggies a convenience food. I wonder if they would consider canned black beans, etc. as convenience food. I think it would skew the statistics a little bit. It made me feel better that from scratch meals don't take much longer to prepare than convenience meals. :tu

[AngelaVA]

The mentioned it towards the end of the article, but I think as much as the time to prepare soemthing might factor in, the time to think and plan is a big reason people use these items. Because this has been going on for a couple of generations, people don't really know how to cook, they don't necessarily realize that not using these ingredients is an option. My DH was fondly recalling the tuna helper of his childhood and was shocked that I could use tuna, pasta, onions, milk and cheese to make the same thing. My step mother was completely bewildered watching me take cream and sugar and put it in my mixer to make whipped cream. She kept asking "is it cool whip? Did you just make your own cool whip?" She had no concept of whipped cream beyond cool whip.

[Charlie U]

It's iterating that frozen veggies and jarred sauce are considered to be convenience foods. I guess technically they are, but to me, that certainly throws off the statistical analysis.
Posted via Mobile Device

:yes

I don't use most boxed mix things. Too high in sodium. Last time I tried one, it was like pouring salt directly into my mouth.

I don't know if convenience food is really considered a time saver by the person who is buying it or if they are buying it because they just can't cook. I let my girls help me cook, but I haven't taught them how, yet.

[charla]

I was just thinking the other day that the thought that getting take-out because it's fast, really isn't true. It probably takes at the least 20-30 mins in a big city with lots of traffic to go pick something up. I can make a good dinner in that amount of time if I've planned ahead.

[Lady TS]

I think it's a cop-out (that I admit to doing at times, too--we ate a lot of frozen burritos and pizza last month due to our not being home during the dinner-prep-hour). Who wants to measure out salt and 3 different spices and etc. when you can just dump the box of hamburger helper mix in the pan? ;)

Dinner's become just a job to hurry up and get done and on the table so we can move on to the next thing. It's not an art(for most people) or something that (most) people put much thought into (nutrition-wise).

BUT, even for Hamburger Helper and the like, you still have to cook the meat and boil the noodles. :shrug3 Things you'd be doing making it from scratch, kwim? So I don't get how that actually saves time.

As far as determining what is convenience food--I'd say frozen veggies are convenient, but not so much as a frozen dinner with added salt, sauce and seasonings, etc. Frozen veggies to me are raw materials, only frozen instead of fresh. :shrug3


And even though no one referred to a cookbook or magazine or newspaper doesn't mean they didn't refer to a recipe online. :shifty

[cindergretta]

I did want to point out that the author also talked about moms making multiple meals or being short order cooks and that decreased time savings. If you are a mom who makes a convenience dinner but only *one,* then you probably save more time than the mom who makes 3 different convenience food dinners.

I guess I don't understand the "flap." :scratch I'm too worried about what my family is eating to be much concerned about whether my neighbor buys or bakes her bread. :giggle (Is buying a loaf of bread a convenience food?)

[Earthylady]

Well, quite honestly, I'm surprised that 70% of the meals were eaten at home! Most two income families that I know don't eat at home that much. And yes, if they do, there is a lot of convenience foods going on.

We're only a one income family, so I don't think this was really meant for us. However, I would have to say about 95% of our meals are made a home. I too use canned veggies, though I don't use frozen chicken patties or bbq ribs, etc. My spaghetti sauce is canned from my own garden and hopefully next summer, I'll be able to can my own veggies as well. I personally don't like frozen veggies and so don't use them. What package stuff I use is from Frontier and is MSG free and I buy it in bulk and keep it in jars. That's about as far convenience foods go for our house. Oh, I do have frozen pizzas in the freezer for the occasional lunch.

[Victorious]

Hamburger Helper isn't quicker-it uses less dishes :shifty I think therein lies my main motivation for using convenience food :think

[Tengokujin]

count me with those who are :scratch about frozen veggies being convenience food.

For me, someone who is generally a scratch cook for our meals, the challenge of cooking from scratch is doing it routinely enough that I am mentally up for it. The cooking isn't the time eater. It's having the mental space (granted not much is needed but still) to be planning and thinking of what is needed, what needs to be thawed, what don't I have in the house that I can pick up on the way back from wherever. I"m not one of those plan the week out ladies, but I do usually have a loose plan for a couple of days at a time.

It seems to me that convenience foods like Hamburger helper are great for this. Have meat? Possibly cheese? The box? Dinner. It's like having a wardrobe of jeans and various colored shirts.

It takes time of regularly cooking to develop scratch fall-back recipes. This isn't cooking time, but life time--time of having the cooking take longer so that it can be faster after a while.

[Quiteria]

Well, it does seem inspiring to think that maybe it won't take *that* much more time to transition to more cooking from scratch....I was a bit better about it when we first lost my income as a new SAHM, but as we added kids, I slipped back into too many convenience foods in the sense of ruining our health...I'm hoping to add back in more real foods. I'll keep the frzen veggies, though. ;) Although there are some things I'd like to freeze myself this next summer if I feel so inspired. :p

[abh5e8]

i totally agree that frozen veggies are a convience food...you dont' do any prep on them. think of the time it takes to chop and separate and peel veggies before you cook them...with frozen, its just dump into a pan. a good portion of my prep work in the kitchen is spent on the veggies, so i agree that it is a big time saver. that doesn't mean it isnt' a whole food or that you cannot cook from scratch with frozen veggies....but i still think its faster and i consider it a convience food. :shrug

[Llee]

It's having the mental space (granted not much is needed but still) to be planning and thinking of what is needed, what needs to be thawed, what don't I have in the house that I can pick up on the way back from wherever. I"m not one of those plan the week out ladies, but I do usually have a loose plan for a couple of days at a time.

This. This is why I have a few boxes of Mac & Cheese in the cupboard. Because sometimes I just can't think an plan. I wish I could, but some days i'm so drained that it's 5 pm.m, dh is going to be home soon and we need some food. So a box of that, some frozen peas and we're good to go so that Dressy can get into bed before she crashes into meltdown mode.

[ncsweetpea]

I have to agree that frozen veggies don't seem to be convenience food to me. :think I know we've had these discussions before but :shrug3

Having just triple washed, stripped and chopped two gallons of collards from my garden...uh...I actually think frozen collards would have been more convenient. :wink. Same with peas, broccoli, green beans. Well--just about all of them. Don't throw a tomato at me--fresh or frozen.

[Kiara.I]

So, I bet if you froze the veggies yourself last summer, they're not a convenience food. ;)

[Tengokujin]

You know, I think that we are reading a judgment/value assignment into calling frozen veggies "convenience". Yeah, MOST convenience foods do mean also less nutrition, more chemicals, etc. but that isn't inherent in the term convenience foods.

So, I'll change my stance. Frozen veggies are most definitely convenient.:D

[cheri]

My DH was fondly recalling the tuna helper of his childhood and was shocked that I could use tuna, pasta, onions, milk and cheese to make the same thing. My step mother was completely bewildered watching me take cream and sugar and put it in my mixer to make whipped cream. She kept asking "is it cool whip? Did you just make your own cool whip?" She had no concept of whipped cream beyond cool whip.

This made me laugh, because I've experienced similar things. My MIL being surprised that I could make a chili mac without using Hamburger Helper. Or that you could make mashed potatoes that weren't from a box. And yes, the whipped cream thing too.

[chasingbutterflies]

You know, I think that we are reading a judgment/value assignment into calling frozen veggies "convenience". Yeah, MOST convenience foods do mean also less nutrition, more chemicals, etc. but that isn't inherent in the term convenience foods.

So, I'll change my stance. Frozen veggies are most definitely convenient.:D

yeah, that's very true. I still don't get her classification of frozen veggies as 'convenience food' and tortillas as not, though. :lol

[BeachMama]

Just skimmed the article.

I agree that there is a pretty wide range of convienience foods both in terms of nutrition and time saved. When you talk about convenience it is not only time saved prepping and cooking the food, but also meal planning and finding recipes IMO.

I too keep frozen veggies on hand. They are relatively inexpensive and I would argue that they might even have more nutirients than "fresh" produce picked unripe in some other part of the world, shipped here and sitting in the store for who knows how long. I cook beans from their dried state if I can, but also keep canned beans on hand for those times I forgot to presoak and cook for an hour. :shrug3 I buy shredded cheese when it goes on sale b/c I use it more as a condiment than an actual ingredient. (Good on chili, soups, veggies.) All of those items definitely save a lot of time.

Even with tomato sauce, if you are talking about starting with fresh tomatoes how is jarred sauce not saving a tremendous amount of prep/cooking? We do what we consider 'scratch' sauce but we often use crushed canned tomatoes as the base.

Now if you are talking about those meal kits, I would totally agree that they don't save too much time. You still have to prep whatever meats you want to add, cook the pasta separately and assemble it all. Plus all the preservatives and additives you are getting. Not a good deal there. BUT they do save a lot of time when it comes to meal planning. You don't have to think about it, just follow the assembly on the box.

[JenLovie]

I think boxed meal kits save a lot of time in planning. Planning is one of the hardest parts for me. Cooking from scratch isn't difficult if you have learned the basics of cooking or have good recipes to follow. Meal planning and manipulating recipes are both learned skills that take some effort.

[Rabbit]

She said the families that used convenience foods weren't saving time in how long dinner took to make, as though therefore convenience foods were stupid, but at the same time, says that those families were able to make more elaborate meals than the families not using convenience foods. I think that's awesome! If you've only got an hour to make food, convenience foods like frozen vegies help make that meal better.

She didn't seem to count or relay at all how much time the cook had to spent actively focused on the food, either. I love to get everything prepped in 15 minutes, so that I can walk away while it cooks for another 45. Dinner in an hour, but I have 45 free minutes I didn't have before. I hate meals where I have to spend the entire hour cook time fussing over the food.

We're not like the typical family pictured, though. We have to cook from scratch, like it or not, and Josh is 100% involved if he's home and available. I have recipes for every meal I make, though I may not need to refer back to the cookbook for most of them, as I have them memorized.

My children absolutely do not get to help, though. Not right now. Not at 6, 4 and 1 year old. Not with my particular kids and their stunning lack of impulse control and strong desire to create chaos and mess. The kitchen is my sacred work space. It's the only space I keep safe. It even has pretty candles, and scented oils.

[BarefootBetsy]

I think the article oversimplifies a more complex issue, but articles usually do that...

It really interested me to read it though because I was just talking about this very issue with my mom last night! She helped me find a potato au gratin recipe a little over a week ago and it was super easy! Apparently you can buy a mix in the store to make it... but it's really just potatoes, onions (optional), flour, butter, and milk. Extra easy if you're lazy like I am and NEVER peel potatoes :giggle Thankfully my children have grown up eating mainly potatoes with peels so it's not an issue.

We went from that to discussing cake mixes which really don't cut down the time needed at all, IME. Just the leaven and sugar (also the flavoring, if applicable) are included in the mixes, pretty much. Those really don't take long. At least, not for me. I'm not big on measuring anyhow so maybe that cuts down on time too :shifty

But yes, planning time is definitely more with from scratch cooking. When things are rough, it's not the time cooking that suffers, but the mental energy I can expend on planning something. And my plans aren't that elaborate either.

We're in a CSA and prepping veggies is MUCH more convenient when done on the first day or two we get them and then I freeze or put the processed veggies in the fridge. Voila - convenience food! I'm much more likely to use them all in a timely fashion if I've processed them ahead of time :yes

And yeah, canned pumpkin saves a lot of time compared to processing pumpkins. I still have four to process, personally...



ETA - and I'd be willing to bet that most families who consistently cook from scratch and process their own foods have better devices to help with that. We don't, but most of my friends who do have food processors and amazing blenders and mixers and dehydrators and the like. I have a blender, but it's not an awesome one, and that's it. I bet having those devices would save a lot of time and make cooking time from scratch more equal compared to convenience foods!

[BriansLovie]

But there's all that yummy MSG in convenience foods that make it so tasty :P~ :sick

[ncsweetpea]

A good food processor and a Kitchen Aid stand mixer have been delightful gifts!

[Rabbit]

I dunno. We made a box of brownies the other day, and it was AWESOME! For the first time ever, Simon got to help me in the kitchen. No measuring flour. No measuring cocoa. No measuring sugar. No measuring leavening. No measuring chocolate chips. No measuring vanilla. It was super fast for his super tiny attention span, and so deliciously wonderfully mess free. He was delighted!

It was stinking expensive, being from Whole Foods and free of chemicals and dyes and artificial flavorings, so we'll probably never do it again, but if I could, I would!

[AngelaVA]

It was stinking expensive, being from Whole Foods and free of chemicals and dyes and artificial flavorings, so we'll probably never do it again, but if I could, I would!

A bit of a sidetrack here but you might like the one from Trader Joes, it's a fair amount cheaper I think.

[Leslie_JJKs_mom]

I wonder why they consider frozen vegies convenience foods? I prefer them over the supposed fresh in the super market since frozen are picked with they are really ripe instead of gassed to look ripe.
I do use canned tomatoes and canned beans so I am not 100% from scratch but I do a lot from scratch.

[Rabbit]

I wonder why they consider frozen vegies convenience foods?

She's a cultural anthropologist, who usually studies the culinary practices of ancient cultures. Imagine cooking foods you gathered and prepared yourself, and compare that to grabbing a bag out of the freezer.

[BarefootBetsy]

Frozen veggies save a lot of time - trust me. We're in a CSA and get almost all our produce from the CSA and it's a lot of prep time with just me and a knife :yes I don't mind, but it does take time and I definitely consider frozen veggies to be a convenience (and yes, I absolutely use them when I need veggies that I haven't gotten from the CSA - I much prefer them to "fresh" from the store unless we're talking about root vegetables).

Thankfully now my children are able to help out with prepping veggies somewhat. Washing them, shelling peas, snapping beans, etc. I don't let them do much chopping at their ages and I can't wait until they can help more!

[milkmommy]

I will add that I think people just lack creativity. Throw some beans in the crock, cook some rice, and throw some chopped tomatoes and/or cheese on top, and you have a meal far healthier than Hamburger Helper :shrug
Posted via Mobile Device

(havent read the article) Whats intresting about this is this is pretty much how I cook all the time. I don't have a lot of time and patience for new recipes ect rice potato and even pasta based meals are normal around here we use little pre packaged stuff other than frozen veggies/ fruits on ocassion and some broth and soup bases make the cut... Yet I still consider this convient, I do little more than add water and pour out the contents.. things like Hamburger helper and pointless for us just cause DH can alone eat an entire package so its too expensive combine that with sub par taste and :shrug3..
We do use some convience more than I'm sure many here but way less than many others I know. :shrug3

Deanna

---------- Post added at 01:48 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:46 PM ----------

I wonder why they consider frozen vegies convenience foods? I prefer them over the supposed fresh in the super market since frozen are picked with they are really ripe instead of gassed to look ripe.
I do use canned tomatoes and canned beans so I am not 100% from scratch but I do a lot from scratch.

This and fresh I have to use pretty much right away its just inconvient not just time inconvient but wastefull when plans suddenly change and we end up having the chunk the stuff... Hoepfully with the new home we can include a garden though...

Deanna

---------- Post added at 01:53 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:48 PM ----------

When it comes to boxed foods like cake mixes and the like--- I've *never* understood them. Ever. It's never made sense to me to pay 10 times more for a box of flour, baking powder and artificial chemical preservatives than to just get some flour and baking powder. I get that some people find them more organizationally convenient, but I've never wanted to splurge that kind of money.
__________________

It made a ton of sense when we were still on FS especailly.. unless I already had all the ingredients I'd need to bake the cake going and spending $1.10 on a cake mix saved me gobs over having to divide and conquer the ingredients. :shrug3 Now having to bake for a family with NO food allergies helps and I'd also feel diffrently from a health POV if I wasn't talking about A cake just a few times a year (birthdays).

Deanna

[Leslie_JJKs_mom]

I bought a ton of cake mixes when they were 60 cents a box. It is nice to have a stack of them just in case I want to whip something up. Also my cakes always come out dry. I would love to find a cake that is as moist as the box.

[Heather Micaela]

The mentioned it towards the end of the article, but I think as much as the time to prepare soemthing might factor in, the time to think and plan is a big reason people use these items. Because this has been going on for a couple of generations, people don't really know how to cook, they don't necessarily realize that not using these ingredients is an option. My DH was fondly recalling the tuna helper of his childhood and was shocked that I could use tuna, pasta, onions, milk and cheese to make the same thing. My step mother was completely bewildered watching me take cream and sugar and put it in my mixer to make whipped cream. She kept asking "is it cool whip? Did you just make your own cool whip?" She had no concept of whipped cream beyond cool whip.
You know it is not just knowing how to cook or not. I watch food network a lot and took a cooking course in Jr. High. I read on this forum - but it still hurts my brain to have to plan dinner. It literally sends me into a panic

Hamburger Helper isn't quicker-it uses less dishes :shifty I think therein lies my main motivation for using convenience food :think
This is another issue. I cannot attend to dishwashing. Dh has taken this responisibility from me, but it is mine now that he studies all the time. In fact, the day before a final we get fast food because we have NO clean up.


. It's having the mental space (granted not much is needed but still) to be planning and thinking of what is needed, what needs to be thawed, what don't I have in the house that I can pick up on the way back from wherever. I"m not one of those plan the week out ladies, but I do usually have a loose plan for a couple of days at a time.

It seems to me that convenience foods like Hamburger helper are great for this. Have meat? Possibly cheese? The box? Dinner. It's like having a wardrobe of jeans and various colored shirts.

It takes time of regularly cooking to develop scratch fall-back recipes. This isn't cooking time, but life time--time of having the cooking take longer so that it can be faster after a while.
We cannot do a HH but the first paragraph is why we have a lot of heat and eat options. I totaly lack the ability to plan ahead.

[BeachMama]

When it comes to boxed foods like cake mixes and the like--- I've *never* understood them. Ever. It's never made sense to me to pay 10 times more for a box of flour, baking powder and artificial chemical preservatives than to just get some flour and baking powder. I get that some people find them more organizationally convenient, but I've never wanted to splurge that kind of money.

Now this is a source of debate amongst the frugal writers... I remember Amy D (of tightwad gazette) had an article about this. When you combine coupons and sales you can actually get baking mixes for the same or actually cheaper than doing the same from scratch.

Personally I prefer baking from scratch b/c I can use higher quality ingredients and avoid the preservatives. And I don't think it saves more than a couple minutes to bake from scratch... especially my favorite brownies. :)

---------- Post added at 05:06 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:01 PM ----------

I dunno. We made a box of brownies the other day, and it was AWESOME! For the first time ever, Simon got to help me in the kitchen. No measuring flour. No measuring cocoa. No measuring sugar. No measuring leavening. No measuring chocolate chips. No measuring vanilla. It was super fast for his super tiny attention span, and so deliciously wonderfully mess free. He was delighted!

It was stinking expensive, being from Whole Foods and free of chemicals and dyes and artificial flavorings, so we'll probably never do it again, but if I could, I would!

Have you thought of pre-making your own mixes for this kind of thing?
Even if you premixed just the dry ingredients it might make it easier for your LO to participate.
I have planned to make up some mixes for the things I make frequently... such as pizza crust, brownies, pancakes and the like. I saw it on a blog where she stored them in extra canning jars or ziplocks in her pantry. I thought it was a great idea. Just haven't gotten around to it yet. :shifty

---------- Post added at 05:10 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:06 PM ----------

You know it is not just knowing how to cook or not. I watch food network a lot and took a cooking course in Jr. High. I read on this forum - but it still hurts my brain to have to plan dinner. It literally sends me into a panic.

:yes Totally. I hate meal planning. I try to keep up with it 'cause it saves money and we can eat healthier that way, but dude, I hate it.

[Victorious]

Again-buying box mixes=less dishes :shifty

I'm fairly certain I've found my motivation :giggle

[gpsings]

Ok...what if your frozen veggies are frozen from your garden? Your neighbors garden? Left over from the farmers market and you didn't want them to go bad? At what level do they become 'convenience foods'?

[bananacake]

Yeah, I get all my boxed cake and cookie mixes as money makers. I have a few that have gone bad right behind me :shifty They pay me to take them from the store. So that I understand :giggle

I guess the only frozen veggie I use is green beans :giggle And rarely corn. And I can buy fresh green beans with the ends already pulled off. I wonder if she considers those "convenience foods".

But seriously, don't you think frozen peas and Hamburger Helper should be in separate categories? Give me a break ;)

[Earthylady]

Ok...what if your frozen veggies are frozen from your garden? Your neighbors garden? Left over from the farmers market and you didn't want them to go bad? At what level do they become 'convenience foods'?

IMO, it doesn't really matter what anybody calls them. :giggle What you are describing is about 300% healthier (made up number, obviously) than the conventional store bought frozen stuff. :shifty Call it what you want, it's good for ya. :D

[Rabbit]

I don't think the term "convenience" food is meant to be about health, but from her perspective, about culture, and richness of culture.

[BarefootBetsy]

I pre-freeze and pre-prep my CSA veggies for my convenience and really don't see why they wouldn't be considered convenience foods afterwards.

Though that's just as far as being convenient goes - they certainly aren't any less healthy or less from "scratch" than they would be if I prepped them immediately before cooking them.

Frozen veggies are very convenient regardless of whether they are from the store or from my CSA :yes

[Macky]

Hey, cool... thanks for taking time to read and post everybody! There were quite a few angles to that story and it's really interesting to see what was latched onto. :)

I thought it was interesting to see an actual study (albeit a few years ago) done on this topic – real stats instead of just a bunch of anecdotes. Sometimes we don't see our habits as they truly are. If it was encouraging to some people who were concerned about taking the leap to cook from scratch, that it might take over their lives... myth busted and purpose served.

It's the loss of cooking as a life skill that shouts out from these stats that concerns me the most. Yes, frozen vegetables, etc. ARE convenience foods, but are also whole foods that I would consider "scratch" ingredients. That wasn't the issue for me. By buying and using these ingredients all the time, we're losing the skill (and frighteningly the courage) to prepare these foods from they're harvested state. Present someone with a whole pumpkin or a potato and many have no clue what to do with it anymore.

I participate on GardenWeb forums as often as I have time. A while back we had a thread discussing how we give away extra produce. A surprisingly large number of people posted that they had to do some sort of prep work before they could even give away beautiful, organicaly-grown produce to their friends and neighbours. One person said he found out that the people he'd given a significant amount of produce had been throwing it away because they didn't know what to do with it. :cry

A friend of ours IRL, asked me once what I was doing to the bagels when I was making lunch one day... I was just slicing them open. He had no idea bagels existed in unsliced form. :hunh

Is it possible that our kids might have no idea how to wash lettuce, scrub a carrot, core an apple or trim a green bean? Sounds silly, but not knowing how to mash a potato or whip cream is equally inconceivable to me... and we have that happening in society now. If we don't do these things often enough, how will the next generation learn?

There is such focus on eating together at the dinner table these days. In our house, the dinner table is for eating – the kitchen is for catching up and connecting. :heart

[AnotherNamedKate]

From the article, I don't understand how bagged salad mixes would be considered "convenience" food, unless she means the salad kits that come with dressing and shredded veggies, and yet tortillas aren't. I've made tortillas. They aren't that hard to make (even though they do take some time). Also, why the hate against frozen veggies? I'm not talking about vegetables that are frozen with flavoring or a sauce or something. But like the frozen spinach and broccoli I have in my freezer right now is literally just a vegetable that's been cut up and frozen.

Anyway, I'd estimate that about 50% of what I make is made from scratch. For some things it does, in fact, save a lot of time to make something from a package or can. Canned soup takes all of two or three minutes in the microwave, but if I make it from scratch it can take forever. Same goes with bread and pasta. I will concede, however, that those things are one million times better when made fresh from scratch.

She probably means for just a basic dinner though, and for that, yeah, boxed kits, or frozen things you throw in the oven, really don't save you much time. I made Chicken curry stir fry over rice last night. Delicious. Entirely made from scratch. And took at the most thirty minutes (which was mostly waiting for the chicken to brown). Most of the simple meals I make are pretty quick like that. Once in a while I'll go all out and make ravioli from scratch, and really even that doesn't take as long as you'd think once you get some practice with it.

Some things are so easy to make at home, that I often wonder why people spend so much on a expensive pre-prepared stuff. Frozen pizza and frozen macaroni and cheese for example. Although it's much cheaper to buy Kraft than make it at home, but that stuff shouldn't really qualify as food. :shifty I'm betting a lot of people just never really try.

---------- Post added at 09:04 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:03 AM ----------

Again-buying box mixes=less dishes :shifty

I'm fairly certain I've found my motivation :giggle

There is one up side, but that's what a dishwasher is for.

---------- Post added at 09:18 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:04 AM ----------

Present someone with a whole pumpkin... and many have no clue what to do with it anymore.


Pssh... ridiculous! Everyone knows what to do with a pumpkin. Take the top off, empty the seeds, pulp, and most of the meat. Discard. Using a steak knife carve two eyes and a mouth. Add a candle. Voila! ;)

[Stacy]

"There was one woman relaxing and reading a food magazine, but this information didn't make it into the weekday dinner that night," Beck said. "Cooking from scratch is seen as a hobby. It has become this other realm of entertainment."

I frequently use my cookbook and magazine recipes. :yes I have a folder stuffed full of recipes from friends, my mom, and magazines as well. It's almost embarrassing. :lol Back to read more of the thread.

[AnotherNamedKate]

My DH was fondly recalling the tuna helper of his childhood and was shocked that I could use tuna, pasta, onions, milk and cheese to make the same thing.

:lol That's how I feel about Macaroni and Cheese (to get back on that soapbox). It's one of my favorite comfort foods that my mom used to make (from scratch) all the time when I was a kid. Now I make my own version, and I cook it a lot when we have dinner guests because it's quick, easy, and serves a ton of people. It amazes me how many people are shocked that you can make macaroni and cheese without a box kit. It seems like a no brainer, right? It's a cheese sauce and noodles. Nothing too fancy. But I swear to you, I make it from scratch and people look at me like I just walked on water. :giggle

---------- Post added at 09:53 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:42 AM ----------


And even though no one referred to a cookbook or magazine or newspaper doesn't mean they didn't refer to a recipe online. :shifty

:yes I almost never use recipes from cookbooks. They're pretty expensive and I can normally find what I'm looking for online.

A lot of times I just make stuff up too. Such as my "Stuff-thats-about-to-go-bad Stir Fry".

---------- Post added at 10:03 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:53 AM ----------

You know, I think that we are reading a judgment/value assignment into calling frozen veggies "convenience". Yeah, MOST convenience foods do mean also less nutrition, more chemicals, etc. but that isn't inherent in the term convenience foods.

So, I'll change my stance. Frozen veggies are most definitely convenient.:D


I didn't think of it that way either. When I read the article my thought immediately went to more of a "nutrition value" rather than actual preparation time. So, I suppose they are a convenience food. I still don't see how store bought tortillas are not, however.

[JenLovie]

A lot of times I just make stuff up too. Such as my "Stuff-thats-about-to-go-bad Stir Fry".

I think that recipe may be similar to my "Clean-out-the-pantry Pasta Salad".

[milkmommy]

That's how I feel about Macaroni and Cheese (to get back on that soapbox). It's one of my favorite comfort foods that my mom used to make (from scratch) all the time when I was a kid. Now I make my own version, and I cook it a lot when we have dinner guests because it's quick, easy, and serves a ton of people. It amazes me how many people are shocked that you can make macaroni and cheese without a box kit. It seems like a no brainer, right? It's a cheese sauce and noodles. Nothing too fancy. But I swear to you, I make it from scratch and people look at me like I just walked on water.

:giggle We use both Its easy to make from scratch I do it often but I also still have a child who just doesn't believe its REAL unless it comes from a box. A blue box at that :snooty
I end up with countless food battles with her I keep a few boxes of Mac N cheese on hand jsut to have some peace one days it might just be me feeding her. :shifty
Saldy I basically have no luck cookigna lot at once and saving DH will eat anything there are no such things as left overs here drives me ABSOULTLY batty!

Deanna

[ashleyhuney]

Don't really have the time to read through all of the responses but I have to say I do not agree that convenience don't save time - I usually have dinner ready in 15 minutes using them. I work out of the home, get home at 6, try to have dinner on the table by 6:20 so that we can eat in time for bath/bed process starts at 7 :cry If I didn't use TJ's convenience foods we would never eat together as a family. I love that the have pre-sliced veggies and frozen brown rice so that I can get a meal together in 15 minutes as healthily as possible. I wish I could make meals from scratch but if I stayed home to do it I wouldn't have a kitchen to do it in.

[BarefootBetsy]

Okay - there needs to be some serious sharing of from-scratch mac and cheese recipes! I love homemade mac and cheese, but haven't ever found a recipe that really... worked for me. If I could still remember who actually made the ones I liked, I'd ask them, but it's been a while.

[Llee]

Ditto Betsy. The good ones I remember are from church potlucks in my youth. :giggle

Although my mom does make a pretty good vegan one...

[BeachMama]

It's the loss of cooking as a life skill that shouts out from these stats that concerns me the most. Yes, frozen vegetables, etc. ARE convenience foods, but are also whole foods that I would consider "scratch" ingredients. That wasn't the issue for me. By buying and using these ingredients all the time, we're losing the skill (and frighteningly the courage) to prepare these foods from they're harvested state. Present someone with a whole pumpkin or a potato and many have no clue what to do with it anymore.

Good point! Scratch ingredients/whole foods and "convenience foods" can be one in the same. :) So I guess I am having difficulty w/ the articles definition of "convenience" foods. Semantics.

Ditto the comment on tortillas. Back in the day everyone made their own breads! So how is store bought bread and tortillas not in that category?

I agree that our culture is loosing the skills to process foods from the garden to the table. I think this is part of the reason that Food Network and cooking shows have become so popular. It's facinating b/c most of of our generation grew up with working parents who didn't have time for that.

Cooking has always been a hobby of mine. My mom tried to feed us whole foods but she was not a great cook. :shifty So I had to teach myself. Plus it was fun for me.

And I would love it if someone would gift me some free produce! :)

[BarefootBetsy]

I've often remarked to dh that I might be nervous about having a garden in our front yard (the back is too shady and our front yard gets a lot of foot traffic since we live next to a creek that neighborhood children love to play around), but I've also wondered how many people would even know what to pick if they wanted to steal fresh produce... and if they needed it that badly and knew what to do with it... I guess I wouldn't mind if they did...

When we used to go to a food bank there would be amazing donations from people's organic gardens. We'd go at the end of the day and take whatever was left which was always a lot! You had to actually sign up to get non-perishables because that's what everyone wanted. We never had to sign up because we did just fine with getting the fresh produce and day old artisan breads. Sometimes they'd have dried beans or rice in little baggies and those never seemed to get taken either.

I totally consider store bought bread and tortillas to be convenience foods. Those are even more convenient compared to making breads from scratch than frozen vegetables are compared to prepping them straight from the garden.

I think she shows a lot of bias by calling one convenience food and the other not... or maybe it's just a sign of normalcy in our society. If she called store bought breads convenience foods, I bet 99% of the families she looked at would've used convenience foods at almost every single meal.

ETA: I'm eating some lovely homemade bread right now that DH made last night :) He just got a sourdough starter so we've been getting homemade bread this week!

[BeachMama]

I totally consider store bought bread and tortillas to be convenience foods. Those are even more convenient compared to making breads from scratch than frozen vegetables are compared to prepping them straight from the garden.

I think she shows a lot of bias by calling one convenience food and the other not... or maybe it's just a sign of normalcy in our society. If she called store bought breads convenience foods, I bet 99% of the families she looked at would've used convenience foods at almost every single meal.

ETA: I'm eating some lovely homemade bread right now that DH made last night :) He just got a sourdough starter so we've been getting homemade bread this week!

Agreed! Baking bread from scratch is way more time consuming and involved than dicing carrots or slicing corn off the cob and throwing it in a ziplock.

I've been meaning to try my hand at sourdough. I'm pretty decent w/ yeast, but the sourdough is supposed to be healthier... depending on who you talk to. ;)

[Mama Calidad]

I'm not sure what planet this is on. It takes me a LOT longer to cut up veggies and turn it into a soup than it does to open a can and heat it. :shrug3 Little Caesars takes me 2 minutes as I'm driving past anyway. I couldn't even pull out all the ingredients to make pizza in 2 minutes.

Now, I avoid both of those convenience foods for a number of reasons. Because they take the same amount of time as actually cooking, though? :laughtears :no

[Victorious]

There is one up side, but that's what a dishwasher is for

....Not all of us have that luxury

[Rabbit]

We are all accustomed to reading articles on nutrition and health. This one, though, is about culture.

[tree_hugger]

My step mother was completely bewildered watching me take cream and sugar and put it in my mixer to make whipped cream. She kept asking "is it cool whip? Did you just make your own cool whip?" She had no concept of whipped cream beyond cool whip.

Wow, that is so :giggle and :( at the same time.

[CCmomma]

My MIL, who is considered to the very good cook in the family, had never cooked with fresh garlic or herbs until we were on vacation together a few years ago. She didn't know what to do with it! She is also much more likely to buy a kit from Costco to make tilapia, instead of just mixing together a few ingredients and making it much cheaper and healthier on her own.

I really think that there is a big gap for lots of families where the parents were too busy during their childhood to teach them to cook with whole foods, instead of con. items.

[AnotherNamedKate]

Okay - there needs to be some serious sharing of from-scratch mac and cheese recipes! I love homemade mac and cheese, but haven't ever found a recipe that really... worked for me. If I could still remember who actually made the ones I liked, I'd ask them, but it's been a while.

http://foodwishes.blogspot.com/2009/02/life-liberty-and-pursuit-of-cheesy.html I use a lot of different recipes, but that's my favorite one. I call it Mac & Cheese for grown ups since it's a more complex flavor and lighter on the cheese than the traditional type. I do not add the nutmeg though. I did once and wasn't felt it was one spice too many.

[Mother of Sons]

I also disagree that they don't save time. When I'm pressed, I can have dinner on he table in 10 minutes or less with hardly any dishes o wash. It's not just cooking either. Dishwashing can take an hour depending on how elaborate the meal was. Cooking from scratch is messy and at the end of the day, I really don't want to wash all those dishes.

I made Chicken curry stir fry over rice last night. Delicious. Entirely made from scratch. And took at the most thirty minutes

I could probably make a similar dish in about 5 minutes with convenience foods. :shrug

I do like to cook from scratch but it does take a lot longer start to finish than boxed stiff does.

[AnotherNamedKate]

I've used the frozen skillet meals too. They don't take five minutes, more like 15-20, but maybe my stove runs colder than normal? :shrug3 I didn't know they had one for Curry Chicken though.

[cindergretta]

I've used the frozen skillet meals too. They don't take five minutes, more like 15-20, but maybe my stove runs colder than normal? :shrug3 I didn't know they had one for Curry Chicken though.

Are we talking about prep time or cook time? I think cooking times can be pretty similar, but prep times are where some variance is going to occur. :think

[AnotherNamedKate]

Are we talking about prep time or cook time? I think cooking times can be pretty similar, but prep times are where some variance is going to occur. :think

Well I was talking about total cooking time. Start your rice, dice and onion, dice a bell pepper, crush some garlic, coat chicken with curry powder, salt, and pepper, and throw it all in a pot. Twenty minutes later throw it all together. There are a lot of recipes that I use which are under a half hour start to finish. I could use pre-cooked chicken and save a little time, but meat is the one and only thing I'm really picky about when it comes to buying organic (because of a bad food poisoning experience I had once that resulted from eating Tyson chicken and ended up with me in the ER), and since it's nearly impossible to find that pre-cooked (does it even exist?) I don't.

[Mother of Sons]

I wasn't talking about a frozen skillet meal. If I was trying to beat your time, I would put instant rice in the micro, then I Would either combine frozen or fresh chopped veggies and some prepackaged, pre cooked sliced chicken in a pan with a seasoning packet.

At the absolute most we are talking ten minutes start to finish and I have fewer dishes to wash.

I'm not arguing quality :shrug. Just time.

[Earthylady]

Micro is a total no no for me. :blush So even if convenience foods are involved, i won't use a micro for anything other than a timer......well, I guess I MIGHT throw in a tortilla for 10 seconds max, but otherwise, I could totally live w/o a micro.

[Victorious]

My MIL, who is considered to the very good cook in the family, had never cooked with fresh garlic or herbs until we were on vacation together a few years ago

This is almost my MIL exactly. She lived with us for a while and was :jawdrop when I sent dh out to get me a garlic clove from the yard (they grew wild there :shrug) and chopped it up to cook with. She had *never* cooked with anything but garlic powder.

[tree_hugger]

This is almost my MIL exactly. She lived with us for a while and was :jawdrop when I sent dh out to get me a garlic clove from the yard (they grew wild there :shrug) and chopped it up to cook with. She had *never* cooked with anything but garlic powder.

Same with my mum, except she used garlic from a jar. I always did too (because that's what I grew up seeing) until a few years ago when I figured out how to use fresh and I thought my mum! :giggle

[Mama Calidad]

I'm really, really, really not getting how this is even debatable. :think

How long does it take to make ravioli? Sauce?

Longer than it takes to dump a can of Chef Boyarde in a bowl and nuke it for 90 seconds.

Is it healthy? No. Would I personally microwave? No. But that's not the question. Is it faster? That's the question...and it is undoubtedly. :shrug3

[AngelaVA]

I'm really, really, really not getting how this is even debatable. :think

How long does it take to make ravioli? Sauce?

Longer than it takes to dump a can of Chef Boyarde in a bowl and nuke it for 90 seconds.

Is it healthy? No. Would I personally microwave? No. But that's not the question. Is it faster? That's the question...and it is undoubtedly. :shrug3

I think she's studying more about the cultural nuances and what she observed people actually doing rather than saying there is no way to do it quicker. In your example or the one with the soup yes of course it's faster but it seems that's not what she observed the families doing. They were using more upscale or partially prepared convenience items, probably for improved flavor and hopefully healthier, but then they take longer and have more steps. Like if you buy the kind of ravioli from the deli section that you have to boil water and drop it in for five minutes and then buy buy a jar of sauce but you get meat with it so you brown the meat and then add the sauce. Then maybe you serve it with a salad kit that's in a bag but you have to mix all the ingredients, maybe in an unusual way if your children don't like the croutons or whatever so then that takes more time too.



It's the loss of cooking as a life skill that shouts out from these stats that concerns me the most. Yes, frozen vegetables, etc. ARE convenience foods, but are also whole foods that I would consider "scratch" ingredients. That wasn't the issue for me. By buying and using these ingredients all the time, we're losing the skill (and frighteningly the courage) to prepare these foods from they're harvested state. Present someone with a whole pumpkin or a potato and many have no clue what to do with it anymore.



Is it possible that our kids might have no idea how to wash lettuce, scrub a carrot, core an apple or trim a green bean? Sounds silly, but not knowing how to mash a potato or whip cream is equally inconceivable to me... and we have that happening in society now. If we don't do these things often enough, how will the next generation learn?



This is what concerns me too. This fall on our (fairly crunchy) homeschool group's message board we had a discussion about the best ways to can and freeze extra garden vegetables and some of the Mamas were very concerned and reminding everyone that home preserving of vegetables and fruits is very dangerous. If that becomes the prevailing cultural attitude it leaves families totally at the mercy of food manufacturing companies or who knows even victims of overzealous legislation like we have seen recently regarding homemade children's clothing and toys.

[Mama Calidad]

Having waited for hours on real ravioli, I have to say that there's still no way that the deli ravioli takes as long either. :no :giggle

[Macky]

... This fall on our (fairly crunchy) homeschool group's message board we had a discussion about the best ways to can and freeze extra garden vegetables and some of the Mamas were very concerned and reminding everyone that home preserving of vegetables and fruits is very dangerous. If that becomes the prevailing cultural attitude it leaves families totally at the mercy of food manufacturing companies or who knows even victims of overzealous legislation like we have seen recently regarding homemade children's clothing and toys.

This.

[racheepoo]

gotta say that 90 seconds i spent microwaving packaged seasoned rice for my dinner last night at the end of a 12 hour day didn't feel too long :shrug

[AnotherNamedKate]

This is what concerns me too. This fall on our (fairly crunchy) homeschool group's message board we had a discussion about the best ways to can and freeze extra garden vegetables and some of the Mamas were very concerned and reminding everyone that home preserving of vegetables and fruits is very dangerous. If that becomes the prevailing cultural attitude it leaves families totally at the mercy of food manufacturing companies or who knows even victims of overzealous legislation like we have seen recently regarding homemade children's clothing and toys.

It sounds like my mother is in that group. :shifty