Endeavor to eat non-processed foods but is that even possible? (triscuits, bbq)

[fleetiebelle]

Originally Posted by nmnita

interesting. I guess when we really think about it, there are more processed foods we use than we think.

That's true, and not all processed foods are inherently bad or unhealthy: juices, rice, cheese, etc. I'm not plucking and butchering my own chickens--that stuff had better be processed before I get to it.

[WestCobb]

I don't do the cooking in our house so I asked my wife this question. She scratched her head and said "butter? milk? cheese?" -- she considers these "processed" because we don't own a cow. Frankly, we really don't eat any processed foods unless you count these and bread. She makes her own pasta, soups, sauces, etc. For the most part, pretty much everything we eat is from scratch. I'm lucky, I guess.

[Lyndarn]

Ommmmmy After reading the first page on this thread~ I have concluded we are ALL DOOMED

[oregonwoodsmoke]

I buy mayonnaise, canned tomato sauce, and several other ingredient items that I cook with, like Asian rice noodles and sesame oil.

I buy Thai curry base because many of the ingredients are difficult to find or expensive where I live. The stuff I get at the restaurant supply store is quite good. Oh yes, I buy the coconut milk and don't make that from scratch.

There is one specific brand of canned chili that I load up on when it is on sale. It makes a good 2 minute meal with almost no dirty dishes and it makes a good nachos when pressed for time.

Cranberry juice from concentrate, cheese, crackers.

I buy bread becasue my family only goes through about 4 loaves a year. It's not worth the effort of making it from scratch. The cracked wheat artisan sour dough is better than my home made, anyway.

[runswithscissors]

Originally Posted by nmnita

Ok, for those who pride themselves in cooking from scratch fess up: what processed foods do you use, either all the time or on occasion? I am one who boasts about cooking from scratch, but do use packaged products from time to time:

1-Ramen noodles: about once a month, I have a favorite side dish that starts with it. use maybe once month.
2-Gravies, spices, out of an envelope: use from time to time for making dips or in a hurry and need to make a gravy.so when the little packages to on sale, I stock up. use about every couple of weeks.
3-Rice a roni: generally I start my fried rice with a package of it. maybe once a month. Also buy Sam's pot stickers. Probably once a month.
4-Sam's pre breaded Talapia or Cod: probably about every couple of weeks.
5-canned tomatoes, tomato paste, sauce and spaghetti sauce. I can my own during the summer, but sometimes run out. Right now I am down to just a jar or two of tomatoes.
So there is my list.

Well canned tomatoes and paste don't really count because chefs all over the world use them in lieu of fresh and sometimes PREFER them to fresh.

Since I left New Jersey, king of tomatoes, for Florida I have to oftentimes agree. I'd consider moving BACK to NJ just for the tomatoes!

I don't think plain very limited processed canned tomatoes are any worse than frozen peas which I couldn't live without.

My list including condiments:

• Rao's Homemade All Natural Sensitive Formula Marinara Sauce - 2 jars on hand because it's really GOOD for jarred and I use it as a base if my own sauce is low in the freezer or if I'm in a hurry.
  
• 6 Cans of Academia Barilla Pomodorinin Pelati - PEELED cherry tomatoes. Very hard to find, I get them on Amazon. A trick from Giada D. for a few recipes.
  
• ketchup, mustard, occasionally some sugars or molasses type stuff, baking items includ. powder milk, some asian ingredients like Shaoxing
  
• Hooters Wing Sauce for emergencies!
  
• Jars of marinated artichokes if we're going to be shady towards jars of food LOL.
  
• Uncle Ben's parcooked rice in the packages. I don't do alot of starch but it's good enough when I do.
  
• Chicken base
  
• Chicken stock no salt - The only one I really think is ok is Rachel Ray but I've used others in a pinch
  
• Some Pasta & Breads, some lady fingers for tiramisu
  
• Cabot's full fat 10% yogurt, cream cheese, mascarpone, buffalo if they count
  
• Occasional Taylor's Pork Roll if that counts. Another NJ must have.
  
• Marzetti's Ultimate Blue Cheese dressing - Can't live without it. For quick dips or for a sandwich since I don't use mayo ever in a million years.
  
• Maybe once a year I crave that pork chop or chicken thigh recipe with the apricot jelly, Lipton's onion soup and Catalina dressing. So they may be in my cabinet.
  
• Mrs Pauls Fried Clams - ha ha when I get another urge once a year to relive my childhood Howard Johnsons' and always think afterwards: WHAT? These are awful! The sodium, too! LOL

It's funny you said the RAmen. I follow an Asian chef on youtube and he made a Cole Slaw and threw in the Ramen chicken flavor packet into his dressing and toasted Ramen at the end. I was then ran right out to buy some. But haven't tried it yet.


How to make asian cole slaw, Tom Lin youtube

Combine all cole slaw vegetables mixture in a big bowl,
Julienne cut 1 cup of carrot,
1 1/2 cup of broccoli,
4 cup of cabbage,
1/2 cup of green onion.
Toasted ramen noodle and sliced almond. In dry pan for a couple minutes

Dressing ingredients are 1/3 cup of soy, 1/3 cup of cider vinegar, 1/3 cup of white sugar, 1/3 cup of vegetable oil, 1 tsp of sesame oil, 1 packet of chicken flavoring. Toss it 15 minutes before serving. www.facebook.com/fortunecooking

https://www.youtube.com/user/fortunecooking/videos

[jlawrence01]

Originally Posted by mainebrokerman

there should be the Lord's Food prayer- lead us not into food temptations and deliver us from sweets!!!!!

Oh but there is:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzM5ozQO0uU

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by oregonwoodsmoke

I buy mayonnaise, canned tomato sauce, and several other ingredient items that I cook with, like Asian rice noodles and sesame oil.

I buy Thai curry base because many of the ingredients are difficult to find or expensive where I live. The stuff I get at the restaurant supply store is quite good. Oh yes, I buy the coconut milk and don't make that from scratch.

There is one specific brand of canned chili that I load up on when it is on sale. It makes a good 2 minute meal with almost no dirty dishes and it makes a good nachos when pressed for time.

Cranberry juice from concentrate, cheese, crackers.

I buy bread becasue my family only goes through about 4 loaves a year. It's not worth the effort of making it from scratch. The cracked wheat artisan sour dough is better than my home made, anyway.

This is exactly why I started the post. I think, when we take time to really evaluate what we eat and how we cook most of us do depend on processed foods. Mayo is a perfect example. How many of us make our own? I, for one, do make my own soups and broth, but can't say I never buy any at the store. Oh yes, the fruit juices. I can't imagine how high a person's food bill would be if they squeezed all their own juices.

[randomparent]

I have never been able to produce a good home-made mayo and eventually just gave up and bought it. I like Sir Kensington. A little spendy, but we don't use much mayo, so it's probably more cost-effective than trying to make it from scratch and then throwing a bunch away. I do make a good mustard, though.

What I find most interesting in discussions of "from scratch" cooking is how we define processed foods. I mean, oatmeal and butter are processed foods, but I think most people would consider home-made oatmeal cookies to be scratch cooking.

As for me, I consider scratch cooking to be anything that happens without a mix, so a home-made chocolate cake made with butter, flour, sugar, and cocoa powder (all of which are processed food-stuffs) would qualify, while a Duncan Hines version would not. Similarly, I consider mac & cheese made with elbow macaroni and a cheese sauce made from a roux mixed with shredded cheddar to be home-made from scratch but not Annie's Shells & Cheese, something we have in our pantry right now thanks to my teenage daughter.

Regarding broth, I can make my own, but we eat so much soup & stew in this house that I quickly run out, so I've begun depending on Better than Bouillon for quick week-night dinners.

[runswithscissors]

Originally Posted by randomparent

I have never been able to produce a good home-made mayo and eventually just gave up and bought it. I like Sir Kensington. A little spendy, but we don't use much mayo, so it's probably more cost-effective than trying to make it from scratch and then throwing a bunch away. I do make a good mustard, though.

What I find most interesting in discussions of "from scratch" cooking is how we define processed foods. I mean, oatmeal and butter are processed foods, but I think most people would consider home-made oatmeal cookies to be scratch cooking.

As for me, I consider scratch cooking to be anything that happens without a mix, so a home-made chocolate cake made with butter, flour, sugar, and cocoa powder (all of which are processed food-stuffs) would qualify, while a Duncan Hines version would not. Similarly, I consider mac & cheese made with elbow macaroni and a cheese sauce made from a roux mixed with shredded cheddar to be home-made from scratch but not Annie's Shells & Cheese, something we have in our pantry right now thanks to my teenage daughter.

Regarding broth, I can make my own, but we eat so much soup & stew inin this house that I quickly run out, so I've begun depending on Better than Bouillon for quick week-night dinners.

Agreed. Purists could take this to the nth degree. For me, that's confusing raw foods with other foods.

Even rice is processed you can't just walk out and munch on it. like the other grains. Nuts?

The fact is parboil rice delivers more nutrients then most of the others.

Scratch for sure was as you defined, but I think processed even always meant boxed items, or prepared meals or ice cream type foods in the freezer section. Sodas. And of course some fast foods. Until lately when we added the term white foods and all the permutations of sugar, flours etc.

There's no way frozen vegetables or even canned should be called processed because even the home canner is processing her precious vegetables the same way. And if I'm remembering correctly, you have to add something like an acid to home canning, but frozen vegetables are just frozen vegetables with no additions.

Where do you draw the line is always the question and why.

Alton Brown's diet lifestyle is very severe in this regard and more like a raw food diet than a typical person would live on, also excluding Dairy even raw milk which I don't think really exists anymore.

[jay5835]

ice cream

canned tomatoes (if only fresh tomatoes were edible year-round in the northeast)

box pasta

ketchup

mustard

mayonnaise

relish