Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Sometimes Cheap Food Isn't Really Cheap


I know we are not all Suzy Freakin' Homemaker.....
Not everyone is cut out to be chained to the kitchen, churning out delectable foods for the family.
At some point in our lives, we all need to make concessions in feeding our families, be it buying less expensive ingredients or cutting corners due to time, talent or finances.

There are tons of companies out there with food products and sometimes making a choice is daunting.
Just know that those labeled "convenience foods" will almost without fail be the most expensive choice you make.  It may seem like a bargain at the register if it's on sale and you have a coupon for it, but in the end what is the quality of the product(the taste)and even more so what is the end result on your health by eating that product?

Take for instance Pop-Tarts.
It's cheap(on sale and with a Q), it's easy(no work involved unless you want to toast it and that really doesn't involve any "work" lol), and it's something you can get your kids to eat readily(it's sweet).
But in the end the quality is questionable(it's full of ingredients you can't pronounce)and stuff that is rather bad for you(empty calories).

If you have some baking skills, why not challenge yourself to come up with a homemade version of a Pop-Tart?
You know....one that you can control what ingredients go into it, so it tastes good but is also better for you and your kids!  See if you can do this and keep the cost at or lower than what the Pop-Tart folks charge for their product.

And the next time you are in the grocery store and you go to reach for that processed food thing you are about to put into your cart,  ponder this.....



Makes you want to put a garden in your yard this year, doesn't it?

Sluggy

6 comments:

  1. Yes, it makes me want to use my whole back yard for food!

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  2. Value vs cost. Eggs and potatoes (made into breakfast potatoes) probably cost the same as poptarts, but are definitely healthier and can be frozen. As you said, it all comes down to convenience. Convenience sometimes just means I am too lazy to anticipate and prepare ahead of time. Not to mention preparation and planning require work... yup, lazy. I buy lazy food every so often (would canned soup be considered one?) because I know I do NOT want to plan ahead all the time and need an easy way out.

    As for the video, it sadly comes out to who has more money to push the agenda... rich corporations can pay whoever they want to twist any "facts" and advertise it a lot better than reality.

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  3. I cannot see the video due to something wrong with my flashplayer. However, thinking of Poptarts--fried apple or peach pies would work for me.

    My children ate less convenience food than most of their friends. My solution would be to buy one box of Poptarts and no more for weeks. Each week I MIGHT buy a treat. I might not. I might bake something. I found that if they came to expect bought treats, it was hard to get them out of the habit.

    However, Poptarts were never a breakfast food. I only allowed two foods,one a snack and the other a party food, to substitute for real food. Actually, both were real food, just not usually served for breakfast.

    What is the name of the video or a link so I can go watch it on Chrome?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's "Food Mythbusters"...here's the url
      http://youtu.be/uem2ceZMxYk

      Delete
  4. Don't even remember when was the last time I bought Pop Tarts for kids...But I did get them some Toaster Strudels a couple of weeks ago :) I really try to cook (and bake) at home as much as I can but occasionally (rarely) we buy them sweets or desserts as a treat.

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  5. I don't think I could get DJ to give up his mac and cheese or ramen noodles. But other than that we are pretty healthy with our dinner choices. Oh yeah, DJ also wants raviolis. So we are healthy and DJ isn't. That's about right when you have a teenager. I think once he leaves we will change a lot of our dinner menus to a much healthier version. At least, that is what we are telling ourselves.

    ReplyDelete

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