Spicy Roasted Chickpeas
Picnic Recipes Galore
Corner-Store Party Food on the Fly
9 Chili Recipes, Bison to Vegan
How to Choose the Best Strawberries
Sausage Recipes of the Month
I was happy to see Grist get a little snarky about a “squeezable fruit” product for kids called Tropolis that’s supposed to make healthy eating more portable and fun. "Aren't apples and grapes already pretty portable snacks?” the site asked. Yes, but big corporations like PepsiCo, which owns Tropicana, which makes Tropolis, can’t increase their market share in the healthy eating sector by opening a fruit stand. They need to "add value" to an apple by putting it inside a colorful plastic package so it can be sold to parents who are concerned about childhood obesity and healthy eating.
Selling people more plastic-packaged crap they could easily make themselves under the guise of "healthy" is a sucker’s con game. Just confuse people by making them feel so busy all the time, then make them forget how easy it is to prepare simple, healthy foods.
Some of my favorite examples that we've discussed recently include:
Bob Evans Oatmeal Bowls. These are precooked, microwavable oatmeal with flavoring. “The oatmeal tasted soggy and slightly sawdusty, and the apple bits were mushy," said James Norton, who writes Supertaster on CHOW.com. Making your own oatmeal is on a level of arduousness akin to tanning your own buckskin, right? Wrong. It takes five minutes—I’m serious—to cook rolled oats. To make steel-cut oats, you can soak them overnight so they’re already soft and just need to be warmed up with a little water in the morning.
Chopped fruits and vegetables in plastic containers from the grocery store. "[W]hat kind of over-privileged priss-ball can't chop his own friggin' vegetables?" asked Tim Carman of the Washington City Paper's food blog, Young & Hungry. Perhaps poor parents who have been led to believe that breaking down a head of broccoli into florets will deprive them of 11 hours of quality time with their kids. COME ON PEOPLE. Precut vegetables and fruits are often treated with chemicals to keep them from browning. And who knows how many hands have touched them and how long they’ve been sitting around? If you don't have arthritis or another physical impediment that keeps you from being physically capable of cutting vegetables, put on some tunes and see how much it's actually not a drag.
Baby Carrots| Eat ’Em Like Junk Food. The carrot industry recently began packaging baby carrots in Doritos-esque bags, some of which went into school vending machines. This was hailed as some kind of totally rad marketing move by the media: Yay! Kids will finally eat more carrots! First of all, they are still baby carrots. Why can't you just eat normal carrots? Why do they have to be skinned into "cute" form, and treated with antimicrobial agents? Then, why is it a good thing that they're dressed up in bags that will turn into litter, just to make them more “fun”?
There's something really sad about people losing the self-empowerment to just bite into a normal carrot, or cut up a squash. Many people in our culture have accepted the marketing messages that very simple food preparation and consumption are time-consuming problems to be solved. It is a slippery slope toward total helplessness. But it's not too late—you can get started with the basics NOW.
first of all, baby carrots don't taste good. they taste almost nothing like an actual carrot. i don't understand how that is possible but it is true.
i also wanted to mention the new quaker oats commercial that touts oats as a "superfood." i don't think so! oats aren't bad but i wouldn't put them in the same healthy category as quinoa & kale. get real, quaker!
KristinK -- agreed, it is important to remember that some of these convenience veggies are actually a really good deal, and they might make a great stepping stone for someone who wouldn't have prepared vegetables from scratch in the first place . . . TJ's also sells big bags of mixed braising greens, which are a great deal. Of course, chard and kale are huge and gorgeous at the farmer's markets...+READ
KristinK -- agreed, it is important to remember that some of these convenience veggies are actually a really good deal, and they might make a great stepping stone for someone who wouldn't have prepared vegetables from scratch in the first place . . . TJ's also sells big bags of mixed braising greens, which are a great deal. Of course, chard and kale are huge and gorgeous at the farmer's markets right now, but I imagine those big, dirt-filled bunches of greens are intimidating and/or off-putting to many.-COLLAPSE
In my opinion there is nothing wrong with baby carrots, often they are cut from carrots that have an odd shape and can't be sold whole because of that shape/how they look...if anything it's a less wasteful option and an easy 'grab and go' solution for snacks.
Not all pre-cut veggies are horrible/expensive. For example, Trader Joes has a healthy 8 salad mix that is a variety of chopped...+READ
In my opinion there is nothing wrong with baby carrots, often they are cut from carrots that have an odd shape and can't be sold whole because of that shape/how they look...if anything it's a less wasteful option and an easy 'grab and go' solution for snacks.
Not all pre-cut veggies are horrible/expensive. For example, Trader Joes has a healthy 8 salad mix that is a variety of chopped veggies/salad toppings. Again, probably a mix of veggies that were chopped because they don't have a perfect appearance...and to buy the container of chopped veggies (about $3) is cheaper than if I were to buy all the produce separately (green peppers, cabbage, radishes, carrots, etc) on my own and chop them.
You just have to be smart and educated about your purchases/decision.-COLLAPSE
True of a lot of vegetables--just overly intimidated consumers!
Having said that, though, I do buy frozen pre-cut onions. Why? I'm mostly cooking solo meals which creates two options--skip adding onion (which is usually *way* too big) or added a couple of spoonfulls of the pre-cut frozen.
Instant grits (and oatmeal!) are an abomination. No excuse for going with either.
And most of the "Baby Carrots" aren't- they're regular carrots carved into the shape of baby carrots. As far as precut vegetables, just another way for the American people to give away their money, presumably buying $4 bottles of water wasn't doing it fast enough.
Any fool that buy pre cut vegies at double the normal price deserves to starve to death for being foolish and lazy. It only takes a minute or two and you know what you are getting.
The tone of this article is very contemptuous. While I agree with the article's idea that everyone has time to chop vegetables or make oatmeal, I have to agree with the above poster that not everyone wants to. If a bag of pre-chopped broccoli or baby carrots encourages people to eat a vegetable, and they're willing to pay the extra cost, then more power to them. I think it's great food companies...+READ
The tone of this article is very contemptuous. While I agree with the article's idea that everyone has time to chop vegetables or make oatmeal, I have to agree with the above poster that not everyone wants to. If a bag of pre-chopped broccoli or baby carrots encourages people to eat a vegetable, and they're willing to pay the extra cost, then more power to them. I think it's great food companies are giving people more ways to buy and prepare healthy foods (even if the pre-packaged stuff is a ripoff.)-COLLAPSE
I'm sorry, but pre chopped mirepoix from Trader Joe's has done more for my cooking than I can say. It actually does take time for someone with basic knife skills to dice evenly-sized squares of carrot, celery and onion, and you're not left with half a head of celery to wilt in the crisper when you're done. I used the ready-made to make fantastic homemade Marinara, stews and pot pies, and it...+READ
I'm sorry, but pre chopped mirepoix from Trader Joe's has done more for my cooking than I can say. It actually does take time for someone with basic knife skills to dice evenly-sized squares of carrot, celery and onion, and you're not left with half a head of celery to wilt in the crisper when you're done. I used the ready-made to make fantastic homemade Marinara, stews and pot pies, and it leaves me time to make homemade pastry for the pies and maybe a homemade dessert. Not all time savers are evil!-COLLAPSE
On cutting fruits/vegetables: Why make it sound like every chemical is harmful? Everything is harmful in high levels and most things are harmless at low/appropriate levels. Do you take a dietary supplement? Nothing natural or chemical-free there. As for the cutting itself, some just aren't worth the trouble. Take the pineapple. I don't encounter them frequently, so I'm not great at picking them...+READ
On cutting fruits/vegetables: Why make it sound like every chemical is harmful? Everything is harmful in high levels and most things are harmless at low/appropriate levels. Do you take a dietary supplement? Nothing natural or chemical-free there. As for the cutting itself, some just aren't worth the trouble. Take the pineapple. I don't encounter them frequently, so I'm not great at picking them out or cutting them properly. What's next? Attacking those that buy fish fillets and cuts of beef?
On the baby carrots: Baby carrots are cut because they were originally deformed rejects that people wouldn't buy. People didn't buy/eat them because they didn't look right. It would be better to criticize what they've turned into - The ones raised for them now are bred to be sweeter and have a lower nutritional value than a regular carrot.-COLLAPSE
I don't chop vegetables, except for slicing up a sweet potato, but that's more of a tuber.
Vegetables are not particularly delicious or satisfying to me, so they have to come in a form that is easily prepared and consumed which means .. bags of broccoli florets that I can toss in the microwave, nuke for 6 1/2 minutes, pour into a bowl and eat.
Animal flesh is another story ... it tastes good...+READ
I don't chop vegetables, except for slicing up a sweet potato, but that's more of a tuber.
Vegetables are not particularly delicious or satisfying to me, so they have to come in a form that is easily prepared and consumed which means .. bags of broccoli florets that I can toss in the microwave, nuke for 6 1/2 minutes, pour into a bowl and eat.
Animal flesh is another story ... it tastes good and is very satisfying ... so I am willing to put some effort into that.-COLLAPSE
Do you have kids? If so, I'd like to see how you find the time to prepare all of this. And don't give me the, "it doesn't take a lot of time to chop your own vegetables" line, either. Add all these little things, particularly with food prep, and you're spending a LOT of time. On top of that, what's so wrong with making food more palatable to children? Packaging and looks matters to kids. A lot of...+READ
Do you have kids? If so, I'd like to see how you find the time to prepare all of this. And don't give me the, "it doesn't take a lot of time to chop your own vegetables" line, either. Add all these little things, particularly with food prep, and you're spending a LOT of time. On top of that, what's so wrong with making food more palatable to children? Packaging and looks matters to kids. A lot of parents, especially those of us who are short on time as it is, will choose the easy healthy thing their kids will be more likely to eat any day of the week.
Quit being such a food snob.
(BTW: My kids love fresh broccoli; eat a ton of grapes and numerous apples and a good number of baby carrots.)-COLLAPSE