What can you not return to?

[demgurl]

I have been making homemade salsa for about a year now. The other day I was lazy and decided to buy some store salsa. In my defense, it has been a long time since I tasted that crap and had forgotten how awful it tastes. I could not take more than three bites and then I decided I would never eat that stuff again. It just does not compare to fresh salsa - at all!

What have you tried and decided you can never go back to the store bought version?

[Karenca]

1. Everything

Seriously.

Even though I told you that I eat out, get delivery or buy
my food prepared, I'm super picky.

About everything (food). I actually chose to buy my home exactly where I did,
'cause I have the best restaurants and food shops all around me.

My son inherited this from me. He's a graduate student in NYU---Masters in Food Science.

[Warpy]

2. Frozen dinners

I had to finish a whole freezer full last winter when my pop got sick and died. He'd run into a big sale and restocked the freezer, requested that I polish them off, and that kitchen was not set up for cooking.

By the time I left, I was all swollen from the salt and I don't care if I never see any of that stuff ever again. It was such a relief to get back home and eat brown rice and stir fried veggies.

Everything cooked at home tastes so much lighter and fresher than that processed crap.

I know what you mean about salsa. When tomatoes turn to cardboard in late fall, I do get the stuff in the jar. The only thing I use it for is spicing up my beloved Boca Burgers. It's OK that way.

The only kind I can stomach is Hatch, a local brand. It's chunky and has a whole jalapeno hiding in the middle.

[NMDemDist2]

3. mac and cheese out of a box

we had some great recipes posted on mac and cheese and I can never go back

[demgurl]

12. I just checked out your recipes.

Thinking of trying it this week. By the way, Mr. Ketchup may not put ketchup on mac and cheese but I do!!! I grew up eating it this way and the mac I ate was always homemade. I know some are cringing at reading this but I love ketchup on my homemade mac and cheese.

[livetohike]

4. Homemade pita bread, for one

and I have a suspicion that if I try homemade tortillas, I will never buy store bought again.

[TygrBright]

5. Industrially produced food-like products

With a few minor exceptions (Nabisco Fig Newtons, Stewart's Root Beer, one or two other indulgences) I've pretty much given up on any processed foods. They just aren't worth it. And although I'm definitely a not-so-hot (at best) cook, almost anything I turn out is generally better than the pseudo-food produced by the agribusiness factory.

truculently,
Bright

[Warpy]

7. I wish more people realized how easy it is to cook simple

and fresh fare that always tastes better than the crap in the freezers at the supermarket or (shudder) stuff in a bag from a fast food joint.

It's always great to relax after dinner and not feel fat oozing through your pores, too.

The bistro food currently popular in big cities all over the country is generally quite simple to make and uses only fresh ingredients.

You'd think people would catch a clue. If I see one more damn house show where prospective house buyers look at a kitchen with acres of countertops and fancy appliances and sneer they're above cooking, I'll scream.

[wildeyed]

14. Part of the problem is no one learns how to make the basics anymore.

I grew up in a reasonable food literate household, but my mother never taught me to cook. It took me years to figure out that it is not that hard to make white sauce and it tastes much better than the creamed soup in a can I had been dumping over stuff previously.

[TygrBright]

18. Yup. We've been robbed...

...of a heritage passed down for uncounted generations. I had to teach myself to cook everything except a few Christmas treats. My working mother just assumed that packaged foods were great! By the time we both knew better it was too late. Now, late in life, I'm learning the hard way, slowly, trial and error and experimentation.

But it's STILL better than 99.9% of what the pseudo-food factories put out.

If I had kids I'd insist they all learn to cook the basics: stock and soups, cookies and puddings, pasta dishes and sauces, oatmeal and omelettes, etc.

wistfully,
Bright

[Phentex]

21. I have the same problem with restaurants

when I see how much something costs and realize I could make my own tastier meal, it's just not as enjoyable anymore.

[yy4me]

6. Bread in a bag! You know the stuff, bland, white "enriched", all

the other clever advertising on the package. I have become a great fan of local bakeries. I now buy bread like the Europeans. A baguette every day or two. Crunchy crust, flavorful inside. Even the bread produced by your handy at home bread-maker is better than the grocery store stuff. Most gourmet food stores sell a separate line of "real" bread. I just walk in and pick up my $2.00 loaf. Nothing else, they are too expensive. Here in the Boston area we have many but our family likes "Iggy's" best.

[troubleinwinter]

8. The salt in the round cardboard box.

That "When it rains, it pours" stuff.

I keep a little bowl of Kosher salt by the stove.

[eleny]

9. White rice

I like rice pudding, though. But for meals it's basmati or brown rice.

[Tab]

10. Actually, for salsa...

Make sure to differentiate...

The stuff in jars on the shelves is COOKED salsa. Generally it sucks.

With the right store chain you can get local FRESH salse. Generally it's damn good (at least where I live).

Personally I love fresh salsa, fresh tomatoes, not the cooked crap in the jars.

So, if you're going to complain, make sure you aren't comparing apples and oranges (or chiles and jalapenos).

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

11. Hear Heat!

Trader Joe's carries the most awesome fresh salsas.

[demgurl]

13. Tab, you are right.

The produce area, in my local store, has fresh salsa and it is very good. I just find that it is expensive enough that I can make it cheaper by buying fresh items at the local farmer's market.

You are right. And thinking about it, I should have bought that fresh stuff the other day. It has been so long since I purchased salsa, I had forgotten about the fresh stuff. I stand corrected.

[politicat]

16. Round here, I don't even like the store-fresh...

I'm at a stage where if we're having salsa, I'm making a very small batch (maybe 2 cups total) every other day or so. I just can't take it when it's been marinating for more than about 36 hours. It gets a fermenting flavor that catches in the back of my throat and... shudder.

The store-fresh is usually at least 2 days old, and often a lot more.

However, I can cook and can my own salsa without a problem. It may not be pico any more, but it's still fresca, and tastes a lot better than Pace.

[politicat]

17. Grocery-store meat, cucumbers and tomatoes.

I'm really to the point where I should just go build my compound and grow my own foods all the time. I've gotten spoiled for most grocery meats by our local guy and his wife and by Costco. I don't even like hamburgers that aren't from Goodtimes ( a local chain that uses excellent beef from Coleman's) which means that traveling is getting pretty difficult.

My garden spoiled me for cukes and tomatoes for at least the next six months, if not more.... Baseballs are not my idea of food...

[bicentennial_baby]

15. Anything canned or frozen...

Dinners, vegetables...soups, etc...

[Rabrrrrrr]

19. And considering that one can make one's own salsa in about 20 seconds

it is rather silly to buy store bought.

[Phentex]

20. Pasta sauces of any kind

My grandmother would roll over in her grave!

For me, it's so easy to make my own although it took me a while to learn from my mom and aunts.

In school, I bought jarred sauces and doctored them up UNTIL I learned how to make them myself. Now I'll never go back.