Worst Supermarket Foods - from Lifehacker

[pokerfan]

Good time for this list. The day after the Superbowl gluttony, the winter holidays are officially over. Time to get serious.

I pretty much shop the perimeter of the store (Dairy, bread, produce and meats/seafood) since that's where the fresh food is located.

The roundup features 20 of the worst supermarket foods you can find organized by category. If a few goodies you love made the list, don't despair. The article also lists healthier alternatives that should satisfy many of the same cravings that made you reach for the unhealthy food in the first place. According to the author, the 20 worst supermarket foods include:

* Worst Crunchy Snack: Gardetto's Special Request Roasted Garlic Rye Chips
* Worst Cookie: Pillsbury Big Deluxe Classics White Chunk Macadamia Nut
* Worst Yogurt: Stonyfield Farm Whole Milk Chocolate Underground
* Worst Candy: Twix
* Worst Condiment: Eggo Original Syrup
* Worst Ice Cream: Haagen-Dazs Chocolate Peanut Butter
* Worst Drink: AriZona Kiwi Strawberry
* Worst "Healthy" Pantry Item: Pop-Tarts Whole Grain Brown Sugar Cinnamon
* Worst Frozen "Healthy" Entree: Healthy Choice Complete Selections Sweet & Sour Chicken
* Worst Cereal: Quaker 100% Natural Granola, Oats, Honey & Raisins
* Worst Packaged Pasta: Pasta Roni Fettuccine Alfredo
* Worst Baked Good: Otis Spunkmeyer Banana Nut Muffins
* Wort Frozen Treat: Toll House Ice Cream Chocolate Chip Cookie Sandwich
* Worst Individual Snack: Hostess Chocolate Pudding Pie
* Worst Packaged Lunch: Oscar Mayer Maxed Out Turkey & Cheddar Cracker Combo Lunchables
* Worst Stir-Fry: Bertolli Grilled Chicken Alfredo & Fettuccine Complete Skillet Meal for Two
* Worst Frozen Breakfast: Jimmy Dean Pancake and Sausage Links Breakfast Bowls
* Worst Frozen Pizza: DiGiorno for One Garlic Bread Crust Supreme Pizza
* Worst Frozen Entree: Hungry-Man Classic Fried Chicken
* Worst Packaged Food in America: Marie Callender's Creamy Parmesan Chicken Pot Pie

http://lifehacker.com/5144685/avoid-these-20-worst-supermarket-foods

[aikoaiko]

1. Worst Cereal: Quaker 100% Natural Granola, Oats, Honey & Raisins

Granola is soul food for hippies. Don't take it away.

[Ichingcarpenter]

12. I eat Granola with yogurt almost every day

But I buy it bulk and its not Quaker Oats..

Everything else on that list I don't buy or eat.

[kestrel91316]

25. I LOVE granola, and that is actually a problem, calorie and snack-wise, lol.

So I make my own but because it's kind of time-consuming and I have to round up so many ingredients, it keeps me from having it in the house all the time. Trust me, it's for the best! I would eat it at every meal to the exclusion of everything else if I could.

[4 t 4]

16. I love Quaker 100% natural

sigh, I suck I pick all the wrong things

[pokerfan]

26. It's the sugar

From the link Cirque du So-What posted:

Quaker 100% Natural Granola, Oats, Honey & Raisins (1 c)

* 420 calories
* 12 g fat (7 g saturated)
* 6 g fiber, 30 g sugars

Granola, for all its good reputation, is usually weighed down by a deluge of added sugars. In fact, for the same amount of sugar, you could have a bowl of Cocoa Pebbles more than twice the size—and you'd get more fiber and save about 60 calories in fat.

Calorie equivalent: 8 chicken wings


Eat This Instead:

Kashi GOLEAN (1 c)

* 140 calories
* 1 g fat (0 g saturated)
* 10 g fiber/6 g sugars

[begin_within]

2. Oh no...

I've eaten my share of the Otis Spunkmeyer banana nut muffins.
And the Marie Callender pot pies too, over the years...
but I still like the Stonyfield strawberry yogurt smoothie.

[Liberal Veteran]

3. Shit....there went my preplanned menu for Wednesday.

[MADem]

4. They list the trans fats and calories and fats in another article--that's why they don't like this

stuff: http://health.msn.com/nutrition/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100229943>1=31036

[ColbertWatcher]

5. "Hostess Chocolate Pudding Pie" The terrorists have won. n/t

[Retrograde]

6. chicken afredo & fettuccine stir fry?

I too mostly shop the periphery, so I'm not au courrant on packaged foods, but the concept of this packaged "stir fry" alternately bemuses and scares me.

It would be a better article if it would actually explain why these are bad rather than link to a book on Amazon.

[janx]

10. Yeah, what the hell is that?

:rofl:

[NYCGirl]

24. The link at the bottom of the page is to the entire story:

http://health.msn.com/nutrition/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100229943&page=1

Bertolli Grilled Chicken Alfredo & Fettuccine Complete Skillet Meal for Two (1/2 package, 340 g)

* 710 calories
* 1,370 mg sodium
* 42 g fat (22 g saturated)

A dinner for two should get your blood flowing, not stuff your arteries with more than the entire day's saturated fat.

Saturated fat equivalent: 22 strips of bacon

[Tangerine LaBamba]

7. Who in their right mind

categorizes Pop-Tarts as "Healthy" - even in quotes?

I've never even heard of most of these things. And the people who eat them are probably not reading that article.

And so, life goes on in our America, which has been, let us not forget, blissfully asshole-free for the past thirteen days:

[Ian David]

9. Pop Tarts makes whole grain varieties now.

Sure, it's loaded with sugar.

But it's got vitamins in it, and fiber.

And if you only eat ONE (not the TWO that come foil-wrapped together) it's within the bounds of my low-sodium diet.

[pokerfan]

15. it does have more fiber than the normal tarts

Each Kellogg's Whole Grain Brown Sugar Cinnamon Pop Tarts has 200 calories, 7 grams of total fat which includes 2 grams of saturated fat (11% and 10% of the RDA), 3 grams of protein and 34 grams of carbohydrates which includes 14 grams of sugar and 5 grams of fiber (20% of the RDA).

[4 t 4]

20. I love pop tarts

i don't admit that often but I love pop tarts but I never let myself buy them

[janx]

8. I don't recognize any of these items on the list, except:

* Worst Crunchy Snack: Gardetto's Special Request Roasted Garlic Rye Chips

I love 'em! And I don't know where to get the Rye chips anymore!

The rest of the stuff is crap I don't even recognize--wait...Oscar Mayer Maxed Out Turkey & Cheddar Lunchables...maybe...are these sold in college book stores?

[pokerfan]

13. Yeah, those are pretty tasty

which is usually my first clue that something is unhealthy. :(



Serving Size: 1/2 cup
Calories: 160
Total Fat: 10 g
Sodium: 340 mg
Total Carbohydrates: 16 g

[Chulanowa]

11. Man...

And I grumbled about my waistline today when I picked up three avacados and a steak from the store.

[emilyg]

14. Never had any on this list.

[Runcible Spoon]

19. you've never had a twix?

they've been around forever; I didn't know they had so much trans fats :shrug:

[emilyg]

30. Honest - never.

I like stuff like fruit and taters.

[wolfgangmo]

17. This list is ...

... like seeing Food Porn. But not regular porn, but more like the hardcore BDSM underaged porn. It's obscene.

Best single piece of advice. Shop the periphery of the store. It is where they keep the food. All the prepackaged stuff in the middle ain't food. It's some experiment from a science lab.

[pokerfan]

23. I only venture into the interior

for coffee and condoms. :)

[L0oniX]

18. Dude! Haagen-Dazs Chocolate Peanut Butter is food for the gods.

[kwyjibo]

21. No kidding about those Marie Callender's pot pies... 1000 calories and 60 grams of fat per pie.

just thinking about eating that makes me sick.

[Lisa0825]

32. But they are yummmmmmy.

I only have a Marie Callender's pot pie about once or twice a year. They are very tasty.... mmmmmm.

[NaturalHigh]

35. I love those.

They are some of the best winter "comfort foods" around.

[Cirque du So-What]

22. The article at MSN has 'Eat This Instead' items corresponding to the list in the OP

http://health.msn.com/nutrition/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100229943&page=1

It's still chockablock with foodstuffs processed to the nth degree, but they are undoubtedly healthier choices than those on the list above.

[chollybocker]

27. By "Worst," you mean "Most Artery-Cloggingly Delicious," right?

[Iwillnevergiveup]

28. I see Tina's frozen chimichangas and burritos

flying out of the freezers in both high end and lower end grocery stores in the L.A. area. You've got your been&cheese, beef&bean, bean&chicken, red hot beef & beef&green chile. They're actually pretty good, filling, microwaveable and CHEAP - 3 for $1.00. A decent snack for hungry kids/spouses.

Arrrrriba~

[catnhatnh]

29. DUDE...you like TOTALLY missed the BEST ONE....

CHICKEN!!! (in the light blue wrapper)....

On checking, I see your not actually a "DUDE" but the chicken flavor is STILL my favorite-kind of like a little chicken pot pie in a tortilla....

[Lucian]

31. The "Eat This Instead" on the MSN article...

still has unhealthy alternatives. How about instead of eating a cookie or candy bar, why couldn't they tell you to pick up a goddamn banana or apple?

[pokerfan]

34. that list is too focused on finding analogs

I try to eat a banana and apple most every day.

[slampoet]

33. The Hungry-Man Classic Fried Chicken is eaten BECAUSE it is 99 cents to two dollars.

On that level i would consider it to be one of the BEST foods for poor people who have limited resources.

When you are going hungry, the phrase "empty calories" is a luxury.

[obiwan]

36. Worst grocery store chain: Ralph's.

Ever tried their "meat"?