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What are your favorite processed foods?
Processed foods have a bad image in sustainable food circles, but some of them are better than others. What's in your kitchen cabinets?
Thu, May 27 2010 at 12:27 AM
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Photo: snowpea&bokchoi/Flickr
A couple of weeks ago, MNN ran a video from the "Today Show" about prepackaged foods. I know that in organic/local/sustainable/healthy food circles, prepackaged, processed foods are looked down on and often with good reason. Still, most of us buy them, but we try to buy only the ones we feel are the best.
Some of the foods the video mentioned were pre-cut fruits and vegetables, Greek yogurt, some natural lunchmeat, and Triscuit Thin Crisps. You may look at the video and frown at a couple of the items mentioned, but I bet you have a few prepackaged foods in your own cabinets.
I got to wondering. What are some of the prepackaged foods that my readers find acceptable to feed themselves or their family? I also asked some of the other MNN bloggers what packaged foods they have in their cabinets. I’ll start.
I buy several prepackaged foods, but I’ll give you a couple that I buy weekly.
Triscuits – I like that I know all four of the ingredients in Triscuits and it’s a great snack for my boys to just grab and eat in the car on the way to baseball practice. Compared with other crackers out there, I find Triscuits acceptable for my family.
Newman’s Own Marinara Sauce – We eat spaghetti at least once a week during the colder months. I’ve tried many natural and/or organic pasta sauces, and this is the one that my family likes the most.
Nature’s Path Flax Plus Pumpkin Raisin Crunch Cereal – I love this organic cereal that’s really high in fiber and Omega-3. I don’t eat cereal every morning, but if I do, I often reach for this. I sometimes use at as an evening snack, too. Even my boys like it.
What about some of our other bloggers?
Bora Bora bars – Business blogger Melissa finds these bars a good alternative to homemade granola bars for her and her kids and feels they are relatively healthy as far as processed foods go.
Newman’s Own Salsa and Popcorn – Home blogger Matt finds the Newman’s Own products taste good and likes that the brand helped to pioneer the whole natural foods game. He also admitted to having a huge soft spot for Entenmann's Cheese Buns. You’ve got to give him credit for divulging the information, but “Which not-so-natural foods do you sometimes give in to?” is a whole other post. (Come on, almost all of us have at least one).
Now, it’s your turn. Which prepackaged foods do you regularly load up on in your grocery cart and why?
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Sadly, Triscuits contain palm oil, which is environmentally disastrous. Back to Nature (though owned by Kraft) offers alternatives to standard crackers (like triscuits) that use better ingredients. I do love the Newman products, though.
http://www.gardein.com/
I am a vegan. This is a go to easy choice. Even my son loves all of the options... and ditto on Lara bars.
I buy the Baby Bonbel cheese minis and prepackaged Granny Smith apples. As a conscientious mother of three, I do my best, but they seem to crave packaged junk (TV advertising?). I've just purchased Simply Fruit, which is just that and tastes like a fruit roll up. Seems to trick my kids! I also blog about healthy eating on my website, emilyfrankmd.com, if you're interested!