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Embarrassing stuff in the pantry


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Totally ashamed to admit it, but there is a box of Top Ramen in my pantry.  Don't hate me.

Only one?

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Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

Our 2012 (Kerry Beal and me) Blog

My 2004 eG Blog

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Totally ashamed to admit it, but there is a box of Top Ramen in my pantry.  Don't hate me.

Embrace the Ramen, sparrowgrass-hopper.  :cool:

 

I have a (spray) can of Kraft Easy Cheese (cheddar & bacon flavor) in my pantry and I carry no shame over it. :wink:  :laugh:

 

edited to be a smart ass

Edited by Toliver (log)
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“Peter: Oh my god, Brian, there's a message in my Alphabits. It says, 'Oooooo.'

Brian: Peter, those are Cheerios.”

– From Fox TV’s “Family Guy”

 

Tim Oliver

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I think this is a thread that tends towards putting too much value on what others think, as some posters have already said.  Whatever you bought and/or have in your pantry was a result of your desiring it, or being gifted it, or thinking you might like it, or that you got for one reason or another - convenience being another reason.  There is nothing wrong with any of those reasons, even if it might be the case that some items might be recognized as less desirable than the utterly fresh equivalents.  Other folks who might sniff with disdain at those items need to find more meaningful things to do with their lives. Besides creating the impression that they might be, as others have also said, food snobs who might not really have even tasted the stuff they sniff at for that matter.

 

I have lots of stuff in my larder that I expect food snobs will exclaim in disgust over.  Well, honey, don't expect an invitation to a meal at my place then.

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Huiray that was well said. I know I have many things as well that others may look upon with disdain. Do I care? not in the least.

The entire point is to cook and eat what you like, and hopefully to share it with those we are fortunate to love as well.

I would be proud and delighted to eat any of the meals you have posted here!

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And this old porch is like a steaming greasy plate of enchiladas,With lots of cheese and onions and a guacamole salad ...This Old Porch...Lyle Lovett

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I think it is! :raz:

 

Looked and didn't really find anything what I'd called funny/sinful (processed) lol except these:

 

IMG_20150404_095507.jpg

 

I love that cheap powdery ersatz parmesan cheese as much as the real stuff! It's what we had on spaghetti when we were kids... The green can was the only parm available in those days.

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All right. I'm not embarassed, I'm proud! I have two 2 oz. bottles of Tasters Choice with a best by date of Apr. 2003 and a can of dried egg whites with a best by date of 2010. However, the state of the actual top shelf in my kitchen cabinet is embarassing.

I also really like Cooper Sharp processed cheese. Laugh if you will, I don't give a fig for your caviar and foie gras, just give me a toasted cooper sharp cheese sandwich on wonder bread with yellow ballpark mustard, and I'm as happy as a pantry moth in an open sack of all-purpose flour.

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"A fool", he said, "would have swallowed it". Samuel Johnson

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I think it is! :raz:

 

Looked and didn't really find anything what I'd called funny/sinful (processed) lol except these:

 

IMG_20150404_095507.jpg

 

I love that cheap powdery ersatz parmesan cheese as much as the real stuff! It's what we had on spaghetti when we were kids... The green can was the only parm available in those days.

Nice stash of stuff you have there.

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Oh man, that package of instant pho is a staple in my house. You know, I use a can of good beef broth instead of water and some fresh slices of beef , and isn't half bad! In fact it's pretty damn good

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Just realized that I have a contribution to make to this thread.  I've had fun reading it.

 

Every now and then, I love to have a hot dog.  Red Hots or Ziggy's, but for me well-scorched on all sides, in the cheapest squashiest hot dog bun you can find with cheap yellow mustard only and sweet relish.  No fancy buns, no dijon mustard.  If it's not the way it was when I was a child...then I don't want it.  Oh, and potato chips.  But only Miss Vicki's Original, which I must admit does not go back to my childhood. 

 

Last time I tried to drink a Pepsi with this meal...but that was just too much.  I have grown too old I fear.

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Darienne

 

learn, learn, learn...

 

We live in hope. 

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Just realized that I have a contribution to make to this thread.  I've had fun reading it.

 

Every now and then, I love to have a hot dog.  Red Hots or Ziggy's, but for me well-scorched on all sides, in the cheapest squashiest hot dog bun you can find with cheap yellow mustard only and sweet relish.  No fancy buns, no dijon mustard.  If it's not the way it was when I was a child...then I don't want it.  Oh, and potato chips.  But only Miss Vicki's Original, which I must admit does not go back to my childhood. 

 

Last time I tried to drink a Pepsi with this meal...but that was just too much.  I have grown too old I fear.

 

The Costco hot dogs ($1.59 including all-you-drink beverage) fit the bill perfectly.  We go about once a month and always time it so we're just ready for lunch.  But I have mine with a Pepsi.  Don't usually like Pepsi, but it is PERFECT with the large juicy dog with sweet relish and bright yellow mustard on a squishy bun.   :)

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I'm with Darienne. I keep hot dogs in the freezer as I get the urge for a hot dog maybe once a month. I like Top Dogs, very well fried to a nice crisp crust nestled in a top cut bun, toasted on the sides in the same pan. For a condiment, it has to be spicy corn relish. That's it. I don't like soft drinks so if I drink anything at all with it, it is water.

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I have a can of vegan pate a friend told me ...she thought of me when she saw it?"...not sure why she thought of me ? I am not vegan and not a pate kind of gal in general ( although i have tried some yummy chopped liver) but i am embarassed it is there for so many reasons. ...i just can not open it i have a block i think ? I can not even imagine canned pate let alone vegan? But i know little about it because again i do not care for it much

 

 

Big Edie would eat that Pate up...

Wawa Sizzli FTW!

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I also use Gravy Master, Kraft Mac and Cheese for my husband (I can't stand it since they quit using any cheese in it), frozen pie crusts and puff pastry, and I've been known to make the Hormel canned tamale and chili casserole. WITH delicious beans, so there Texas!  :raz:

 

What is the recipe for that?

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Wawa Sizzli FTW!

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I recently spent $15 on a 10 pound bag of basmati rice (my favorite rice) from a local mom and pop Indian grocer. I was so proud of myself because it was so much cheaper than mainstream sources. Well, I had to eat what was a big loss for me, because the bag was infested.

 

The first time I went to cook some, even though it was well within its expiration date, it smelled off to me, rancid. I asked my husband and brother to smell it, and they said it was fine. I chewed a raw grain, and I insisted it was off, and had them smell it again. They still insisted they detected nothing.

 

 

If grains smell of crayons, the oils have gone rancid and it should be tossed

Wawa Sizzli FTW!

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I thought the huge bag of Aahu Barah super-basmati sela was disgusting. Until I washed the heck out of it. 

 

My friend summed it up: "floor of warehouse in Pakistan".  :wacko:

 

Once washed I soak it for at least an hour up to eight hours. Awesome rice.

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I'm not embarrassed by anything in my pantry. Instant mashed potatoes? I use them to thicken stews and soups with excellent results.

Various canned goods, some boxed mixes, especially breads.

If it is my pantry it has been tried and tested and has a purpose, even though I can and do prepare many things from "scratch!"

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"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

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I just cleaned out my pantry yesterday.. I had 2 things in my pantry that were embarrassing and not purchased by me.. One was a large cosco container of salsa (mother in law) 2nd was a can of 4 c or seasons bread crumbs (gluten free)  I gave away the salsa to my daughter's tutor.. In order to not sound like a snob, I told her there was something in the salsa i was allergic to. "it appears, I am allergic to horrific salsa" and the can i just tossed in the garbage. That was for a gluten free person at an event I catered. 

 

Guilty confession: I love Great Value black bean and white corn salsa, particularly mixed with grated cheese. It's the only foodstuff I go to WalMart for; it is, in fact, almost the only item I go to WalMart for, period, and certainly the only food item I buy there.

Don't ask. Eat it.

www.kayatthekeyboard.wordpress.com

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Great idea, thanks!

 

I grew up with the Green Can Parm, so it's a sentimental favorite for me.

Why would you freeze Velveeta? Stuff lasts forever. I keep it on hand for three purposes:

 

1. homemade mac and cheese (half and half Velveeta and sharp cheddar)

2. Homemade pimiento cheese (ditto, with pimientos, mayo, vinegar, cayenne, sugar and salt)

3. Nacho cheese dip. I think it's the law.

Don't ask. Eat it.

www.kayatthekeyboard.wordpress.com

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And I have my share of embarrassing things, mostly things like noodles or crackers that i bought for a specific purpose, didn't use, and have kept on hand until they expire. I'm by no means a Nazi on sell-by dates, but in general terms, something that expired more than two years ago is going to be a bit worse for the wear and should be chunked.

 

Like the rice paper spring roll wrappers. The dry roasted peanuts from 2010. Sunflower seeds with no expiration date, but they smelled rancid, so out they went. 

 

Lack of pantry space is all that keeps me from being a hoarder.

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Don't ask. Eat it.

www.kayatthekeyboard.wordpress.com

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Glorified Rice,

 

I just saw your request for the recipe for Hormel canned tamale and chili casserole, and I don't really know if it's tongue in cheek or not, but in the spirit of sharing, it's embarrassingly simple, and here it is:

 

1-15 oz. can Hormel chili with beans or No beans

1-15 oz. can Hormel beef tamales

3 TBSPs chopped onions

1/2 c shredded cheddar cheese

 

They ask you to spread the tamales in an 11 x 7 baking dish after removing the paper wrappers. Then pour the chili over and sprinkle with cheese and onion. Bake at 350 degrees F for 25-30 min. I usually place three tamales in some individual casserole dishes I have and split the chile over them when I have a working oven.

 

This dish became a staple in my house after Hurricane Fran left us without power for a long nine days in 1996. I do have a generator, and an electric frying skillet, where you can make these without any power from the increasingly vulnerable grid (cyber threats). The cheese is kept in a cooler with ice. You'd really be surprised what you are willing to eat after culling all the most desirable items from the freezer and cooking them on the grill, and after all the rest of the fresh food has spoiled. If we're lucky enough to have no extended power outages I cook them in the oven before the expiry date, because we can't afford to, and I dislike wasting food.

 

The recipe is on every can of Hormel tamales I've ever seen, and with good reason. The first time I served these to my husband, he said, "Every time I tried to eat these canned tamales, they tasted like dog food. How do you make them so good?"   :wub: It wasn't me, it was marketing research.

 

andiesenji,

 

I also use instant potato flakes to thicken clam chowders and the like. I make the soups/chowders with fresh potatoes, but use the flakes to thicken. The flakes are also a must for shepards/cottage pie because this is the way it was made in the school cafeteria in VT. I have tried making the casserole with fresh taters, and it just doesn't scratch the comfort food itch like the instant mix version does.

 

I'm sure some of your shelf stable stuff may have been inspired by your earthquake induced extended power outages too.

 

Toliver,

 

Spray Cheese!  :laugh:

 

This became a staple after Fran. I really don't like it much, but I started stocking it during and after the big hurricane. People just don't appreciate how welcome shelf stable protein WITH calcium is in a prolonged power outage.

 

This reminds me that I've become complacent, and need to lay in some more Spray Cheese!, which hopefully, will come close to it's expiration date because we have been blessed by no blackouts and be eaten by the coons.

 

 

It's hard surviving without power when your used to it. I still maintain an analog phone, much to Ma Bell's displeasure. I get a letter at least 3 x a month wanting me to go digital. My analog was the only phone except for one neighbor on the cul de sac who also had an analog phone that worked. I used it every day to locate ice, propane, batteries, etc. When these things happen, you can drive around everywhere and be told they have no ice/ batteries, etc. Even when you locate an ice delivery over your WORKING phone, you may arrive to stand in line for 40 minutes and watch the person in front of you buy the very last bag of ice in the shipment, as happened to me one time at my local Harris Teeter. No riots, but I can sure see how that might happen. Communication ability still helps immensely.

 

I love fresh food as well as the next guy/gal, and shelf stable foodstuffs may be laughable, but they are survival tactics for some of us.

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> ^ . . ^ <

 

 

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If grains smell of crayons, the oils have gone rancid and it should be tossed

 

G. Rice,

 

I do not think it was the oils in the rice in my case going off. It was the rice weevils pooping and otherwise sullying my rice.

 

As I said upthread, I was really trying to figure this out, because there was an expiry date on the bag, and it was well within it. Apparently the insects leave a VERY unsavory smell to those who can detect it. All of the candidates, myself, my brother, and my husband sadly smoke, and that is famous for diminishing one's sense of smell and palate. I was right; they were wrong, and I get used to this. Unfortunately they don't. I get hated all the time.

 

I would lay a very large bet, and I am not a gambler, that it would be an easier and happier life to be a stupid person. "It's all 90 percent likabilty."

 

That's a quote from "Auto Focus", the book and movie about Bob Crane who played Colonel Hogan on "Hogan's Hero's". Give this movie a watch, but if you idealized him, like I did, get ready to never watch the show again.

 

ETA: No one likes anyone who's right when they are wrong. It actually makes me wish I wasn't here sometimes.  :sad:

Edited by Thanks for the Crepes (log)

> ^ . . ^ <

 

 

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Crepes, I wanted to know the recipe cause I like reading kitchy recipes. and I always mention the rancid grains sell of crayons cause eating rancid oil for a prolonged time causes a drop in Vitamin K,

(why I have this info in my head, who knows)

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Wawa Sizzli FTW!

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