"Meal kits": do you indulge in this practice?

[snowangel]

I must confess. When we are going up to our cabin at a time of year when fresh greens are not readily available, I do buy the bagged greens. The idea of hauling up several different kinds of greens, just to haul them home and toss them because they don't make two 5 hour trips and a few days in the cabin fridge is beyond me. But, I don't trust the pre-washed thing, and wash them myself, up there (yes, there is a salad spinner up there).

However, some of those meal in a bag things just floor me. A bazillion bucks for some cut up veg and some "packet o gunk" in a package in the freezer section that you add to some cut up meat to stuff it all in a crockpot are beyond me. I can take the 5 minutes to cut up the stuff, with a kid standing nearby telling me all about her/his day, learning how to clean and cut an onion or a green pepper, or bone a chicken thigh, whatever.

As a side note. I bought hamburger helper (or was it tuna helper?) once, at the insistance of a kid. Said kid took one taste and spat it out, with the pronouncement "nasty stuff, mom."

[Oceangroveguy]

I buy bagged spinach, too, and baby carrots, and collards, and salad stuff, especially the mixtures they call "Spring Mix". I also buy the bulk Spring Mix they sell at Wegman's. I guess I assumed they mixed it at the stores, but one morning I saw the produce guy fill the bin by opening a box, opening the large plastic bag within it, and pouring....

[BarbaraY]

I bought one of those packaged kits that one assembles and then bakes. I thought it was horrid and have not been tempted since.

I do buy some packaged greens because that's the only way I can find arugula in our stores.

Occasionally, while traveling, I'll buy one of the salad kits and eat it in a roadside park.

[ratgirlny]

I don't like washing salad greens, but I dislike the bagged salads even more. The lettuce never seems very fresh to me. So many times, I have opened a bag of "mesclun" only to find slimy half rotted bits of leaves inside.

There is one brand around here in which the lettuce comes in a plastic tub rather than a bag, and it seems a little better, but I still have to watch the sell-by date really carefully.

[Chris Amirault]

I'll also cop to the lesser sins of frozen items (need spinach and peas on hand at all times for Indian food) and the odd prewashed, bagged salad greens or baby carrots. However, I really enjoy prepping after a long day of work, and would never buy the pre-cut, sauced, etc. packages.

I can see why people would, though, for the reasons above. And I really think that there's a difference between precut celery for your stir fry and a La Choy meal that just gets dumped into a pan.