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What don't you buy anymore?


enurmi

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I've been thinking a lot about this, particularly as I consider upcoming New Year's Resolutions.

Here is my question to you: What food items do you now make that you used to buy? (plus, are they better homemade?)

This is part of my 'eat healthier' (in terms of less unpronounceable things) plan for the year, and I'm really trying to cut back on processed foods.

Some things I've already decided; for me, there is no good reason not to make my own bread, I have a killer peanut butter recipe, and most bottled salad dressings frankly disgust me (I'm all for a quick balsalmic/garlic/olive oil emulsion-- takes all of 15 seconds; I mean, seriously.).

But I'm looking for other things which can be homemade sans chemicals, which are better homemade. Ideas?

Thanks!

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Boy- I kind of ran off on my own inspiration after seeing the thread title.

I don’t buy canned refried beans anymore.

I don’t buy ketchup anymore.

I don’t buy Bisquick anymore.

I don’t buy canned soup anymore.

I don’t buy canned chili anymore.

I don’t buy salad dressing anymore.

I don’t buy teriyaki sauce anymore.

I don’t buy bottled marinades anymore.

…I can make them better myself.

I don’t buy soda anymore.

…for nutrition reasons.

I don’t buy Hershey’s anymore.

I don’t buy Nestle anymore.

I don’t buy non-local apples anymore.

…because I’ve had better.

flavor floozy

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I stopped buying most bread products. As long as you plan in advance, it's not that difficult or time consuming to make your own bread.

Ina Garten has a great recipe for barbecue sauce in her original Barefoot Contessa cookbook that keeps for a long time in the fridge.

I always make my own pasta sauce. Very easy, freezes well and no chemicals.

I make different kinds of pesto (basil/pine nut, parsley/walnut, cilantro/pepita) and freeze it in ice cube trays.

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Gave up sodas, for health reasons.

I don't think I've ever bought bottled sauces or salad dressings (yich). Well, I do buy bottled staples like tamari, olive oil, and cider vinegar, like folks do. And the occasional pomegranate or date syrup.

Cans and jars are not so few: tuna fish, tomato paste, sardines or smoked tuna, olives, pickles, sometimes a can of corn because my daughter makes me buy it. Applesauce, unless I've had an energy attack and made a big kettle of my own, which happens about once a year. Pineapple in syrup for upside-down cake. But all those canned beans and vegetables - nah.

None of the sweetened yoghurts and deli dairy products so beloved of the Israeli consumer.

Although boxes with instant cake ingredients are available here, I never consider buying them, nor chemical-based whipped creams. Nor ready-baked cakes either. The cream-sculptured variety sitting under plastic covers really make me run the other way; gimme some green apples and flour and we can be sitting down to muffins or apple crisp an hour later.

Don't buy much commercial bread anymore either, unless there is some irresistable loaf in the display of an artisanal bakery.

I'd like to say that with all the winemaking I do, I've given up buying commerical wines...but I haven't.

Miriam

Edited by Miriam Kresh (log)

Miriam Kresh

blog:[blog=www.israelikitchen.com][/blog]

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I used to buy a lot of hummus, but I make it now. I may have to start buying it again, though, because my wife eats most of it before I get a shot!

I am finding that I don't care for canned soups and chilis any more either, but I still buy them for convenience. Every time I am dissappointed - I should just make twice as much and freeze more.

Oh, and I don't buy those baby carrots any more, nor does my wife. Why do they have no taste? Big carrots have that great earthy flavor that any carrot should have. Plus, big carrots don't all look the same, which I find to be another unsettling aspect of the baby ones.

I definitely need a bigger freezer...

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Hot Pockets and other microwave food like that. Convenience foods in general. I think the only heat-and-eat or mix-and-eat entrees I buy anymore are canned hash and Velveeta macaroni and cheese (sure I make homemade macaroni and cheese, but sometimes it's not what you want). Poche's boudin, if that counts.

It wasn't a conscious decision, I didn't notice until this thread. Just one of those things. I may not always have time to cook, but for someone without kids, it's not hard to accumulate reheatable leftovers.

Oh, and fast food. Sort of. I don't drive, and I moved in May so I live miles from any fast food joint now, and don't even pass any on the way to friends' houses, weekly shopping, etc. I'd have to go out of my way to even find one. Again, not a conscious thing, but other than Popeye's and Sonic, I don't miss it. And they don't have those here anyway.

I'm not sure I'm actually eating healthier -- I have a cocktail and a Coca-Cola every day, I'm probably having knockwurst for lunch today and I had chicken wings yesterday, and the eggnog I just put in the back of the fridge is equal parts Half-n-Half and rum. I made Tollhouse cookies with cranberries last night. But my sodium intake's probably way down compared to a couple years ago.

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No more pancake mixes for us anymore since I discovered a fabulous recipe for fluffy, moist pancakes. Oh and also:

Cake mixes

Biscuits

Pre-made pie shells

I fix them myself now. Way so much better!

Doddie aka Domestic Goddess

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Anything with high fructose corn syrup.

Anything with partially hydrogenated oils.

Salad dressings.

Mayonnaise.

Bread. (In a pinch I'll buy a loaf, but the first two items still apply)

Marinara/Meat sauces for pasta.

Gnocchi. (Homemade is just so much better)

Canned chili.

Hummus. Actually, make that all dips in general.

Heat-and-eat meals.

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conventionally raised meats:

ever since I ate local for a month, the mass produced meats taste really off to me- I don't doubt that it's primarily mental- but especially the chicken and ground meats.

As a result, we don't eat meat as much anymore cause of the significant increase in cost.

yogurt:

again, cause of my locavore experiment I started making my own and it's SO much better

Edited by phlawless (log)

"Godspeed all the bakers at dawn... may they all cut their thumbs and bleed into their buns til they melt away..."

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Things I don't buy because the homemade versions are easier and better:

Salad dressing

Frozen dinners

Bisquick

Lipton noodle packets

Salsa

Jam, jelly, apple butter

Canned vegetables (except my guilty pleasure - LeSeur Very Young Small Early Peas :raz: ) - I either buy frozen, or can and freeze my own

Broth

Pesto

Microwave popcorn

I wish I could say bread, but, much as I'd like it to be, it's not an absolute. I try not to, does that count? Plus the BF loves Sarah Lee Honey Wheat. What can you do?

Things I still buy that produce a twinge of guilt because I probably COULD find a better and easier homemade version:

Pasta sauce

Mayo

Ketchup

Granola

Things I have absolutely no compunction about buying even though I can make a very good version:

Stouffer's Mac & Cheese

Frozen vegetables

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This was asked a while back.

It is an ever evolving list but just off the top of my head

I don't buy fast food like McDs or other drive in fast foods

No frozen dinners or other prepared foods

Pre roasted coffee

pasta sauce

salad dressing

hummus or any dip

I'll think of more later

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This was asked a while back. 

It is an ever evolving list but just off the top of my head

I don't buy fast food like McDs or other drive in fast foods

No frozen dinners or other prepared foods

Pre roasted coffee

pasta sauce

salad dressing

hummus or any dip

I'll think of more later

Nice, I don't by pre-roasted coffee either.

Or anything -a-Roni

Canned vegetables, except for corn in the winter, beans, and as someone else mentioned, LeSuer Petit Peas

Still buy frozen chicken pot pie...its a weakness.

"It's better to burn out than to fade away"-Neil Young

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I don't buy refrigerated biscuit dough any more. I may not be able to make a flaky layered biscuit like the ones in the cans, but my drop biscuits beat them all hands down on taste.

I've stopped buying Hot Pockets mainly because I find the tossed salads, leftovers and things like sardines in tins are as convenient and better tasting (not to mention better for me).

Except for blue cheese dressing, I don't buy bottled salad dressing any more. Blue cheese I buy because I haven't figured out yet how to get a from-scratch dressing to emulsify properly.

I don't buy as much Hamburger Helper as I used to, but I still buy it, because sometimes it's the taste I (and my partner) want.

I can't buy canned soups any more. Partner has to watch his sodium intake, and canned soups have sodium coming out the wazoo.

I'm sure I can think of more, and if I do, I'll post again.

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I don’t buy Hershey’s anymore.

…because I’ve had better.

You might want to read this thread. :)

What do I not buy any more?

Bottled salad dressing (not that I ever bough much to begin with)

Canned soup (I'll still buy canned/boxed stock, though in addition to making my own)

Frozen dinners

Jeff Meeker, aka "jsmeeker"

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I don’t buy Hershey’s anymore.

…because I’ve had better.

You might want to read this thread. :)

And a funny note, my favorite eating chocolate Dagoba was purchased by Hershey... grrrrr.

I'm not surprised they're pushing still on that market- they lost alot of money there cause it took them so long to find an answer.

flavor floozy

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pie crusts - I think I've finally gotten the hang of them

granola - so much cheaper to make at home

sometimes yogurt, but the Greek stuff is more available now commercially and is very good

any type of packaged side - potatoes au gratin, stuffing mixes, rice mixes, etc.

Things I'd like to not buy - soups and salad dressings, but I'm not really the one who eats them, so it's a convenience thing for DH.

I'm proud that I almost always cook from scratch even though I have a hectic work schedule.

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I don't buy ready-made stuff all that often because, as has been said up-thread, home-made is so much better. One thing I have bought for years though, until recently, is mayonnaise because I always thought that making my own mayonnaise was beyond me. I found a recipe for mayonnaise somewhere on this forum and it was incredibly easy, it didn't split on me and it tasted great.....so mayonnaise will not be on any of my future shopping lists.

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I was very proud of myself when I took ketchup off the shopping list 3 years ago, and began canning my own. Now it's an annual ritual. I buy 20 lbs of organic tomatoes from a local farm, and just go at it. There's no comparison in flavor between homemade ketchup and commercial ketchup. Even if I wanted to, I couldn't go back.

Of course, when I'm prepping tomatoes and standing over the sink up to my eyebrows in tomato pulp, peels and seeds, I sometimes wonder if I'm crazy.

Most recently I've taken canned tuna off the list. I've started slow poaching chunks of fresh tuna in olive oil with garlic and spices. Heavenly!

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