convenience foods, come on 'fess up

[StickyPirate]

I like to cook and bake from scratch, but I'm a working mom of 3, and I'd rather spend my free time looking for worms in the backyard with my 2 year old than trying to live up to an impossible homemade standard. I unapologetically use convenience foods when I need them, and when I'm able to, I love to cook the good stuff.

I like a lot of the frozen and jarred products from Trader Joe's.

Frozen ravioli, canned tomato puree with my own herbs.

Canned beans, frozen vegetables when the locals aren't in season.

The key for us is to keep it simple. I rely on my grill and on the cornocopia of fresh local produce available around here. I grow some herbs in my little garden and use those constantly.

[chef_boy_RD]

Yeah, the first time I discovered it was one summer when I was working at a camp in West Virginia near the university, then I found out they had one over at the University of Maryland and I was hooked. Gotta feed the late night crowd somehow

[KYHeirloomer]

>Canned beans, frozen vegetables when the locals aren't in season.<

Sticky, by canned beans do you mean instead of dried/soaked? I hope so. Can't imagine using canned green beans, when the frozen are so much better.

In fact, I feel that way about most veggies. The canned versions always seem to have a tinny taste (could be the preservatives?), whereas flash frozen is the next best thing to fresh.

For those of us who live more than 50 miles from an ocean, FAS fish is actually fresher than fresh fish.

We don't have a Trader Joes anywhere near (nor a Penzy's, for that matter) so I have no feel for their products. Wild Oats used to be nice, until Whole Foods took them over. Now they've gone rapidly downhill, so I see no reason to pay a premium when I can get the same---or even better---quality at the supermarket.

[StickyPirate]

Yuck. I agree...frozen baby green beans are the ones for me. Sometimes they're better than supermarket "fresh" green beans of dubious age.

I do use canned great northerns, garbanzos, kidneys, navies, black beans etc etc etc. We're a very beany family.

I do love my Trader Joe's. Inexpensive high-quality products, hard-to-find ingredients, exotic and international items...it's a fun place to shop.

But I WISH I had a Penzey's store close by.

I never shop at Whole Foods. Seems way overpriced to me. I'll take the farmers' market down the street. There's even a little stand by the side of the road a couple of miles away that sells organic produce grown by a really nice lady...heirloom tomatoes too .