I'm in the same boat with a bunch of stubborn eaters in the family. My Dad and his wife are junk food junkies. They won't eat anything fresh or made from scratch. This boggles me and it has nothing to do with phobia or allergies they just have some weird mental issue. Maybe they are addicted to high levels of salt and high fructose corn syrup in their diets? My Sister and her family are better but still rely on mostly packaged foods.

Hey Chubs I read an article yesterday on Bitten. There was a study of how long families spent in the kitchen when they cooked with convenience foods vs cooking from scratch. They found that convenience foods on average saved only 10 minutes of cooking time. I always wondered about this because when I make dinner it takes me about 30-45 minutes. People always say they don't have time to cook the way I do but I wonder do they think I spend 2 hours in the kitchen every day? I always assumed that hamburger helper must cut the cooking time down to 10 minutes but it seems that's not the case.

i've always been one to eat anything that didn't eat me first or run fast enough to escape. As far as the "convenience" foods, the boxed stuff like hamburger helper really doesn't save you any time at all in cooking, it just puts everything in one package. You can make the same thing from regular ingredience just as fast at a lower cost per serving.

A lot of the convenience foods are there for folks who can't- or don't want to have to think for themselves. Or for folks who are super-busy, or aren't into cooking enuf to know their own way around seasonings and such. Sometimes cost can be a factor too- although not ALL of these products are cheaper- in fact, many are not.

I try not to judge folks who use convenience products because afterall, at least they're attempting to cook for themselves on SOME level. Afterall, stirring blue box mac and cheese at your stove might not be some folks' idea of a homemade meal- but at least it beats the drive-thru 7 nights a week!

I use many conveninece products myself. As often as I make scratch cakes using real cream, eggs, butter and high end products- I also always have box-mixes in my pantry. I also like Jiffy corn bread mix, Zatarain's cajun rice blends, hungry jack pancake mix, and many other convenience products.

I worked in gourmet kitchens for years, but I like a whole range of food. Today I mainly prefer simpler foods. I guess what I'm trying to say is I do appreciate fine food- but I am also a real and practical guy- and I'm far from being a food snob. I've certainly shoved-down more than a fair share of big macs, canned soup and store-bought cookies!

Yeah griz, me too. I was just pointing out that the convenience stuff isn't neccesarily the time and money saver some folks think it is

Yep- I totally agree, Bubba...