what's the grossest packaged food you've seen? - Page 6

[tracymom]

Yeah, we're mac & cheese hopeless

Originally posted by bluedotsmom

just thought of a mac & cheese story. last year we went to a friend's house for thanksgiving (they have 5 kids, we have 2) I was supposed to bring mac & cheese. well, of course, I try to find my grandma's recipe. no biggy to do it from scratch & it tastes great! well, needless to say the other kids thought it was gross. guess it wasn't orange enough.

Okay, I do have to fess up here. I buy the instant Easy Mac at Sam's b/c DS won't eat anything else other than the Kraft stuff and I refuse to make a whole box of it with him being the only one eating more than a bite or two. Given that it used to be the only way he will eat pasta besides Spaghettios (blech!) I at least felt I was moving in the right direction. And I do have to admit that since then, he has decided that spaghetti is okay and he will eat it as long as there is not visible meat in the sauce (which is just fine with me!) I keep trying homemade mac & cheese but he turns up his nose at it. I do have hope though; I was the same way when I was a kid and now prefer homemade to Kraft......

[serenetabbie]

Gelatinous Mutant Coconut Strings :LOL envirobecca! he he he

We went camping and my mother said she would bring the food. I was shocked when she pulled out the blue margirine in a squeeze thingy! I told her no WAY were the kids eating that crap. She looked crestfallen.......after all she had gone out of her way to get things she thought the kids would like. *blech* I peeked in the bag to see ~ pre made "beef" patties....ummm QUOTE beef UNQUOTE!?!?! what is that about? White bread, which the kids wont eat ("Mommy, I don't like the sticky bread")....a pack of those little boxes of cereal....the kids were so excited about them, tryed them all and disliked each one. Lets see, waxed shrink wrapped aniemic looking tomatoes......in august, peak fresh tomato season, hmmmm. And of course loads of soda and "juice" drink. Thank goodness I had the forsight to pack some real food!
Ds came home from MILs asking for blue oatmeal with the candy in it *argh*. On the upside, he has asked for trix yogurt and spaggettios. I bought one of each and let him try it.....he was so grossed out he wouldnt even swallow it
Okay ~ I will have to vote for the above mentioned products and the pre packaged toddler foods in jars. Meat sticks???? ewwwww! And what is with the little jars of canned fruits and veggies? Is it harder to buy a thing of all natural canned stuff in the grown up isles and feed that to your kids instead? They even have less ingredients than the baby food stuff!
thanks for a LOL thread ladies

[EnviroBecca]

saw another this weekend...

Pillsbury Toaster Scrambles. They appear to be pop-tarts filled w/scrambled eggs instead of jam. EEEUURGGHHH!

A friend told me that her neighborhood supermarket sells a "Valutube" of ground beef--one of those plastic tubes gathered and stapled at the ends, like sausage, but FOUR POUNDS.

[AmandasMom]

chumani, I saw that ad too and got VERY upset. How horrible that ad was! (and I also got that crappy magazine as a christmas gift last year. I wish it would run out soon!)

To me the nastiest packaged stuff has got to be infant formula. It looks nasty, smells nasty, contains nasty ingredients, and is expensive to boot.

Around "these parts", people love to fry a turkey for thanksgiving. The smell is so revolting, I never understand how people can eat something that smells that nasty. Like walking past the seafood dept in the grocery store you are hit with that.. that... ODOR. Uggg! And people still buy the seafood there. Or the store puts out "freshly roasted" chickens, and the SMELL, nasty!

[LavenderMae]

My dd has actually asked me "what is that nasty smell "when we are in the grocery store and they are cooking meat. I tell her and she says that is so gross.
The baby meat sticks are up there on my list. So are the pop up breakfast foods, formula,potted meat, colored fries& ketchup, sardines. There are so many. I think the peanut butter and jelly mixed in the jar is gross. Clam juice really gets me,the name in itself makes me want to puke.

[bluedotsmom]

Tracymom...it's funny what kids get into about some foods.

I always swore that no child of mine would use ketchup:
of course, that's before I had kids.

Let me see - ketchup goes with......everything!!!! (at least I don't buy the purple or green stuff)

p.s. true confession time - in my single years, I loved Kraft Mac & Cheese...& believed that a snickers bar and a bag of BBQ fritos was a meal, washed down with a Coke of course

[piximamason]

Dinty Moore beef stew-uugh!!!! Dh is meat and potatoes he hates veggies(unless they come from a can) My daughter and I are vegetarians,so dinners are such a pain at our house. To make things easy on me dh informed he loves Dinty Moore over egg noodles. I thought alright I can handle that, untill I opened the can! That stuff looks nasty, smells nasty, and there is just something wrong with beef from a can ( if that's even what it is, you sure can't tell from looking) Needless to say dh prepares his own "beef stroganoff"- hopefully on the nights I work.

[crazy_eights]

I saw the microwavable pork rinds at the store and gagged all the way down the aisle just thinking about it! EWWWWWW!

[hydrangea]

This is so funny!

I haven't seen most of the things mentioned here since I usually go to the health food store. I really can't believe there's such a thing as chocolate french fries. I'll have to take a look!

On a recent rare trips to the regular supermarket, I did see precooked, shelf-stable bacon, which boggles my mind.

Something I hate is microwave popcorn. We inherited a microwave with this house (I'd never had one before), so I decided to try some. I tried a few batches of a few different brands, and it's all stale and artificial tasting (even the healthier ones I tried) compared to the real thing. I searched around and found a microwave popper and pour my own organic popcorn into it, and it is so much better (still microwave, which I'm not delighted with, but convenient)! It's fresher, tastier (when you add your own toppings), cheaper (organic popcorn is $.59 a pound bulk where I get it), and less wasteful.

What really grosses me out is sweet microwave popcorn. I had a bite at someone's house recently and nearly gagged.

[Jish]

Don't look at the chocolate french fries!!!! They will make you want to vomit just looking at the package. I almost hurled right there in the aisle.:LOL

[piximamason]

I second the microwave popcorn. Dh loves it. I have an airpopper, it is so easy and takes about the same time as microwave popcorn. I love it plain but of course you can spice it up. Dh and I have an ongoing battle about which is better. I just don't see how you can compare the two. I think the microwave stuff is nasty. I often wonder how we ever hooked up. :LOL

[mamajane]

Tasty Cakes - a chocolate cupcake prepackage treat that contains Propylene Glycol!!!!!! I almost fell over when I read that on the ingredient list! It's anti-freeze for heaven's sake!! This is a snack my DH grew up with in Pennsylvania. We had brought back a box after a visit to see his family and I just happened to read the label. I'm so glad we don't have these in Wisconsin that I've ever seen so DH won't ever be tempted to have one!!

[Jane]

Isn't it ethylene glycol in antifreeze and propylene glycol in cigarettes? I'm not sure. Now I need to go read the antifreeze.
As an aside, I hate to say it, but most "natural flavors" contain propylene glycol. It is on the prohibited list for organic foods, though. People wonder why I am so willing to pay more!

edit: for clarity

[Viola]

Cheese in general can gross me out, but fake cheese in stuff, especially in a spray can, really disgusts me.

I don't like the way the microwave popcorn makes the microwave smell. It has a lingering, greasy odor.

[Jane]

The process that makes the artificial butter to put on the microwave popcorn is dangerous to the factory workers.
Many workers are waiting for lung transplants due to damage from working in the factories.
http://www.healthscout.com/static/news/502020.html

(There is absolutely no evidence that the popcorn itself is harmful. It's just the process of making the butter. )

[cosmos]

what a great thread! On the microwave popcorn: I used to make deliveries to one of the largest manufacturing plants of mw popcorn and it stunk for BLOCKS around that joint. yuck! I never eat that!!

I hear all of you with the fruit roll up secret pleasure, but what about the "froot gushers" froot. cracks me up.....

[joesmom]

RE: Micro Popcorn

Try PopSecret Homestyle. It is SOOOOO good. Seriously, don't none of ya'll come back here dissing microwave popcorn till you try it! And if you try it & don't like it, let me know; I'll PM you my address & you can send me the other two bags outta the box!

Joe saw the commercial tonite for the blue fries; he REALLY wants them!

Love, Jenny

[AdinaL]

Got a new one...
Waling through the snack aisle at the grocery store....and there are CRACKERS with pb & j on them already - pre packaged and ready to eat as snacks....ummmmm, a three year old can put pb & j on a cracker. PLus just the idea of what has to be in those things to keep them fresh in a little plastic baggie thing on an unrefridge shelf.
YICKK!

[calgal007]

This thread is an absolute riot!!! Way to go, mamas, with all those mentions of gross-out foods. Ours is definately McDonalds -- I call it "poo food" because of the documented incidents of bovine fecal matter in the burgers. DS has picked up on the name because he thinks it's funny, but you also won't catch him eating there. . .

[Brookesmom]

I don't know if they're still on the market, but one of my friends had hot dogs that were injected with cheez whiz like cheese in the center- double eeeew!!

I must look for the blue fries and mac 'n cheese on a stick next time I"m at Safeway. I did see the colored ketchup. how bizarre.