# Cheap, worse quality foods you (sometimes) prefer to their superior counterparts **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 5, 2013, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheap-worse-quality-foods-you-sometimes-prefer-to-their-superior-counterparts/673186 "2013-11-05T22:29:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2013, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheap-worse-quality-foods-you-sometimes-prefer-to-their-superior-counterparts/673186/81 "2013-11-08T00:12:47Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > Veggy burgers taste like crap-and they cost more than real beef hamburgers (plus they have more fat)-who do people eat them? Eh? There’s a massive variety of veggie burgers out there- spicy ones, mushroomy ones, fake meat ones…low fat, high fat… the only thing they have in common is the shape. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Tethered\_Kite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a5b964/32.png) [@Tethered\_Kite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tethered_Kite)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2013, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheap-worse-quality-foods-you-sometimes-prefer-to-their-superior-counterparts/673186/82 "2013-11-08T02:10:35Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > But pork cheek and pork jowl are different. Cheek is mostly sweet pork meat. It’s typically quite lean. Jowl is more like pork belly with the amount of fat it has. Regardless, pork cheek is considered quite desirable, anywhere from about $6-$20/lb. Jowl is quite nice, too, for guanciale, smokes pork jowls, or just general pork fat purposes, , but fetches far lower prices. I think last time I bought jowl, it was about $2/lb. It was labeled pork cutlets. And yes, it was a very sweet and tender meat but pieces of it were held together with a bit of a gluey substance, almost mucous-y. Sorry for the visual. In the day it was poor people’s food where I’m from. So was organ meat. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2013, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheap-worse-quality-foods-you-sometimes-prefer-to-their-superior-counterparts/673186/83 "2013-11-08T02:27:43Z")
> [@Tethered\_Kite](#): > > It was labeled pork cutlets. And yes, it was a very sweet and tender meat but pieces of it were held together with a bit of a gluey substance, almost mucous-y. Sorry for the visual. > > In the day it was poor people’s food where I’m from. So was organ meat. Yeah, sounds like cheeks to me. A lot of this “poor folks food” is pretty expensive now. Friggin oxtails are like $6/lb. Grrrr… Organ meats are still pretty much dirt cheap where I’m at, though. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2013, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheap-worse-quality-foods-you-sometimes-prefer-to-their-superior-counterparts/673186/84 "2013-11-08T02:32:15Z")
Thanks to this thread I had to go to Walgreen’s to buy a Banquet Chicken Pot Pie. It was $.99 :mad: In college they were 45 cents. But man they were the best easy cheap stumbling home in the freezing cold late at night food and pop in the microwave food ever. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2013, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheap-worse-quality-foods-you-sometimes-prefer-to-their-superior-counterparts/673186/85 "2013-11-08T03:49:03Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Yeah, sounds like cheeks to me. A lot of this “poor folks food” is pretty expensive now. Friggin oxtails are like $6/lb. Grrrr… Organ meats are still pretty much dirt cheap where I’m at, though. The last time I went to buy ham hocks, I had to look in three stores to find them…and they were the same price per pound as center ham slices! ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2013, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheap-worse-quality-foods-you-sometimes-prefer-to-their-superior-counterparts/673186/86 "2013-11-08T04:41:19Z")
> [@wolfman](#): > > Thanks to this thread I had to go to Walgreen’s to buy a Banquet Chicken Pot Pie. It was $.99 :mad: In college they were 45 cents. But man they were the best easy cheap stumbling home in the freezing cold late at night food and pop in the microwave food ever. When was that? I’m 38 and I don’t ever remember being able to buy anything that would qualify as a meal for $0.45. Hell, even now, $0.99 seems like a deal. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2013, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheap-worse-quality-foods-you-sometimes-prefer-to-their-superior-counterparts/673186/87 "2013-11-08T13:02:06Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Yeah, sounds like cheeks to me. A lot of this “poor folks food” is pretty expensive now. Friggin oxtails are like $6/lb. Grrrr… Organ meats are still pretty much dirt cheap where I’m at, though. Totally agree-when I was a kid, you could buy the codfish heads for $0.20/lb (they make the best fish chowder). Now they are $3.00! ---
**Author:** ![Tethered\_Kite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a5b964/32.png) [@Tethered\_Kite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tethered_Kite)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2013, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheap-worse-quality-foods-you-sometimes-prefer-to-their-superior-counterparts/673186/88 "2013-11-08T15:25:58Z")
When I was young soup bones were free. “For the dawg.” And you can hardly make really tasty soup without a bone. Beef heart, a fine, beefy cut with no fat is $3 a pound. Then you gotta haul it down to the store after it’s prepared and pay the butcher another quarter every time you take a bite. Another cheaper version I enjoy all summer is my fresh herbs. Walk by the little plot and grab a handful of “weeds” on the way into the house. None of that fancy plastic packaging for us. The cats say the same about our catnip patch. And the store bought is outrageously expensive. ETA: Are they “worse quality?” Only in the sense that they have not been cleaned, picked over or packaged/processed in anyway. I suppose that would qualify for some people unaccustomed to dealing with bugs or dirt on their food. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2013, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheap-worse-quality-foods-you-sometimes-prefer-to-their-superior-counterparts/673186/89 "2013-11-08T15:30:35Z")
> [@sweetie pea](#): > > How exactly does one stumble upon this frozen pizza cooking method?! Can’t speak for Shakes, but my in-laws used to re-heat takeout pizza slices in a skillet with a little oil, a practice I adopted and let me tell you, it’s _great_! Crispy crust, nicely (re)melted cheeses, and perfectly warmed meat and veggies. You have to be patient, though, or you’ll burn the crust. So if you know this, it’s not too big a leap to start your frozen pizza in the skillet. I might try it, in fact! ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2013, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheap-worse-quality-foods-you-sometimes-prefer-to-their-superior-counterparts/673186/90 "2013-11-08T15:53:48Z")
> [@sweetie pea](#): > > How exactly does one stumble upon this frozen pizza cooking method?! I keep my cast iron skillet stored in my oven. I preheated my oven once failing to remember I had my skillet in there. When I went to open the oven, I saw the pan in there. At the time, I figured, “Why not?” and threw the pizza on the skillet just to see what would happen. I was thinking the skillet should do the exact same thing a pizza stone does. Bonus points for the pizza not sticking to the pan. Totino’s pizzas are notorious for sticking to the rack if cooked as directed. ---
**Author:** ![Magicicada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c67d28/32.png) [@Magicicada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magicicada)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2013, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheap-worse-quality-foods-you-sometimes-prefer-to-their-superior-counterparts/673186/91 "2013-11-08T21:20:29Z")
> [@Ellen\_Cherry](#): > > Can’t speak for Shakes, but my in-laws used to re-heat takeout pizza slices in a skillet with a little oil, a practice I adopted and let me tell you, it’s _great_! Crispy crust, nicely (re)melted cheeses, and perfectly warmed meat and veggies. You have to be patient, though, or you’ll burn the crust. > > So if you know this, it’s not too big a leap to start your frozen pizza in the skillet. I might try it, in fact! Well, I’ll be. As a thanks to you and Shakes, allow me to share my frozen pizza hint: While the pizza is still in the plastic wrap and still well-frozen, break it into smaller pieces, either by banging it on the counter or by simply snapping it apart with your hands. This is easier than using a pizza cutter after it has cooked. \ I don’t do a lot of cooking-type things… ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2013, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheap-worse-quality-foods-you-sometimes-prefer-to-their-superior-counterparts/673186/92 "2013-11-08T21:44:31Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > I would caution you, I haven’t tried these particular popcorn seasonings, but any cheese-flavor in a little shaker that I’ve tried in the past is mostly very finely ground salt. To get any real cheese-y taste, you naturally want to dump more on, but that is offset by so much salt your popcorn is inedible. > > The orange powdered cheese which is similar to the mac and cheese in a box is the kind of popcorn cheese you would want. Some grocery stores sell it in little plastic deli containers near the popcorn or in the dairy section. It’s available online, I am going to order some from [Amazon.com](http://Amazon.com) [Vermont Cheddar Cheese Powder.](http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/items/vermont-cheese-powder-8-oz-jar) Is fantastic on popcorn 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2013, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheap-worse-quality-foods-you-sometimes-prefer-to-their-superior-counterparts/673186/93 "2013-11-08T21:50:09Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > When was that? I’m 38 and I don’t ever remember being able to buy anything that would qualify as a meal for $0.45. Hell, even now, $0.99 seems like a deal. A Banquet Chicken Pot Pie has 380 calories. You can find various foods that have that kind of filling. A microwave burrito is $0.50 and has about the same amount of calories. I wouldn’t call it a meal (unless you eat 3) but there you go. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2013, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheap-worse-quality-foods-you-sometimes-prefer-to-their-superior-counterparts/673186/94 "2013-11-08T21:55:34Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > A Banquet Chicken Pot Pie has 380 calories. You can find various foods that have that kind of filling. > > A microwave burrito is $0.50 and has about the same amount of calories. I wouldn’t call it a meal (unless you eat 3) but there you go. I’d consider that a meal (that is, the 380 calories–at least enough for lunch). I just go to the frozen food section, and usually even the cheap Michelina (sp?) meals are a buck a piece, at around the same calorie load, so I was a bit surprised pot pies were as cheap as $0.50 in recent history. I don’t know what the frozen burritos cost, as I’ve never bought them. I do recall frozen chicken kievs or chicken cordon blues also being around the buck apiece price, too. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheap-worse-quality-foods-you-sometimes-prefer-to-their-superior-counterparts/673186.md?page=4)