# Why does anyone buy that premade? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 6, 2013, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-anyone-buy-that-premade/652162 "2013-03-06T06:00:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**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:** [March 7, 2013, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-anyone-buy-that-premade/652162/141 "2013-03-07T16:11:44Z")
Let me tell you guys a story about minced garlic in a jar. Like many of you guys in this thread my ex-wife claimed the stuff to be an abomination. I told her she’s crazy and you couldn’t tell the difference once it’s cooked into the food. She said “Of course you can.” We went back and forth about this to ad nauseum. FF, a week later, I’m making my own homemade spaghetti sauce. I lied and told my then wife that I made it with fresh garlic. Upon tasting it she said “See this is SO much better.” Later on that evening I confessed to her that it was indeed the stuff in a jar. Upon reflection, I probably shouldn’t have done that. She was not pleased with my deception and the rest of our night was NOT fun. But my asshatery aside (From over a decade ago), I still stand by my assertion that you can’t tell the difference once it’s cooked in the food. As to the OP: Salsa. Much like salad dressing you can make a gallon of the stuff for the price of one jar. And it tastes way better too. ---
**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:** [March 7, 2013, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-anyone-buy-that-premade/652162/142 "2013-03-07T16:19:38Z")
> [@Shakes](#): > > But my asshatery aside (From over a decade ago), I still stand by my assertion that you can’t tell the difference once it’s cooked in the food. I find that odd. I literally want to love jarred garlic, because it would make my life so easy, but every time I’ve tried, it hasn’t worked out for me. Maybe it’s because I don’t cook pasta sauce for very long–maybe 20 minutes or so, and the fresh garlic flavor is that much more important. But it really doesn’t work for me. And the paste, like I said before, is much worse. I had to throw away the jar after two uses it just tasted vile. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2013, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-anyone-buy-that-premade/652162/143 "2013-03-07T16:43:54Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > I was horrified the first time I went to the US and the hotel breakfast chef made my omelette by pouring something from a carton into the pan. Eggs in a carton? You can’t crack an egg?? That’s a cost thing. Shelled eggs cost a lot more than the carton eggs, especially at the rate hotels go through them. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2013, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-anyone-buy-that-premade/652162/144 "2013-03-07T16:45:09Z")
> [@Shakes](#): > > As to the OP: Salsa. Much like salad dressing you can make a gallon of the stuff for the price of one jar. And it tastes way better too. Fresh-style salsa or cooked style? Fresh style is best when you have in-season, fresh-picked tomatoes, not something from the supermarket. For cooked, it’s a toss-up (to my tastebuds) between good store brands and homemade. I like Green Mountain Gringo and Frontera for nicer storebought salsa, and the Kirkland (Costco) version isn’t too shabby - I mostly use that for cooking with. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2013, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-anyone-buy-that-premade/652162/145 "2013-03-07T16:46:14Z")
> [@SpazCat](#): > > That’s a cost thing. Shelled eggs cost a lot more than the carton eggs, especially at the rate hotels go through them. Plus there are fewer sanitation/waste issues with pouring out of a carton, vs cracking an egg and then worrying about spreading salmonella around. ---
**Author:** ![MegaBee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f0a364/32.png) [@MegaBee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MegaBee)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2013, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-anyone-buy-that-premade/652162/146 "2013-03-07T17:13:39Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > Onions are tough anyway. I don’t buy those pre-sliced onions, but sometimes I think I should. I seem to have an unusual sensitivity to onions…my eyes will sting for hours longer than my SO’s, even when I am super careful, and I don’t just a few tears, I get waterfalls. I don’t know if it’s just because my eyes are large or some other reason but I avoid cutting them as much as possible. So I certainly understand someone else buying them. I wear safety goggles when cutting onions. Works like a charm. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2013, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-anyone-buy-that-premade/652162/147 "2013-03-07T17:16:20Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > Good to know. I’m always tempted by them because I’m so incredibly lazy. Well, you might like them. I just know I was never that fond of pancakes until one day I made my own. Voila! Delicious! I don’t know why my SO, who could be a chef he’s such a good cook, ever eats those. Thanks all for the tips on onions. I have swim goggles close at hand; maybe those will work. 🙂 ---
**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:** [March 7, 2013, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-anyone-buy-that-premade/652162/148 "2013-03-07T17:20:28Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > Fresh-style salsa or cooked style? Fresh style is best when you have in-season, fresh-picked tomatoes, not something from the supermarket. For cooked, it’s a toss-up (to my tastebuds) between good store brands and homemade. I like Green Mountain Gringo and Frontera for nicer storebought salsa, and the Kirkland (Costco) version isn’t too shabby - I mostly use that for cooking with. I always go for cooked style. Raw onions are too pungent for my taste buds. (I hate not being able to eat raw onions) I have used fresh tomatoes before but most of the time I used canned whole tomatoes. Not ideal but it’s quick, easy and cheap. And still tastes better than any pre made salsa on the market. ---
**Author:** ![KermitTheFrig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/47e85d/32.png) [@KermitTheFrig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KermitTheFrig)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2013, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-anyone-buy-that-premade/652162/149 "2013-03-07T17:24:21Z")
Mrs. Frig, the Little Frig and I sit down together of a “main meal” six nights a week. (we go out Friday nights.) This “main meal” is generally pretty balanced with meat, a veggie, and a starch. Mrs. Frig and I both work. I cook most of the meals. Depending on available time, price, convenience and taste preferences, our meals often contain combinations of fresh whole foods, frozen foods and more processed convenience foods. A meal might have fresh chicken, cut up and stir-fried in olive oil and garlic mixed with canned “Italian style” tomatoes and rotini. Or it might be store-bought frozen meatballs with jar sauce over spaghetti and a side of frozen corn. Or it might be sauteed beef on noodles with jar gravy and fresh steamed zucchini. Or pork chops and a veggie with a side of packaged, processed Spanish rice mix. If people want to slaughter their own organically raised chickens and chop each fresh grown vegetable and mix and simmer each and every sauce or gravy from scratch, that’s fine. For us, though, there is a place for prepared and convenience foods in a well balanced, eat at home diet. As a note: buying all of the constituent parts of a fruit salad is often more expensive than a tub of pre-cut, mixed fruit when you consider you must buy whole melons, pineapples, apples, oranges, boxes of fresh berries, etc. you need to make it. Usually in our house part of a fresh cantaloupe will get thrown out unused, since only two of the three of us likes it and the two that do can only eat so much cantaloupe at a time. . . ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2013, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-anyone-buy-that-premade/652162/150 "2013-03-07T17:34:13Z")
> [@Labrador\_Deceiver](#): > > I usually only make it when it’s part of a recipe. It’s basically impossible to make just enough for one sandwich. [Challenge Accepted](http://www.thatsnerdalicious.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/124-e1355180810442.jpg?cb5e28) ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2013, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-anyone-buy-that-premade/652162/151 "2013-03-07T17:43:24Z")
> [@NitroPress](#): > > The flaw in most food testing is that it’s based on one sip, or one bite, of a product. That’s one of the dirty secrets of things like Coke-v-Pepsi tests; what people like in a first sip is not what they necessarily like in a whole bottle. Everything is geared to that first and only blitzkrieg on the tastebuds. Hence the prevalence of salt and sugars, which may be generally indetectible in the overall flavor but do their hot little tap-dance on your tastebuds. I just looked up my favorite bottled sauce. [You’re wrong](http://www.classico.com/red-sauces/spicy-red-pepper-pasta-sauce.aspx). Classico Spicy Red Pepper Spicy Red Pepper In Rome, crushed red pepper creates a bold, spicy “Arrabbiata” sauce. Here, classic Penne al’ Arrabbiata means “Pasta Enraged” – a spirited sauce with red pepper to add spice to any meal. » View all Spicy Red Pepper Recipes » View Ingredients » View Nutritional Information Ingredients: Tomato Puree (Water, Tomato Paste), Diced Tomatoes (Tomatoes, Tomato Juice, Citric Acid, Calcium Chloride), Onions, Contains 2% OLO: Celery, Olive Oil, Salt, Dehydrated Onion, Granulated Garlic, Spices, Crushed Red Pepper ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2013, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-anyone-buy-that-premade/652162/152 "2013-03-07T17:49:10Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Personally, pancake mix is the one I don’t quite get, mainly because making pancakes from scratch is almost exactly as complicated. > > Aunt Jemima mix still has you add milk, eggs, and oil to the batter. I mean, you’ve come pretty damned close to making pancakes from scratch already. In fact, you already have a basic crepe recipe just substituting flour for Aunt Jemima. Add some baking powder, and a little salt and sugar, and you’ve got American style pancakes. Heh. I don’t bother to make pancakes at all. I buy frozen premade pancakes and nuke them in the microwave. ---
**Author:** ![Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brown_eyed_girl/32/3574_2.png) [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2013, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-anyone-buy-that-premade/652162/153 "2013-03-07T18:12:57Z")
> [@NitroPress](#): > > As some have pointed out, there may be a place for things like precut fruit - as an individual serving or snack. I am not sure there’s a valid place for larger quantities obviously intended for several servings. > > Most of the above items fall into a category I’ve discerned: people who don’t or won’t cook on a regular basis have likely never learned how; a minimal investment in cookware and you can turn out fresh, tasty marinara-style sauces all day long for a fraction of the cost of bottled. But if you have nothing but junk cookware and one crappy knife, it can be an overwhelming chore to make it fresh. So it’s a lifetime, or some very long stretch, of buying second-rate, overpriced crap food, with every weak justification in the world, instead of investing a few months and something under a hundred dollars in a set of basic cooking skills that will turn out better, cheaper food… often more easily. > > I suggest that a year of Home Ec should still be a high school requirement. I would agree with this statement, except that I took Home Ec in high school and I didn’t get anything out of it. Hopefully it’s different now, but the only thing I remember is drop biscuits. I could have used some knife skills because I’ll be damned if I can mince a clove of garlic in 30 seconds and the first three finger on my left hand have slices from the ceramic knife I just got (dayum those things are sharp!). I have been preparing my own food for over 20 years and I have more than beginner’s experience in the kitchen. In fact, for the three weeks, everything I have been eating I have prepared from scratch. I have to say that while I love the way whole foods and homemade makes me feel, it is extremely time-consuming. Especially the beans aspect. I get why people buy canned cooked beans and the like. It’s really justa about levels of convenience. I’ll bet their are plenty of people who think buying prechopped veg is lazy, but are perfectly willing to buy a can of black beans. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2013, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-anyone-buy-that-premade/652162/154 "2013-03-07T18:21:05Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Why the hell do people buy steaks instead of slaughtering their own cattle in the backyard? Storebought steaks have too much sugar in them. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2013, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-anyone-buy-that-premade/652162/155 "2013-03-07T18:26:51Z")
> [@Enderw24](#): > > [Challenge Accepted](http://www.thatsnerdalicious.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/124-e1355180810442.jpg?cb5e28) I clicked that in the parking lot and laughed for the next mile. ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2013, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-anyone-buy-that-premade/652162/156 "2013-03-07T18:55:21Z")
> [@NitroPress](#): > > There are better brands of most products, yes. Also, the very concentrated cooks-quality tomato paste in a tube is a different product from the canned item. > > Check the grocery store brands some time… that is, if you deign to set foot in them. Even the better quality brands have preservatives, they just don’t have to list them if it’s a small amount. Canned tomatoes contain sulfites, so I can’t have them. Many people react to sulfites and it’s hard to catch because it’s in SO MUCH food. Anything that’s been chopped and packaged has sulfites either sprinkled on or a bath. ---
**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:** [March 7, 2013, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-anyone-buy-that-premade/652162/157 "2013-03-07T19:07:39Z")
> [@Rushgeekgirl](#): > > Even the better quality brands have preservatives, they just don’t have to list them if it’s a small amount. Well, it’s slightly more complicated than that, but probably doesn’t make a whole lot of difference. [Cite:](http://extoxnet.orst.edu/faqs/additive/preserca.htm) > [@](#): > > In 1986, FDA ruled that sulfites used specifically as preservatives must be listed on the label, regardless of the amount in the finished product. Sulfites used in food processing but not serving as preservatives in the final food must be listed on the label if present at levels of 10 parts per million (ppm) or higher. Regulations issued in 1990 extended these required listings to standardized foods. ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2013, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-anyone-buy-that-premade/652162/158 "2013-03-07T19:27:39Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Well, it’s slightly more complicated than that, but probably doesn’t make a whole lot of difference. [Cite:](http://extoxnet.orst.edu/faqs/additive/preserca.htm) I’m confused as to what is different in our two comments. ---
**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:** [March 7, 2013, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-anyone-buy-that-premade/652162/159 "2013-03-07T19:36:14Z")
> [@Rushgeekgirl](#): > > I’m confused as to what is different in our two comments. Well, if you’re using the sulfites as preservatives, you have to list it, no matter how small the quantity. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2013, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-anyone-buy-that-premade/652162/160 "2013-03-07T20:22:57Z")
> [@NitroPress](#): > > Typically, salt, sugar or equivalent, preservatives (usually pretty mild ones), and various “stabilizers” and thickeners. Just for another point of contradiction, Contadina’s “Tomato Sauce” (not paste or puree) has the following ingredients: Tomato Puree (Water, Tomato Paste), Salt, Sugar, Citric Acid, Garlic Powder, Onion Powder, Spices So yeah, it has some seasoning, but nothing particularly odd. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-anyone-buy-that-premade/652162.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-anyone-buy-that-premade/652162.md?page=9)