Foods I Never Buy
I try to cook from scratch at least 90% of the food that my family eats. This is part of my larger food ethics, of which I’ve talked about in the past. I work mostly with raw materials (fruit, vegetables, fresh meat, milk, eggs, grains, nuts, etc.). I do use processed ingredients that cannot be produced by home means (sugar, salt, flour, certain spices, some cheeses, dark chocolate), or that I don’t yet own the proper machinery to produce them by home means (pasta, ground meat from the butcher).
Generally, I try to avoid ready-to-eat processed foods, or processed ingredients that I can make on my own (sauces, pickles, canned tomatoes, bread, cookies, etc.). This works 90% of the time. (I am, after all, as busy as the next 21st Century person). There are, however, some foods that I will never ever buy, and that simply do not cross the threhhold of my home.
Canned mushrooms. For some reason, they cost more than the the wonderful fresh ones, and they taste like metal.
Soy sauce. In my opinion, the black curse of contemporary cooking. Add it to food, and it will perform a hostile takeover of any other flavor. Too salty, too dominant, too industrial.
Processed snacks (chips, etc.). They’re bad for the health, they cost a fortune, and they make me feel bloated and greasy afterwards (from the ridicilous amounts of salt and fat they contain, probably). When I crave something salty, I’d rather have peanuts, almonds or cashews.
Processed meat. Even when I buy the best, freshest, sometimes organic meat from a reliable butcher that my family has known for years, I know the animals were likely bred under industrial conditions. That’s the lesser evil. Buying processed meat means that on top of breeding the animal in a less-than-ideal industrial way, its meat contains water, additives, chemicals, and other eekey stuff. No thank you.
Anything frozen. Okay, sometimes I buy chilled/frozen peas, but that’s just because fresh peas are rarely available. Also, there was this one time I bought frozen raspberries for a cake, but I forgave myself because raspberries don’t grow in this warm part of the world, and there are never any fresh ones to buy. But really, I don’t buy frozen vegetables, meats, meals, pastries, etc. etc.
Precut fruit and vegetables. Once they cut them, fruit and vegetables lose their freshness and flavor, no matter how well they’re packed. I definitely prefer to choose my own, cut them myself right before eating, and save tons of money in the process, too.
Sweets. The only exception is good quality chocolate (not necessarily dark chocolate, though). If I want something sweet other than chocolate, I’d bake a cake, make cookies, or cut myself a platter of fruit, depending on my mood.
There are also stuff that I plan to stop buying at some point in the next few years. Ground meat, for example, once I can afford a food processor with a good meat grinder. I’m also contemplating a pasta machine, but since I only cook pasta twice a month or so, this may not be the wisest investment at the moment.
