If you were ever on the fence about giving up fast food, this may do it for you

[john dough]

Robert M wrote:
John,

Makes you wonder about the sheer amount of crud that goes into non-fast food products at the grocery store. Sometimes reading the label on a product is like trying to solve a word problem on a math test written in a backwards mash of three or more foreign languages.

Robert

We regularly pay more for food in our house as we buy the products that are not made up of the ingredients mentioned or ones that we are not sure what they are. Recently I bought peanut butter that had exactly one ingredient, peanuts -- this cost about 40% more ($7 vs $5) vs. the major brand (I think it was Skippy) that had at least a dozen things that I could not identify.

I figure you pay for it one way or another; cheaper food (with more chemicals or additives) will cost you more in your health bills, later on in life.

[Dennis S]

Mt neighbor was a USDA chicken inspector. He wouldn't eat chicken and almost talked me out of it.

[john dough]

There are a thousand reasons to pay attention when it comes to food. Eat whatever you wish but know what you are eating. Food can be extremely cheap but it is that way for a reason.

[Uncle Wig]

john dough wrote:
[quote=Robert M]
John,

Makes you wonder about the sheer amount of crud that goes into non-fast food products at the grocery store. Sometimes reading the label on a product is like trying to solve a word problem on a math test written in a backwards mash of three or more foreign languages.

Robert

Recently I bought peanut butter that had exactly one ingredient, peanuts -- this cost about 40% more ($7 vs $5) vs. the major brand (I think it was Skippy) that had at least a dozen things that I could not identify.
Skippy ingredients: peanuts, sugar and hydrogenated vegetable oils, including cottonseed, rapeseed and soybean oils, and salt.

So: peanuts, oil, sugar and salt. What are the other eight plus ingredients?

[john dough]

It was this Skippy concoction: http://grist.org/scary-food/2011-03-08-r...almonella/

Roasted Peanuts, Corn Syrup Solids, Sugar, Soy Protein, Salt, Hydrogenated Vegetable Oils (Cottonseed, Soybean And Rapeseed) To Prevent Separation, Mono And Diglycerides, Minerals (Magnesium Oxide, Zinc Oxide, Ferric Orthophosphate, Copper Sulfate), Vitamins (Niacinamide, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Folic Acid)

I know that Skippy (regular, not non-fat) has less ingredients, yet still more than just peanuts (is sugar really needed in PB?). I am probably going to end up buying raw peanuts and making my own PB in the future.

We had some PB from a farmer's market last fall (made from just peanuts, nothing else) and it was delicious.

[hal]

after eating peanuts/salt only peanut butter for YEARS, a taste of peanut butter with vegetable oil in it made me gag - yuck!

[Uncle Wig]

john dough wrote:
It was this Skippy concoction: http://grist.org/scary-food/2011-03-08-r...almonella/

Roasted Peanuts, Corn Syrup Solids, Sugar, Soy Protein, Salt, Hydrogenated Vegetable Oils (Cottonseed, Soybean And Rapeseed) To Prevent Separation, Mono And Diglycerides, Minerals (Magnesium Oxide, Zinc Oxide, Ferric Orthophosphate, Copper Sulfate), Vitamins (Niacinamide, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Folic Acid)

I know that Skippy (regular, not non-fat) has less ingredients, yet still more than just peanuts (is sugar really needed in PB?). I am probably going to end up buying raw peanuts and making my own PB in the future.

We had some PB from a farmer's market last fall (made from just peanuts, nothing else) and it was delicious.

Well thar ya go! That shit ain't peanut butter. "Reduced fat" peanut butter is, on it's very face, a ridiculous concept, just like diet soda or alcohol-free bourbon.

"Regular" peanut butter has just enough of the hydrogenated (note: NOT evil partially hydrogenated) oil to keep it from separating. Salt: necessary. Sugar: maybe not, I'll grant you that. Personally, having just had a jar of "natural" pb, I do not prefer it. The top half of the jar is too oily and the bottom half is too hard, and I do not like to wrestle with my pb before I put it on my apple slices.

Hal - I'd really have to do a side-by-side. The amount of oil added to pb is very little. I really wonder if it's enough to affect the flavor. Maybe it's the sugar you're objecting to.

Sorry for the thread hijack! I don't eat at McD's or Burger King, as far as that goes.

[freeradical]

hal wrote:
Read the classic Sinclair book, The Jungle
http://www.amazon.com/Jungle-Uncensored-..._1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1203789536&sr=1-1

That's an interesting book, but the meat operations are only a small part of what that book is about.

[josntme]

I go to the HEB supermarket and make my own peanut butter. Just, selfservice, salted peanuts ground up.

[mrbigstuff]

Uncle Wig wrote:

Well thar ya go! That shit ain't peanut butter. "Reduced fat" peanut butter is, on it's very face, a ridiculous concept, just like diet soda or alcohol-free bourbon.

or, my real favorite: "light" bread. think about that one for a while.