Cleaner Eating and Calorie Counting
Replies
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lemurcat12 wrote: »crystalgulliver wrote: »scottacular wrote: »crystalgulliver wrote: »Hey!
I've always taken the low calorie route when dieting which is obviously essential with weight loss however lately I've been taking a more healthier approach with my diet. Following recipes from books such as Deliciously Ella and Madeleine Shaw's Get The Glow - these recipes tend to be high in calories but they are so good and actually make you feel fuller for longer. Is anyone else using a clean eating approach or should I say 'cleaner' ingredients with their journey on here? I understand everyone has a different meaning to the term 'clean'. Obviously we could all eat a cheeseburger and a copius amount of Quavers and still be in our daily calorie goal.
x
Quavers? And you call yourself a clean eater?! Skips are far superior.
And also when did I call myself a clean eater?! Far from! I'm asking if ANYONE ELSE here is taking that approach
I mostly cook from whole foods. I consider that just regular eating, not an "approach." I also try to eat nutritious balanced meals and don't like most fast food (well, depending on how fast food is defined, I'm never sure what counts). However, some say "clean eating" is not eating food that comes in packages and that seems silly. My yogurt and oatmeal and eggs all come in packages, for example. That it's in a package doesn't make it bad for me.
I think the question about what a particular food adds to your diet is separate from whether it's "highly processed."
I suppose if one was eating lots of fast food or store-bought sweets going to mostly home cooking might seem like a big change, but I really don't think it's so uncommon. I also don't think I need special rules about NEVER eating certain things that I eat rarely anyway.
The bolded part...that's what caused me to get fat. And yes, cooking at home most of the time was a big change (and required patience and tolerance from my husband.)
Early on in my attempts to change, I took a stab at making low calorie meals from only fresh whole foods, but I just couldn't keep it up. It took way too much time and energy to plan out meals, buy various foods from various markets, and then cook everything from scratch. Some people enjoy this, but it became a burden to me. Now I mostly prepare meals at home, but I use convenience type ingredients like canned tomatoes and boxed pasta. I manage to lose weight this way.
From time to time I read too much in these forums and begin to think I may end up doing myself harm by eating this way, but then the more rational (IMO) posters bring me back to my senses.
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crystalgulliver wrote: »Hey!
I've always taken the low calorie route when dieting which is obviously essential with weight loss however lately I've been taking a more healthier approach with my diet. Following recipes from books such as Deliciously Ella and Madeleine Shaw's Get The Glow - these recipes tend to be high in calories but they are so good and actually make you feel fuller for longer. Is anyone else using a clean eating approach or should I say 'cleaner' ingredients with their journey on here? I understand everyone has a different meaning to the term 'clean'. Obviously we could all eat a cheeseburger and a copius amount of Quavers and still be in our daily calorie goal.
x
My approach is moderation, like most people have said. The reason being, I really love being able to have the foods I enjoy while still losing weight. I'm already restricting my calories, so I don't want to put the added pressure of also restricting my choices. That being said, I eat mostly nutrient dense foods - lots of meat and veggies - but I always plan for ice cream, chocolate... whatever. I find that allowing myself the option to have them actually reduces my cravings, and some days I don't have any at all. When I ate paleo, I really liked the Practical Paleo cookbook, so check that out if you haven't
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mizzlarabee wrote: »crystalgulliver wrote: »Hey!
I've always taken the low calorie route when dieting which is obviously essential with weight loss however lately I've been taking a more healthier approach with my diet. Following recipes from books such as Deliciously Ella and Madeleine Shaw's Get The Glow - these recipes tend to be high in calories but they are so good and actually make you feel fuller for longer. Is anyone else using a clean eating approach or should I say 'cleaner' ingredients with their journey on here? I understand everyone has a different meaning to the term 'clean'. Obviously we could all eat a cheeseburger and a copius amount of Quavers and still be in our daily calorie goal.
x
My approach is moderation, like most people have said. The reason being, I really love being able to have the foods I enjoy while still losing weight. I'm already restricting my calories, so I don't want to put the added pressure of also restricting my choices. That being said, I eat mostly nutrient dense foods - lots of meat and veggies - but I always plan for ice cream, chocolate... whatever. I find that allowing myself the option to have them actually reduces my cravings, and some days I don't have any at all. When I ate paleo, I really liked the Practical Paleo cookbook, so check that out if you haven't
Yes, cutting it all out as well as calorie counting is pretty tough and we all like a treat now and then! Thanks a lot! x 0 -
lthames0810 wrote: »Early on in my attempts to change, I took a stab at making low calorie meals from only fresh whole foods, but I just couldn't keep it up. It took way too much time and energy to plan out meals, buy various foods from various markets, and then cook everything from scratch. Some people enjoy this, but it became a burden to me. Now I mostly prepare meals at home, but I use convenience type ingredients like canned tomatoes and boxed pasta. I manage to lose weight this way.
From time to time I read too much in these forums and begin to think I may end up doing myself harm by eating this way, but then the more rational (IMO) posters bring me back to my senses.
I think that's sensible, and that's one reason I get so frustrated with all the "clean" stuff, that seems to confuse what's really helpful for health and weight loss with other things.
I'm one of those people who finds doing that stuff largely motivating, but I also can go way overboard and make myself crazy and managed to gain weight when I was in one of my most overboard phases.
Also, since I didn't gain weight from fast food or store-bought sweets, for the most part, I know just giving up that stuff isn't the answer--it's quite easy to overeat on homemade foods or by going out to restaurants that focus on fresh local ingredients. At least, assuming that one has fresh local butter!0 -
lthames0810 wrote: »lemurcat12 wrote: »crystalgulliver wrote: »scottacular wrote: »crystalgulliver wrote: »Hey!
I've always taken the low calorie route when dieting which is obviously essential with weight loss however lately I've been taking a more healthier approach with my diet. Following recipes from books such as Deliciously Ella and Madeleine Shaw's Get The Glow - these recipes tend to be high in calories but they are so good and actually make you feel fuller for longer. Is anyone else using a clean eating approach or should I say 'cleaner' ingredients with their journey on here? I understand everyone has a different meaning to the term 'clean'. Obviously we could all eat a cheeseburger and a copius amount of Quavers and still be in our daily calorie goal.
x
Quavers? And you call yourself a clean eater?! Skips are far superior.
And also when did I call myself a clean eater?! Far from! I'm asking if ANYONE ELSE here is taking that approach
I mostly cook from whole foods. I consider that just regular eating, not an "approach." I also try to eat nutritious balanced meals and don't like most fast food (well, depending on how fast food is defined, I'm never sure what counts). However, some say "clean eating" is not eating food that comes in packages and that seems silly. My yogurt and oatmeal and eggs all come in packages, for example. That it's in a package doesn't make it bad for me.
I think the question about what a particular food adds to your diet is separate from whether it's "highly processed."
I suppose if one was eating lots of fast food or store-bought sweets going to mostly home cooking might seem like a big change, but I really don't think it's so uncommon. I also don't think I need special rules about NEVER eating certain things that I eat rarely anyway.
The bolded part...that's what caused me to get fat. And yes, cooking at home most of the time was a big change (and required patience and tolerance from my husband.)
Early on in my attempts to change, I took a stab at making low calorie meals from only fresh whole foods, but I just couldn't keep it up. It took way too much time and energy to plan out meals, buy various foods from various markets, and then cook everything from scratch. Some people enjoy this, but it became a burden to me. Now I mostly prepare meals at home, but I use convenience type ingredients like canned tomatoes and boxed pasta. I manage to lose weight this way.
From time to time I read too much in these forums and begin to think I may end up doing myself harm by eating this way, but then the more rational (IMO) posters bring me back to my senses.
Not only is there nothing wrong with boxed pasta and canned tomatoes, but they are preferred in many cases. Dried pasta is just flour and water, and its relative strength vs. fresh pasta makes it better for a heavy sauce. Also, it is blander, so you get a much different balance than with a fresh egg pasta.
And peeling/seeding your own tomotoes is crazy time intensive, and unless you have incredible tomatoes it doesn't taste better, because the canned ones (at least the better brands) are picked at optimal ripeness and seasonality. Sure, it has more sodium, but you make a sauce out of it, so you need some salt for the right taste. You can just add less salt when you are making sauce and it all evens out.
Now canned broth - that's an abomination.0 -
And peeling/seeding your own tomotoes is crazy time intensive, and unless you have incredible tomatoes it doesn't taste better, because the canned ones (at least the better brands) are picked at optimal ripeness and seasonality. Sure, it has more sodium, but you make a sauce out of it, so you need some salt for the right taste. You can just add less salt when you are making sauce and it all evens out.
This is so true. This was the height of my obsession back in the day and it was really stupid. Now I do lots of things with delicious fresh tomatoes when they are in season, but I usually don't mess with making a marinara with them (not so much a summer dish in my mind anyway).
Reading Marcella Hazen's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking, among other books, helped me snap back to reality.0 -
lemurcat12 wrote: »And peeling/seeding your own tomotoes is crazy time intensive, and unless you have incredible tomatoes it doesn't taste better, because the canned ones (at least the better brands) are picked at optimal ripeness and seasonality. Sure, it has more sodium, but you make a sauce out of it, so you need some salt for the right taste. You can just add less salt when you are making sauce and it all evens out.
This is so true. This was the height of my obsession back in the day and it was really stupid. Now I do lots of things with delicious fresh tomatoes when they are in season, but I usually don't mess with making a marinara with them (not so much a summer dish in my mind anyway).
Reading Marcella Hazen's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking, among other books, helped me snap back to reality.
Peeling tomato trick: Put all your tomatoes in a bowl, pour boiling water over them, wait until the skin splits on them, peel! Voila! Cut in half and spoon out the seeds.
That being said, I like my pre-made pasta sauces
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I'm thinking OP doesn't need or want the clean debate that we see on all the other threads. Perhaps the folk that try to eat whole foods or clean"ish" diary items or what they try at home-can chime in...0
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mizzlarabee wrote: »lemurcat12 wrote: »And peeling/seeding your own tomotoes is crazy time intensive, and unless you have incredible tomatoes it doesn't taste better, because the canned ones (at least the better brands) are picked at optimal ripeness and seasonality. Sure, it has more sodium, but you make a sauce out of it, so you need some salt for the right taste. You can just add less salt when you are making sauce and it all evens out.
This is so true. This was the height of my obsession back in the day and it was really stupid. Now I do lots of things with delicious fresh tomatoes when they are in season, but I usually don't mess with making a marinara with them (not so much a summer dish in my mind anyway).
Reading Marcella Hazen's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking, among other books, helped me snap back to reality.
Peeling tomato trick: Put all your tomatoes in a bowl, pour boiling water over them, wait until the skin splits on them, peel! Voila! Cut in half and spoon out the seeds.
That being said, I like my pre-made pasta sauces
I will try that. It's the seeds that are always a trick for me, plus messing with the tomato mill. But the bigger point is that good quality canned tomatoes are going to be tastier than out of season "fresh" tomatoes anyway.
I like to make my own sauces, but am also lazy, so do marinara or meat sauce with a canned tomato base and use the fresh tomatoes for eating plain or on a salad or gazpacho or any of plenty of other uses.
My fast pasta sauce ends up being not particularly saucy--just meat and veggies in olive oil, usually, maybe with some chopped tomatoes.0 -
lemurcat12 wrote: »mizzlarabee wrote: »lemurcat12 wrote: »And peeling/seeding your own tomotoes is crazy time intensive, and unless you have incredible tomatoes it doesn't taste better, because the canned ones (at least the better brands) are picked at optimal ripeness and seasonality. Sure, it has more sodium, but you make a sauce out of it, so you need some salt for the right taste. You can just add less salt when you are making sauce and it all evens out.
This is so true. This was the height of my obsession back in the day and it was really stupid. Now I do lots of things with delicious fresh tomatoes when they are in season, but I usually don't mess with making a marinara with them (not so much a summer dish in my mind anyway).
Reading Marcella Hazen's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking, among other books, helped me snap back to reality.
Peeling tomato trick: Put all your tomatoes in a bowl, pour boiling water over them, wait until the skin splits on them, peel! Voila! Cut in half and spoon out the seeds.
That being said, I like my pre-made pasta sauces
I will try that. It's the seeds that are always a trick for me, plus messing with the tomato mill. But the bigger point is that good quality canned tomatoes are going to be tastier than out of season "fresh" tomatoes anyway.
I like to make my own sauces, but am also lazy, so do marinara or meat sauce with a canned tomato base and use the fresh tomatoes for eating plain or on a salad or gazpacho or any of plenty of other uses.
My fast pasta sauce ends up being not particularly saucy--just meat and veggies in olive oil, usually, maybe with some chopped tomatoes.
Yeah, I hear you I usually buy the jars of passata and then add whatever I want to that. 0 -
doktorglass wrote: »I'm pretty new to mfp but I read this all the time: "clean eating". What does this mean? It sounds like eating like a normal person? If so, why are people packaging it like an "approach", as a new sort of restrictive diet?
Like most dieting terms, it seems to have various meanings. Way back when I was kid, clean eating meant eating natural foods. Foods as close to their natural state as possible. It was a bit simpler then because there were less food additives and man-made foods and if there were GMO/GE foods I'd never heard of them. But also more difficult because fresh produce out of season was much more expensive and hard to find.
But even today, most people have a good general idea of what is meant by "cleaning up your diet".0 -
crystalgulliver wrote: »scottacular wrote: »crystalgulliver wrote: »Hey!
I've always taken the low calorie route when dieting which is obviously essential with weight loss however lately I've been taking a more healthier approach with my diet. Following recipes from books such as Deliciously Ella and Madeleine Shaw's Get The Glow - these recipes tend to be high in calories but they are so good and actually make you feel fuller for longer. Is anyone else using a clean eating approach or should I say 'cleaner' ingredients with their journey on here? I understand everyone has a different meaning to the term 'clean'. Obviously we could all eat a cheeseburger and a copius amount of Quavers and still be in our daily calorie goal.
x
Quavers? And you call yourself a clean eater?! Skips are far superior.
And also when did I call myself a clean eater?! Far from! I'm asking if ANYONE ELSE here is taking that approach
I'm pretty sure using the phrase "ANYONE ELSE" implies that you are already employing the tactic yourself and are looking also for others who do the same.
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I'm thinking OP doesn't need or want the clean debate that we see on all the other threads. Perhaps the folk that try to eat whole foods or clean"ish" diary items or what they try at home-can chime in...
Nobody cares who still eats McDonald's and PopTarts. And nobody cares who eats nothing but non-GMO organic chia seeds and salads.
OP, I don't post my diary here because I don't need the approval of the masses, but I eat a nutritionally balanced diet that doesn't involve too much fast food, etc. It includes a lot of foods I have to prepare myself by doing more than opening a box and hitting a button on the microwave or pushing down a toaster.
Just make sure you're buying foods that have a good micronutrient content, and that's good enough. Ignore the debate because it is pretty much meaningless and you can get caught up in terminology rather than teaching yourself about nutrition in a rational way. We all know that the body works better if there's more nutrition in the food we eat beyond just the three big macros. It really doesn't matter whether it comes in a package down one of the aisles or on the fringe of the store, and organic is pretty meaningless when it comes to exposure to pesticides because organics are still coated in pesticides (just most of them happen to be made of things like ground-up poisonous caterpillars and plants). Nutrition content of an organic food item is identical to the nutrition content of the conventional food item. And if the food item happens to be picked at peak ripeness and flash frozen, it probably has a higher nutrition content than the fresh stuff sitting on the produce shelves.
And GMOs are why we can still eat papaya and why Southeast Asia can still eat eggplant, so ignore all that, too.
That's what I do, and I'm pretty fit.
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lthames0810 wrote: »
From time to time I read too much in these forums and begin to think I may end up doing myself harm by eating this way, but then the more rational (IMO) posters bring me back to my senses.
Waves hi...
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lemurcat12 wrote: »And peeling/seeding your own tomotoes is crazy time intensive, and unless you have incredible tomatoes it doesn't taste better, because the canned ones (at least the better brands) are picked at optimal ripeness and seasonality. Sure, it has more sodium, but you make a sauce out of it, so you need some salt for the right taste. You can just add less salt when you are making sauce and it all evens out.
This is so true. This was the height of my obsession back in the day and it was really stupid. Now I do lots of things with delicious fresh tomatoes when they are in season, but I usually don't mess with making a marinara with them (not so much a summer dish in my mind anyway).
Reading Marcella Hazen's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking, among other books, helped me snap back to reality.
Canned tomatoes all day every day. They're picked at their peak and canned. You're likely to get better nutrition from them than from the "fresh" ones that are picked green and shipped to stores even during peak season. And you are definitely going to get better taste because grocery tomatoes taste awful.0 -
The irony of clean eating is... really it should be eating stuff that you've grown yourself... which may be covered in soil. Tee hee hee.
Why stuff you've grown yourself? When I give my mom fresh eggs and food from my garden, how is that less clean than when we eat that same food ourselves?0 -
Need2Exerc1se wrote: »The irony of clean eating is... really it should be eating stuff that you've grown yourself... which may be covered in soil. Tee hee hee.
Why stuff you've grown yourself? When I give my mom fresh eggs and food from my garden, how is that less clean than when we eat that same food ourselves?
I was being tongue in cheek
On a side note... I'd love to have chickens. Fresh eggs every morning would be amazeballs! Even covered in poop
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lemurcat12 wrote: »kshama2001 wrote: »The following represents my own personal definition based on what works for me and my body - as YMMV there is no need to peck it to death.
I think people should eat however makes them feel best, and that includes avoiding foods they have negative reactions to. What I don't like is the "clean eating" term which is unnecessarily confusing and operates only to call other foods "unclean" and suggesting that rules that really have nothing to do with general good health are superior or ought to be followed by others.
For example, my body reacts to flour just fine. I don't eat all that much of it* (well, most of the time, I go through phases and have been actually eating sandwiches this past week, bought from a local place that has good quality bread) and I try to mostly eat whole grain options as I think they contribute more to my diet, but I get no negative reactions to eating non sprouted grains. So while I certainly don't think you should eat them, if you do, I don't get why that would make them "unclean."
*I'm just not a bread person, which is one big reason, along with convenience, why I added it back to my diet. It seemed ridiculous to cut out a food that I'd generally not overeat, and the same goes for pasta. I don't have the "binge on starchy carbs" gene, I guess. When I make ground beef I usually leave out the bun because the extra calories aren't worth it to me, but I don't think that makes my burger "cleaner." I also use beef from a local farm for ethical reasons, but I don't claim that's a weight loss or nutrition issue (I think there are minor nutrition benefits, but that's not why I bother).
Ahh, the bolded part explains the strong reactions I've been noticing. Good points.
Ya, my comments were just meant to illustrate what cleaning up my diet means to me, and was not meant to be extrapolated. For example, I know my sister does better with flour than I do - I don't make across-the-board judgments about flour.
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I'm thinking OP doesn't need or want the clean debate that we see on all the other threads. Perhaps the folk that try to eat whole foods or clean"ish" diary items or what they try at home-can chime in...
Good point. I do eat a lot of "clean" foods. We grow a lot of our produce, raise chickens for eggs and meat, and we hunt. But, we also buy food a the store. Whole grains, dry beans, pork and sometimes beef (I do look for hormone and steroid free), bread, torrilla chips, sandwich wraps, cereal, fresh fruit/vegetables out of season, etc. I love fresh food, but it's good to be living in a time when all this other stuff is readily available.
I do try to limit the amount of pre-prepared foods and meals we eat.0 -
lemurcat12 wrote: »And peeling/seeding your own tomotoes is crazy time intensive, and unless you have incredible tomatoes it doesn't taste better, because the canned ones (at least the better brands) are picked at optimal ripeness and seasonality. Sure, it has more sodium, but you make a sauce out of it, so you need some salt for the right taste. You can just add less salt when you are making sauce and it all evens out.
This is so true. This was the height of my obsession back in the day and it was really stupid. Now I do lots of things with delicious fresh tomatoes when they are in season, but I usually don't mess with making a marinara with them (not so much a summer dish in my mind anyway).
Reading Marcella Hazen's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking, among other books, helped me snap back to reality.
This reminds me of my mother making spaghetti sauce (way) back when I was a small child. She would buy a big basket of fresh ripe tomatoes at a stand out by the road next to a farm. She peeled and seeded all those tomatoes. This sauce would take all day to cook and in my memory it was awsome.
On one infamous occasion, at supper time, she was carrying the big bowl of sauce to the table and it slipped out of her hands and broke on the floor, flinging sauce everywhere. It was the first and only time I ever heard the word "*kitten*" from her lips. My dad took charge and drove us to eat supper out. My mom was still crying at the table in McDonalds.
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And peeling/seeding your own tomotoes is crazy time intensive, and unless you have incredible tomatoes it doesn't taste better, because the canned ones (at least the better brands) are picked at optimal ripeness and seasonality. Sure, it has more sodium, but you make a sauce out of it, so you need some salt for the right taste. You can just add less salt when you are making sauce and it all evens out.
Now canned broth - that's an abomination.
Ya, I don't peel or seed when I make sauce from fresh (home grown or farmers market) tomatoes. I could borrow Mom's foley mill, but don't bother.
I do use canned tomatoes, but don't buy cans containing High-Fructose Corn Syrup, or stuff I don't recognize or consider unnecessary.
I don't buy canned tuna that has added soy or sodium pyrophosphate. Market Basket store brand tuna doesn't add this, and their price is comparable to name brands, if not less.
http://articles.philly.com/2009-06-25/food/25285499_1_low-mercury-canned-tuna-sashimi-grade
...Most inexpensive canned tuna contains two ingredients that turn the fish into sponges so it absorbs more water that drains right out: soy (often listed as vegetable broth containing soy) and sodium pyrophosphate. You may be paying less money, but what you're getting is less tuna and more additives. Three companies, StarKist, Bumble Bee, and Chicken of the Sea, represent more than 80 percent of America's canned tuna, but most of their products contain additives, something easily checked in the can's list of ingredients.
I'm voting for higher quality foods and less cheap filler additives with my wallet.
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So continuing on this off-topic topic, what foods would you rate as worst and best in terms of effort/cost of making it yourself vs. buying from a store?
I've already discussed canned tomatoes as being totally not worth it, and I'll add fresh pasta to that - unless I'm making something stuffed like a ravioli b/c store bought fillings are disgusting and the dough is too thick. But just fettucini noodles it's not that different in taste, the cost is modest and the time (and mess) savings is huge.
Totally worth it is homemade stocks. It's like a totally different and delicious dish vs. canned or even the fancier boxed versions. Obviously a lot of doing nothing time, but active time is minimal. And the cost difference isn't that much since I usually use a whole chicken and then use the meat for chicken salad (or a pot pie if I'm ambitious).0 -
I'm with you on home made stock. I keep a carton of chicken stock around for emergencies but for the most part make my own, which has a lot more chicken flavor.
If I cook a whole chicken, I throw the bones, water and peppercorns in the crockpot overnight, and bam, stock! I eat a lot of bone-in chicken thigh, and freeze the bones until I accumulate enough for a batch of stock. I also freeze onion skins to throw in if the color isn't important - they tinge it a little red.
I freeze the stock in different sized containers - 1/2 C, 1 C, 2 C and 4 C, so I always have the right amount handy for a recipe.0 -
I look at recipes and meals, and anything I can make myself, I usually will. I haven't had boxed mashed potatoes, canned soup, or boxed mac & cheese for a while now-- although I can't get my mac & cheese to turn out like the stuff from Kraft *sigh*
I don't cut anything out and still visit Taco Bell, Burger King, and such, but I've just taken a different approach to some of the things I make and am more selective with my ingredients.0 -
kshama2001 wrote: »And peeling/seeding your own tomotoes is crazy time intensive, and unless you have incredible tomatoes it doesn't taste better, because the canned ones (at least the better brands) are picked at optimal ripeness and seasonality. Sure, it has more sodium, but you make a sauce out of it, so you need some salt for the right taste. You can just add less salt when you are making sauce and it all evens out.
Now canned broth - that's an abomination.
Ya, I don't peel or seed when I make sauce from fresh (home grown or farmers market) tomatoes. I could borrow Mom's foley mill, but don't bother.
Yes! You just need a mill. It's super easy. I haven't bought store bought tomato sauce in years.0 -
I'm thinking OP doesn't need or want the clean debate that we see on all the other threads. Perhaps the folk that try to eat whole foods or clean"ish" diary items or what they try at home-can chime in...
Chime in about what? I mean, since you don't seem to approve of the discussion of pasta sauce, which actually seemed potentially helpful. One reason this thread is fertile for a good clean eating debate is because OP didn't really explain what she's looking for other than people who cook from whole foods, I guess (which is a lot broader than "clean eaters").
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AmandaHugginkiss wrote: »lemurcat12 wrote: »And peeling/seeding your own tomotoes is crazy time intensive, and unless you have incredible tomatoes it doesn't taste better, because the canned ones (at least the better brands) are picked at optimal ripeness and seasonality. Sure, it has more sodium, but you make a sauce out of it, so you need some salt for the right taste. You can just add less salt when you are making sauce and it all evens out.
This is so true. This was the height of my obsession back in the day and it was really stupid. Now I do lots of things with delicious fresh tomatoes when they are in season, but I usually don't mess with making a marinara with them (not so much a summer dish in my mind anyway).
Reading Marcella Hazen's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking, among other books, helped me snap back to reality.
Canned tomatoes all day every day. They're picked at their peak and canned. You're likely to get better nutrition from them than from the "fresh" ones that are picked green and shipped to stores even during peak season. And you are definitely going to get better taste because grocery tomatoes taste awful.
Tomatoes are one of the few things I can grow really well, so I'll have a surplus in July and August, but that's when I'm less likely to want a marinara or meat sauce. Totally with you on supermarket tomatoes, especially in the winter.0 -
So continuing on this off-topic topic, what foods would you rate as worst and best in terms of effort/cost of making it yourself vs. buying from a store?
I've already discussed canned tomatoes as being totally not worth it, and I'll add fresh pasta to that - unless I'm making something stuffed like a ravioli b/c store bought fillings are disgusting and the dough is too thick. But just fettucini noodles it's not that different in taste, the cost is modest and the time (and mess) savings is huge.
Totally worth it is homemade stocks. It's like a totally different and delicious dish vs. canned or even the fancier boxed versions. Obviously a lot of doing nothing time, but active time is minimal. And the cost difference isn't that much since I usually use a whole chicken and then use the meat for chicken salad (or a pot pie if I'm ambitious).
Before I was a vegetarian, I would agree with you on the stock. Low sodium boxed vegetable broth? It'll do, especially when you end up cooking more vegetables in it anyway.
Let's see, not worth making yourself? For me, cost-wise and time-wise? Greek yogurt. I buy Fage, so it would take a lot of time to get it that thick.
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kshama2001 wrote: »I do use canned tomatoes, but don't buy cans containing High-Fructose Corn Syrup, or stuff I don't recognize or consider unnecessary.
The canned tomatoes I'm aware of don't have any of that stuff. They are just tomatoes.
I hate canned tuna, so can't speak to that. (I love tuna steak, though.) I don't mind tinned sardines or herring.0 -
Bingo!!! 0
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