I hate to admit how strangely appealing that is to those of us who find anything daunting like making a cheesecake rather intimidating. I would probably try it once just to see if it was good, horrid or decent.

Really that reminds me of the pancake batter in a can. Have you seen those Linda? Now to me that is just plain wrong:)

Kate

My mom used to buy the Jello brand no-bake cheesecake mix for camping trips. I remember it as being good, but she did add in a brick of cream cheese and put pie filling on top.

My spouse bought the canned aerosol pancake batter once when we were staying in a hotel with a kitchen and my daughter was being a stickler for the Saturday morning pancake rule. It was certainly convenient and neat, but I doubt we'll be seeing any more of it.

Don't laugh. I used to use that Jell-O no bake cheesecake mix. I never liked it but my stepchildren ate nothing else but the Jell-O stuff. They said real cheesecake was too rich. To me, the no-bake mix tasted more like pudding than cheesecake. Good thing now my stepchildren are out of our house and our little man likes the real thing so we don't have to eat Jell-O any more! :-p

Al

"They said real cheesecake was too rich".

I thought that was the point of cheesecake.

Pkramer, exactly! I guess their preference had something to do with their mother. She probably didn't eat cheesecakes so it was something that never served in her family. My 8-year-old won't eat any cheesecakes less than rich! :-)

Al

Actually it's all kinda sad, they can't come up with a new product and give it it's own name. No...they have to plant the seed in the consumers brain that this is something familiar. That's how they get sales! Even though the foodie customer knows better, there's the customer that see's the word 'cheesecake' and that it is the easiest ever to make and they actually buy into it.

I won't even bring up anything about the quality of the ingredients and the price of convienence...

BTW..as long as I'm into my rant, I've always felt this way about 2/3 of the items in the grocery store. So don't even bring up the subject of brownie mixes, Hamburger Helper, etc. LOL

Nancy

I'm a cheesecake slut. I'd probably like it. I like real cheesecake, I like that Jello stuff, too.

Well this carton of "stuff" was with the cream cheese and had the Philadelphia brand on it....so I'll bet people are buying it, rather than putting a package of cream cheese an egg, some sugar and vanilla in the blender and giving it a whirr....easier that a smoothie!
Linda C

I have a vision: me standing in the kitchen eating it from the carton with a spoon...

There's a target market here that's easy to forget...

There are many people in America who do not have things that we take for granted. They live in rented rooms, college dorms, even rent by-the-night motels. They don't have ovens, mixing bowls, measuring cups, or a nice wooden spoon or spatula for mixing. They certainly don't keep a bag of sugar around and a bottle of vanilla & a couple blocks of cream cheese that are expensive. Actually, if you're one of this country's working poor - a cheesecake is a very expensive dessert to prepare. They are in the grocery store shopping right next to you. They are the ones who by-pass the produce section because it's way too expensive.

Many of the people visiting our food bank, for instance, have only a single-burner hotplate, one small saucepan, &, if they're lucky, a rec vehicle size refrigerator. Many have no refrigeration facilities at all available. They are constantly requesting items they can make for a special event or just for a treat for themselves. Even a cake mix is useless. It's not always that they don't know about nutrition, etc. They just don't have the capability to whip up that healthy pot of chili accompanied by cornbread to feed their families.

Sure, it's better to make cheesecake from scratch. It's also cheaper & healthier to make dried beans from scratch but if you don't have a pot large enough nor a hot plate large enough you use canned beans out of necessity. At the food bank we've almost given up on raw ingredients because folks cannot use them. Add to that the difference in our likes/dislikes and the Philly pourable stuff is probably quite attractive.

A pre-made product such as this new pourable cheesecake stuff allows people from less fortunate circumstances to enjoy a cheesecake. It's an expensive threat, no doubt, but I can see where it would give a woman living in a rented room with zero kitchen facilities satisfaction to bring something like this product to work as her contribution to the office potluck even if she has to assemble in the office kitchenette.

Here on this forum, most of us are so fortunate it's easy to forget the millions that don't have the skill, storage, or cooking facilities that we enjoy and take for granted. Even a Sara Lee frozen cheesecake here runs over $10.00. So, this new psuedo-cheesecake product is also probably cheaper even allowing for a can of cherry pie filling as a topper.

These people are also heavy consumers of one-pot-wonders such as Hamburger Helper that requires nothing more than a single pan, a spoon, & a hotplate to feed 4 hungry people.

Now, if the manufacturers would just use less salt & sugar in those boxes it would be a very good thing because there's always going to be a need.

/tricia

Well....this would be a very expensive
"home made treat....the carton of cheesecake filling was just short of $5, and a ready made crust is a little more than a dollar as is a can of pie fuilling...
So the practically homeless person has spent $7 on something to take to work rather than buy a pie for $3 from the reduced for quick sale shelf? I really don't think so.
In my experience, the people who buy stuff like this are the same who will buy cryovac baking potatoes to nuke and frozen scrambled eggs to nuke.
I woprk with needy kids at one of our schools here....one of my current charges is living in an apartment with her mother because her grandmother kicked them out. She's a pudgy thing and eats only breads crackers and cookies...oh yes and chocolate milk. When I suggest she try something else, she says my mom doesn't like that and I don't either.
I also know college students and their cooking ways....I have 2 grand kids in college and they would be much more likely to make brownies from a mix or buy a cheese cake (other than Sara Lee) than to assemble a $7 bad dessert.

I also had the opportunity to really peruse the frozen food section today as I was looking for pita pockets to make my own chips...there are packaged of pre breaded and stacked pork tenderloins to be fried, breaded and fried fish portions, pre cooked hash brown patties...just heat and eat.....and heaven only knows what's in them!!
I have a couple of very affluent friends...well educated, who don't ever cook. One eats almost every meal out or carries in something. They may eat cereal for breakfast, but lunch is subway or the hamburger place....and dinner is carry out or eat out.
The other eats mainly fruit and yogurt and what she carrys out...or takes home in a doggie bag.
It will be interesting to me to see how long this product stays on the shelves...it's sort of in the same category as that "pot roast kit" one grocery store sells...complete with seasoning packet!
You put it all into a roaster pan with a given amount of water, add the flavor packet and pop into the oven or crock pot for a given period....

Linda, you are a hoot. Once I got used to your argumentative disposition I've learned to either steer clear of you or wait with anticipation for your hit depending on my mood, as was the case with this thread. You're reliable, always consistent, and you've never disappointed me. Can't say that about everybody I "know". Sometimes, it's just fun to see what kind of a retort I can generate from you. I'm easily amused, I guess.

/tricia (big friendly smile)

What I don't get, is how there is actually a market for these kinds of products. Why not just buy a ready-made cheesecake? What's the difference?

Good question, Susytwo. I guess it depends on how much cheaper (or more expensive) a box of assemble-yourself mix than a ready-made cheesecake. When I used that Jello stuff years ago, it was cheaper to get the box and mix it myself.

When I first became engaged and moved to Canada, I shared a rental house with a bunch of couldn't/wouldn't-cook singles. The kitchen was practical empty and I had nothing to cook with. Plus, it was so filthy that I wouldn't attempt to make a meal there. Anyway, one day I bought a box of Jello cheesecake mix to make my roommates a treat; just mixed the crumbs with some margarine, mixed the powder with some milk, spread then chilled. When my roommates came home they all looked at me like I was the kitchen goddess. "Whoa, did you make that yourself?" They sure were very impressed with my "homemade" or should I say "home assembled" cheesecake. I smiled and said "Yea, I made it myself!". Fault sense of accomplishment but I loved the attention! LOL

Al

It's all about marketing. The big money is made selling ready to eat / prepared products that are designed on the assumption that cooking skill matters less than shopping skill. It's probably less expensive to buy the ingredients to make a scratch cheese cake than to buy the assemble it yourself kind. But too many cooks are about the instant gratification, and a final product that's just OK, not really good.

I was in the checkout line the other day and I had pork chops, a whole tenderloin, a pork shoulder, romaine, green peppers, apples, mushrooms, flour, sugar, yeast, all fresh ingredients. The clerk asked me what I was going to make with all this and I simply told her that I like to keep real food in the house, not all the prepared, prepackaged, microwaveable crap that is available. Then I felt the dirty look from the woman behind me and realized she had a cart full of microwave dinners, soda, canned this and that, packaged cookies, pouches of converted rice and noodles, ready to eat, just thaw and heat, and not one fresh ingredient. She was young attractive, and by the way she was dressed, fairly affluent.

I thanked the checker and left proudly with my real food, and feeling just the tiniest bit superior!! As they say LOL!!

Steve

I suspect Al hit the nail on the head. Even people who do not have any kitchen skills or equipment can pretend they made something from scratch and get the praise for not buying a pre-made whatever. These may possibly be the same people that swoon over Sandra Lee and her Semi-Homemade stuff. And lets not forget Aunt Sandy is laughing all the way to the bank!

Alexa

We've had this around here for a few years. Maybe because of our near Philly location. It's not pourable it's thick. I wouldn't equate it with a good New York style cheesecake, but it's like the no bake cheesecakes. It's actually quite good. We've bought it several times, mostly when it's been on sale since it is almost five dollars, although that's about what two packages of cream cheese are too. In any case, I don't care much for cheesecake crusts and I don't need toppings, so we usually serve it in small ramekins by itself or with some unsweetened whipped cream if I want to fancy it up. Since it is made with Philadelphia cream cheese it has that taste I like. I don't find it any worse than buying commercial ice cream or any other prepared product.

Hope you don't mind a newcomer chiming in here on this thread -

I've got two newlywed daughters, and they are as different about kitchens as could be. One daughter will make almost anything from scratch if you hand her a recipe, except a cake. She admits to still using a box mix for that, though she'll make her frosting from scratch. This is the daughter that stayed in the kitchen with me from a young age, tried to make meals when she was still in high school, got to college and requested a PRESSURE COOKER as a gift so that she could cook in the dorm kitchen and for her boyfriend (now husband) and his frat brothers.

The other daughter isn't very comfortable yet around the kitchen. I couldn't get her interested. When she got married last summer, her husband had three meals regularly (besides breakfast cereal): tostadas (which she made mostly from scratch), Tuna Helper (yuck) and Kraft mac & cheese. He assured me a couple of days ago, her repertoire is expanding. But she is the type who leans on a lot of those prepared foods in the grocery store.

Me....I will go from scratch, but occasionally (when I come home exhausted), going for a grocery store baked chicken or taking a frozen pizza out of the freezer is a welcome sight.

There's room for everything, I guess...

Donna

I can report that it is as awful as you would expect it would be.

Damn. I was so hoping it wouldn't totally suck. ;) I love cheesecake but won't make one. No one here to eat it but me. Whenever I order a slice in a restaurant it often tastes stale and has collected the flavors of whatever else is in the cold box with it so I rarely bother as I hate to be disappointed.

Sorry Barnmom. If you lived closer we could split a homemade cheesecake so we'd both only be "half" tempted lol

you do know that you can make your own "cheesecake goo" don't you?
Just mix up an 8 0z. package of cream cheese, an egg 1/4 cup sugar and 1/2 tsp vanilla extract.....stick it into a ramekin abd bake it....if you don't want to eat raw egg, use 1/8 cup egg beaters instead of the whole egg.
I wonder if all these assembled and prepackaged and premade food stuffs are assembled, made etc in the US? Are they adding to our economy? Or to China's?
Could be that the breading and packaging is providing jobs for american workers.

Steve, you're right, it's a lot of marketing. I saw a commercial a couple of nights ago for premade mashed potatoes, with a woman peeling potatoes. The commercial made it seem like it was a huge chore and long involved process to peel potatoes and these were already done, just stick in the microwave and voila, no more "drudgery" of peeling potatoes. I just ground my teeth, it's not that hard to peel a freakin' potato!

Ashley is one of those consumers. She hates to cook. She'll eat my homemade macaroni and cheese, but would much prefer Velveeta Shells and Cheese. She likes the Cream of Mushroom soup right out of the can and loves cake from a boxed mix with canned frosting but isn't so wild about homemade cake, it's "too dense and too moist". Sigh. She'd buy the microwave potatoes.

Woodie mentioned on a WFD thread that Ashley has been eating the same mashed potatoes/corn/whatever for as long as I've been posting here and that she'll be eating it when we're old and in "the home". Woodie is right!

Amanda started cooking for David, he's very picky. Meat and potatoes. The only vegetables he'll eat are corn and green beans. No eggs, no rice, no gravy, nothing with fruit in it. No salad, no whole wheat anything. She has managed to branch out and learn to cook around his likes, making sure he has a meal but that there are other components for her and the kids. Occasionally she'll cave in and the kids will get the macaroni and cheese from the blue box which they love, or hot dogs, but not often.

So, Ashley will keep those companies in business, Amanda won't. They were both raised in the same home with the same parents and with my cooking, go figure.

As for low income people, I think there probably are some, but they probably aren't buying cheesecake goo in a tub. My sister is a professional welfare recipient, she and her husband and their children moved in with my stepmother when Dad died. My stepmother is on Social Security, and between all the government checks, they still just make ends meet because they all suck at budgeting and love to shop for useless crap. Anyway, they live on Hamburger Helper, lots of boxed macaroni meals, cold cut sandwiches, hot dogs, etc. Canned vegetables only, because both my sister and my stepmom say it's "too much work" to prep fresh vegetables to eat. No way is Sis snapping green beans when she can just pour them out of a can, or husking corn when she can microwave some frozen stuff. At least I don't have to worry about her raiding my garden very much.

As for the cheesecake goo, it just makes me glad I don't particularly care for cheesecake! Eileen, you can have all of my share.

Annie

It's interesting... reading all the different posts. As I see it, people have different reasons for eating the way they do. I'm regularly surprised at the number of posters who are obviously excellent cooks, using the best of ingredients, that are very picky eaters or have children that are. I will never be rated an excellent cook and I don't apologize for using a brownie mix,sometimes. I've never fixed Kraft Mac and Cheese or Hamburger Helper, or any meals of that sort. I'll eat most anything that stands still...unfortunately it shows.LOL We grew up very poor and we ate whatever was put on the table. Luckily, we lived in the country and always had a garden. I use fresh ingredients, veggies etc. 90% of the time, it's just what I'm used to doing.

It all boils down to....that's why they make black shoes and brown shoes. Choose your preference, and I'll try not to be judgemental.

jude

As you can tell from my mini cheese cake thread, I love cheesecake. And we DO make it, tho I never had until DS brought his recipe home and I saw him make it. It, to me, is something very intimidating to an average cook. I know people who work weird hours, and trying to cook around working, chores, and kids homework, sports, ect., are thankful for the packaged foods, that a lot of you would never buy, or even want to eat if offered, tho I know you would anyway, cause you are all great people. Please don't be insulted by that comment, as it wasn't ment to be that way. It is unfortunate that not everyone is a great cook, or learned to cook with fresh ingredients. My mom was a simple cook, but it was good. I learned the same way, as she is who taught me. I can't say I enjoy cooking or baking. I do it because I have to. Most of our veggies are frozen, not fresh. Definitely not canned. Way too much sodium, and I grew up without salt in anything.

All that said, the cheesecake in a bowl by Philly isn't bad at all. Especially for small spaces. I've only bought it once, but it was for camp, in my tiny motor home frige. I bought the individual crusts, and we could all have a small treat either in the crust or just a small scoop on a plate. I only had a small bowl taking up space needed by all the other good food we had (there was 3 motor homes of family and two tents), but we all got to have a bit of dessert. No, it wasn't as good as DS's, but it was still good. And, no, I won't be buying the prepackaged meals, except for that blue box. Even if I was tempted, most of them have garlic in them, so I couldn't eat them anyway.

Barnmom, where's our spoons?! But you have to promise to eat most of it.

Tami