It took me a long time, but I do use the boxed scalloped potatoes....they are much better than they were originally. If I have any left-over ham, I toss that in, or sometimes bacon.

I have inst.msh. pot, but don't really care for them. They are ok in a pinch tho. Does "boil-in-bag" rice count? I always keep that on hand, plus the rice in pound bags; canned sweet potatoes(altho I also buy yams and fix like baked potatoes). Some frozen entrees I like are lasagna and mac/cheese (picky about brands tho).

Hate the taste of canned or jars of gravy.

I don't use instant mashed potatoes but do buy cans of sweet potatoes at times. I use those for the sweet potato casserole that I make, no measuring, just drain and put through the food processor. I do buy and use fresh sweet potatoes. I like some packets of gravy mix, white gravy. I also use boxes of pudding mix and cake mixes. I also like the refrigerated rolls or biscuits at times. Once in awhile I will use mac and cheese. I like the homemade best. I also like Krusteze pancake mix and use it almost all the time. I am sure I have over looked some things but that is the most of the things I use.

Sue

Dottie, my husband, back then boyfriend tried to get me to make mashed tators just like mom. I tried and tried and never succeeded. Finally, after coming to the US, and meeting my mother in law I found out her secret. Instant mashed potatoes.

What a hoot. and NO, I never have them in my house.

Moni

I should have said in my original post the I am not a "purist" I do use canned, packaged & frozen foods. I guess they have been around so long I don't consider them convenience foods. like canned vegies & fruit, along with some prepared canned foods like chili. I do use packaged scalloped and aug. potatoes. I also buy pancake mix and Yikes!, syrup. No I don't make my own. Although there was a very lean time in our early married years, money wise, when we had pancakes and home-made syrup ( brown sugar & water) foe a number of meals. Dottie

None. Can't stand them.

In the 50's, they were a fad, an unfortunate one IMO, because they are mostly chemicals.

My friends and I often spend overnights together so we know each other's eating habits pretty well. One of the gals likes non-dairy coffee creamer and the rest of us refer to it as "White Death". I feel the same way about Cool Whip. All chemicals.

My favorite convenience food is canned soup. No surprises, not a lot of chemicals. But Campbell's soup has got so expensive. I used to buy it for ten cents a can, now it's $1.79, $1.89.

I love instant potatoes. If you use more milk and less water, they taste really good, especially if you're careful which brand you buy. I grew up with them, they were the only kind my mom made. I like boxed mac and cheese, too, I used to only buy the kind with the pouch of cheese, but now I prefer the powdered kind. I've tasted some homemade that was just awful, at least Kraft is consistent. And it's fast, which you can't say about scratch. That with a salad is a nice, fast supper when time has gotten away from us. Or a frozen pot pie! Hey, I'm not too proud to admit it and I think I'm in real good company considering the volume of these products that are sold every day/week/year.

Just yesterday I threw away most of a 5lb bag of potatoes. Most days I don't think about what I'm going to have for supper until I'm ready to eat and don't take time to peel, cook, mash; not to mention the cleanup.

I have some instant potatoes on the shelf, but have only made them a couple times. I'm going to start using them now.

I've tried some gravy mixes but they were yucky. I bought some Pioneer brand and haven't used them yet. They were more expensive so maybe they will be okay.

I don't like any canned soups, except Campbells Chicken Gumbo, which I use for "gravy" on fried chicken. It seems to be hard to find now though.

I like Stouffers Lasagna. I'm not a cheese lover, so don't buy Mac and cheese. I use Ragu spaghetti Sauce. Canned or frozen veggies and canned peaches and pears. And I have "gone above my raisin'" and I use Martha White Cornbread mix.

I remember 'way back making syrup and I put (artificial) maple flavoring in it.

That's about it.

It is no fun, cooking for one!

Sue

I keep beef broth and chicken broth on hand but don't use many convenience foods,

I love to cook, and am a competent cook (I'd say great cook, but that sounds egotistic). However, I do love the chicken piccata and the chicken with alfredo sauce mixes offered by a chain restaurant (Macaroni Grill). When I'm tired, pressed for time, or just want an evening off from the kitchen, those mixes are life-savers!

I use instant iced tea & hot chocolate. I do not make: tortillas, tortilla chips, salsa, I use boullion cubes for stock, strawberry jam or grind my own flour(There was a thread on bread baking, which I do & people ground their own flour!!!!). I have made my own jam(Chokecherry or raspberry) in the past, but haven't lately.

Interesting....

I don't eat mashed potatoes so I have never bought instant potato anything. I make au gratin potatoes from scratch as well as mac and cheese. I do use boil in a bag rice some times. I buy the packets of instant hot chocolate. My coffee and tea has to be the real thing. My idea of convenience food is a bag of salad that has all the fixin's in it. I also like Classico pasta sauce.
When DS was in grade school, I had 3 of his fellow soccer players over for spaghetti and I got a hunk of parmesan cheese out of the fridge and asked who wanted some. The other 3 boys thought it just came in a green box. Boy, were they surprised at fresh grated.

We eat instant mashed taters,but only certain brands.I do however change the amounts of milk and water they suggest.I generall use 1/2 water and half milk.That way they aren't too watery tasting,or too milky.
I used to use just fresh potatoes but now that it's just the 2 of us too many of them were spoiling before i used them.I also like a couple of those pasta salads by betty crocker,especially the ranch with bacon one,so good.
Kathi

Canned soups. Boxed Jello brand gelatin and cooked puddings. Boxed cornbread mix. Frozen peas. Not much else.

I don't use instant potatoes because it doesn't take very much time to make real ones and we like them much better. I do buy refrigerated pie crusts, though. -- Well, not often because I rarely bake a pie :)

Flamingo, you're not alone! Thank goodness for convenience foods. Years ago, DS's date made macaroni and cheese for him, but he told us later that it was yucky because it wasn't "the real stuff....you know, the blue box." Ah, yes, the kind his mom makes. LOL

It's hard for me to go through a bag of potatoes at times too so I've been using canned potatoes a lot more. I really like to roast them. Stouffer's has a decent frozen meatloaf. Canned veggies are my primary veggies along with bagged salads. Occasionally some chunky soup.

I used to use the instant potatoes but got tired of them. I would add some powdered milk though to help the flavor. I also like the box sour cream & chive potatoes. Put in some leftover meat or some sausage or something and it's quite hearty.

I tried the boil in the bag rice one time. My GF gave me a box of stuff when she was moving and didn't want to haul it so I took it home and it had some of these in it. All I could taste was plastic so it got tossed. I do use Minute or Instant rice though. And canned wild rice.

Depends on how technical you get with "convenience" foods. I buy bread though I like a multigrain. Wouldn't hamburger and sausage be convenience foods? :)

Oh and the ultimate convenience food... frozen key lime pie and pecan pie.

I don't like instant potatoes, because I like LUMPS in my mashed taters! lol Somethings I like fresh or from scratch and somethings I prefer the boxed/canned!

My Mom always used jarred spaghetti sauce, usually Ragu. My DH refuses to eat jar sauce, so when we have spaghetti HE makes the sauce, using his Mom's recipe. Fry onion in oil, add chopped beef, fry till brown, add tomato paste, water, wine, spices as you like. Boil it down, stir frequently. It takes a lot of patience. I use instant mashed potatoes if I'm in a hurry, if I have time (and potatoes) I pressure cook them and mash myself. It all depends on how much time is available. My favorite thing to make for dinner is reservations!

I'm like Sue--cooking for one.
If I didn't use convenience foods, I'd starve.
Really, even if I'm cooking from "scratch," jarred pasta sauces, a container of breadcrumbs, etc., are usually part of the recipe.

I'd rather play with the dog or go for a walk with her than make pasta sauce "truly" from scratch.

I also have started buying some of the pre-cut fruit that groceries do. A full container of strawberries rots so quickly for me before I get through it. And when I want pineapple, no sense buying a whole one (I couldn't even figure out how to pick a ripe one and cut it properly). Watermelon, too. I know it's all overpriced, but at least I eat it before it goes bad.

My Mom always made her mashed potatoes from real potatoes. I did buy instant one time and didn't like them so threw it away. I use canned spaghetti sauce, but mostly I cook from scratch. When I'm feeling really bad and don't feel like cooking I have bought some meals, either frozen or dehydrated so I could have a quick meal. I haven't found anything I like except for certain frozen pizzas.

I use some of the basics, instant m potatoes, but only certain brands. Can't stand hungry jack. Hunts tomato sauce, paste and spaghetti sauce, it doesn't have garlic in it, which most do & I can't have. Minute rice. I can't just go buy frozen dinner type stuff, because it all has garlic in it. I watch the canned soups for the same reason, but I don't use them for soup, I use them in things. Canned broth. Frozen veggies, I hate the salty, mushy taste of canned.

Tami

If you don't cook in quantity, I'd think that 'convenience foods' are more likely to be the way you 'cook'.

DH likes a roll at dinner. I buy 'em and freeze 'em. Same with breakfast muffins and whole-grain bread. If we don't have rolls, we prefer baked potoatoes over mashed -- and we eat the skin. I don't make pasta -- buy the (refrigerated) fresh and use Buitoni's Tomato Herb Parmesan sauce over it. A pound of sauce (from the refrigerated section of the grocery) is plenty for dinner-for-two over pasta, and there's enough left to spoon over veal patties another night. Of course shredded Romano makes it all better!

I buy 'cuts' of meat, not whole sections, and chicken 'parts', not a whole chicken. I buy only the turkey's 'breast' too.

I'll buy a frozen deep dish pizza -- and a frozen deep dish fruit pie. Half of most desserts go into the garbage because we can't/don't eat them before they spoil anyway.

I buy canned soup. Like the Con-Agra soups best.

With me, 'Cooking For Two' is more like thawing and nuking for two. LOL But then, I'm an 'eat to live' person, not the reverse.

I don't know, because the definition of 'processed food' is so hard to pin down.

For example, I make my own bread, but I use a combination of flours, all of which have to be heavily processed to get the end result. I use brown sugar, but even that has gone through a lengthy processing, er, process. I drink organic milk, but that has been heat-treated and centrifuged to make it semi-skinned and pasturised. I eat cheese, which doesn't fall ready-made off trees!

I'm just grateful it's not the "good old days" when there wasn't a choice. I remember when no "decent" woman would serve a cake made from a box mix. I love a can of chicken noodle soup with triscuts when I have a cold. I don't make my own bread because it would be moldy before we finished the loaf. Guess I need preservatives LOL!

Marie Callendar's pot pie occasionally.
Stove Top stuffing, doctored - I add chopped onions, carrots, celery, broccoli, some garlic
Au Gratin potatoes, doctored - I add cooked bacon bits, sauteed diced onion and extra cheese
Rice A Roni - love the chicken flavor once in a while and the Spanish Rice if we're having Mexican for dinner
Mac and Cheese in the blue box once in a blue moon. Velveeta Shells and Cheese once in a blue moon
Canned soups and broth
Zatarain's rice mixes once in a while
If I don't feel like cooking, DH will have a box of Hamburger or Tuna Helper

I used to make instant mashed potatoes, doctor them up and thought they were pretty good. My hubby hates the thought of anythings instant, so no more instant mashed for me. But, since he's retired and insists on the real deal, I make sure he cooks and peels the potatoes. Although I love to make my own Mac 'n Cheese, I also love blue box with the pouch of cheese sauce. That's my favorite thing to throw together in a rush. I can make a meal on just that mac 'n cheese.

I was talking with some friends at church on Sunday about how much we like some convenience foods (eg., Kraft Macaroni & Cheese), but don't consider them as substitutes for the real thing. I.e., there are some times when I want Kraft dinner, and sometimes when I want *real* macaroni and cheese, where I make a roux and add cheese. Love them both, but think of them as different things.

I'm with a few others.... I cook for one. Maybe that should be I sometimes cook, LOL. I don't buy convenience food (except for one item) for a couple of reasons. First they are more expensive and two they aren't as good for you as fresh food. The only exception is instant mashed potatoes. But I only use it as an instant thickener to soups and sauces when for whatever reason I don't want to use flour or corn starch.

Brownie and cake mixes. Instant rice. Once in a while I use instant potatoes but prefer the real thing.

Angel: I dared not mention Hamburger Helper! When I reach for it in the supermarket, I feel extremely guilty and a little embarrassed--sometimes I'll pass it by on the first "run" of the aisles if there's somebody else there! LOL!

I used to get the lasagne flavor but now I make a crock-pot lasagne that I like much better...

And Ann in Fla.: That was a smart move, making the hubby peel and cook!!

My first thought was "I don't eat convenience foods", but I do. I certainly don't tap my own syrup! And I don't make my own pickles, salsa, tortillas, bread, preserves, peanut butter. Sin of sins, we use bottled spaghetti sauce!
I don't eat instant taters, but I rarely eat mashed potatoes.
I do eat simple "clean" foods as much as possible and I tend to cook my own beans and soups from scratch and freeze them, but I sometimes grab a can, when I'm out of freezer stock.

My Mother canned, pickled and froze fresh veggies. We never had instant potatos.

If we have mashed potatos, Dean makes them. I prefer scallop potatos from scratch or baked potatos.

A couple weeks ago I was making potato soup (REAL potatoes..LOL)
Towards the end of cooking it was still a little thin, so after adding a little corn starch, and still not happy with the consistency, I seemed to recall someone (maybe here at the KT) mentioning using instant potatoes to thicken. It worked like a charm! It had great potato flavor!
Thanks to whoever it was...

I look at anything I don't have to hunt, shoot, gut, skin, butcher, wrap, and freeze as a convenience food.

Same with anything I don't have to plant, weed, water, and harvest.

Not a fan. Most of them are too sweet, too salty, too SOMETHING. DH and DD prefer the convenience products over home made usually, *sigh*.

I won't eat hydrogenated oils and try to stay away from as many additives as I can. I also avoid corn syrup and modified corn starch in products when I don't feel they belong there. They are by-products of the beef industry, and I think the "powers that be" are using the food chain to dispose of the waste - by feeding it to people!

But really, most of the time I just don't like the taste or texture of whatever it is. DH buys these au gratin potatoes that smell like wet dog when they are cooking. Makes me gag. Plus he eats them from the pot (not baked). Everybody knows that the best part of au gratin is the browned bits around the edges and sides!

Pringles coat my mouth with an odd waxy fat, Doritoes are disgusting the first time around, never mind the breath afterwards. Sour cream and onion anything....I can't bear the smell or the taste of that fake sour cream flavouring. Many cheese flavourings have it as well, plus a sweet aftertaste that just does not belong and actually makes my eyes tear up LOL.

I will agree though, that there is a time and place for everything (even VELVEETA), so I am not a snob about it.

we use instant out of necessity..i figure they're so processed they don't have any potassium left, lol...

if i made mac and cheese from scratch, they'd probably have twice the calories...