Frozen dinners are handy, affordable, and often pretty darn tasty, but for those who have to watch their salt intake, make sure you read the label.
Frozen Foods
- Thread starter Chetlaham
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There Are 365 Days in a Year
And I cook dinner from scratch 360 days a year. Yes, I’ll occasionally have frozen Chicken Nuggets for our dinner, but everything else that’s served with them is homemade, like oven fries and we always will have either a salad or raw carrot, celery and green pepper sticks with the dinner.
I make ALL of our salad dressings, bread, rolls, hamburger and hot dog buns, cakes, pies, cookies, EVERYTHING from scratch. Like I said earlier we do like Hormel Chili, but thats only occasionally when we have Hot Dogs for dinner because it’s an easy and tasty side with the dogs. But again we will have raw vegetables with that dinner to balance things out nutritionally.
Cooking isn’t difficult if you work smarter, not harder! Clean up as you go and use a minimal number of pots pans and bowls. Just because you may own every tool, pan and device known to man doesn’t mean you need to use them all to cook a meal. It’s the skill, thought and good ingredients that you put into a meal that makes it good, not the fancy tools and trappings. Learn to follow directions from a simple, basic cookbook.
We NEVER waste food! I carefully plan our meals by the week and shop accordingly to get the best deals on what’s in season and only buy what we can use before it spoils. Plus, we aren’t adverse to leftovers. If it’s good on the first night it will be good on the second, third and fourth nights too if it’s reheated properly and accompanied by a nice fresh salad on the side.
I can understand that some people don’t like to cook, or are intimidated by it. I would suggest that those people try to learn how to cook a few things that they really like and once they learn that its not that difficult and that their home cooked meals often taste better than frozen and cost less too they may become cooking aficionados. Start small and work your way up.
Eddie [this post was last edited: 8/4/2024-15:25]
And I cook dinner from scratch 360 days a year. Yes, I’ll occasionally have frozen Chicken Nuggets for our dinner, but everything else that’s served with them is homemade, like oven fries and we always will have either a salad or raw carrot, celery and green pepper sticks with the dinner.
I make ALL of our salad dressings, bread, rolls, hamburger and hot dog buns, cakes, pies, cookies, EVERYTHING from scratch. Like I said earlier we do like Hormel Chili, but thats only occasionally when we have Hot Dogs for dinner because it’s an easy and tasty side with the dogs. But again we will have raw vegetables with that dinner to balance things out nutritionally.
Cooking isn’t difficult if you work smarter, not harder! Clean up as you go and use a minimal number of pots pans and bowls. Just because you may own every tool, pan and device known to man doesn’t mean you need to use them all to cook a meal. It’s the skill, thought and good ingredients that you put into a meal that makes it good, not the fancy tools and trappings. Learn to follow directions from a simple, basic cookbook.
We NEVER waste food! I carefully plan our meals by the week and shop accordingly to get the best deals on what’s in season and only buy what we can use before it spoils. Plus, we aren’t adverse to leftovers. If it’s good on the first night it will be good on the second, third and fourth nights too if it’s reheated properly and accompanied by a nice fresh salad on the side.
I can understand that some people don’t like to cook, or are intimidated by it. I would suggest that those people try to learn how to cook a few things that they really like and once they learn that its not that difficult and that their home cooked meals often taste better than frozen and cost less too they may become cooking aficionados. Start small and work your way up.
Eddie [this post was last edited: 8/4/2024-15:25]
Reply 15- You at my house or something lol?!? 
I do the same thing, hot dog buns and some onions. Kuhne pickle one the side. Extends and compliments the smaller frozen meal portions. Some BBQ sauce for dip. Wholesome and easy- you know how to eat! Yum.
I do the same thing, hot dog buns and some onions. Kuhne pickle one the side. Extends and compliments the smaller frozen meal portions. Some BBQ sauce for dip. Wholesome and easy- you know how to eat! Yum.
bbq sauce
I love bbq sauce to go with hot dogs and even frozen ribs.
I love bbq sauce to go with hot dogs and even frozen ribs.
Both my parents cooked when I was growing up. I started baking when I was 10 or 11 and baked and cooked ever since, kind of second nature. Interestingly, my dad WWII pow, never had an issue helping around the house. Cook, bake, scrub the bathroom, not a problem for him. Very unusual for his generation.
As much as I love to cook and bake occasionally from scratch not everyone has the time or is willing to live the life of a trad wife.
That`s when unhealthy convenience products like cans or frozen food come in handy.
I enjoy them but I also try not to have too much of it.
Some home made dishes require ingredients that won`t get used up at once and the rest of it might spoil until you need it again. In this case a convenience product comes out cheaper in the end and let`s not forget that wasting food is always a sin even if you`re not a believer just like me.
Of course everything highly processed is not healthy but at least in Europe there are no preservatives in frozen food and if your want you meals made from scratch to taste good you will find yourself to use lots of unhealthy things like butter, cheese, eggs, sugar, salt or whatever as well.
Well, that`s my 2 cents of sugarcoating an unhealthy lifestyle. Guess it`s all about finding the right balance then you`re fine.
That`s when unhealthy convenience products like cans or frozen food come in handy.
I enjoy them but I also try not to have too much of it.
Some home made dishes require ingredients that won`t get used up at once and the rest of it might spoil until you need it again. In this case a convenience product comes out cheaper in the end and let`s not forget that wasting food is always a sin even if you`re not a believer just like me.
Of course everything highly processed is not healthy but at least in Europe there are no preservatives in frozen food and if your want you meals made from scratch to taste good you will find yourself to use lots of unhealthy things like butter, cheese, eggs, sugar, salt or whatever as well.
Well, that`s my 2 cents of sugarcoating an unhealthy lifestyle. Guess it`s all about finding the right balance then you`re fine.
Frozen can have as much salt as canned or more depending on what you buy. On top of all the preservatives and chemicals. Once in a while I'll buy a Healthy Choice beef merlot frozen dinner but its rare. I try to eat fresh and Ive gone from 3 blood pressure pills a day to one and dropped from 243lbs to 218lbs. I cut out pizza and pasta as well and made them occasional treats.
Re:#24
“As much as I love to cook and bake occasionally from scratch not everyone has the time or is willing to live the life of a trad wife.”
I haven’t always had the time to be a “trad wife”. But I come from a generation when the family always ate dinner together and had a home cooked meal. My Mom cooked dinner every night, except Wednesday’s when my Dad had his Native Sons of the Golden West meetings. On Wednesday’s Mom took us out for fast food or picked up take out Chinese food as a treat.
Then after my Dad died when I was 11 I learned to cook and bake and started to help out with the meals. When I was a freshman in HS Mom had to go back to work full time and I came home every day from school after a 1 hour bus ride and prepared dinner for the family and we all waited until Mom got home from work to eat dinner together. I firmly believe that a healthy family life includes meals together so everyone can keep up to date with whats happening in their lives.
When I left home at 19 I lived alone for the most part ( my brother and sister lived with me off and on) until I was 30 when I met and married David. But even when I lived alone I still cooked dinner for myself most nights. Then after David and I became a family I cooked dinner for us every day. Most of our working lives David worked from 3 pm to 11 pm and I worked 7 am to 5:30 pm 4 days a week. I cooked dinner every night and ate by myself, then at 11 pm I picked up David from work ( we only had 1 car, never had a 2nd car) and I sat with him while he ate the dinner that I’d heated up for him. It was time for us to be together on work days. I also packed our lunches every night while I was also preparing dinner. I kept up this schedule for 31.5 years! Yeah, sometimes I was dead tired when I got home but it was a labor of love. Once I retired it was great to be able to prepare dinner at my leisure.
My point is that I think folks would all be a lot happier if families broke bread together daily and kept in touch with each other without devices at the table. I know it’s old fashioned as hell to many and as foreign a concept as flying to the moon, but sometimes there’s a while lot of wisdom in the quaint customs of yesteryear. Give it a try with your family and you may find that you enjoy it and become a lot closer too.
Eddie
“As much as I love to cook and bake occasionally from scratch not everyone has the time or is willing to live the life of a trad wife.”
I haven’t always had the time to be a “trad wife”. But I come from a generation when the family always ate dinner together and had a home cooked meal. My Mom cooked dinner every night, except Wednesday’s when my Dad had his Native Sons of the Golden West meetings. On Wednesday’s Mom took us out for fast food or picked up take out Chinese food as a treat.
Then after my Dad died when I was 11 I learned to cook and bake and started to help out with the meals. When I was a freshman in HS Mom had to go back to work full time and I came home every day from school after a 1 hour bus ride and prepared dinner for the family and we all waited until Mom got home from work to eat dinner together. I firmly believe that a healthy family life includes meals together so everyone can keep up to date with whats happening in their lives.
When I left home at 19 I lived alone for the most part ( my brother and sister lived with me off and on) until I was 30 when I met and married David. But even when I lived alone I still cooked dinner for myself most nights. Then after David and I became a family I cooked dinner for us every day. Most of our working lives David worked from 3 pm to 11 pm and I worked 7 am to 5:30 pm 4 days a week. I cooked dinner every night and ate by myself, then at 11 pm I picked up David from work ( we only had 1 car, never had a 2nd car) and I sat with him while he ate the dinner that I’d heated up for him. It was time for us to be together on work days. I also packed our lunches every night while I was also preparing dinner. I kept up this schedule for 31.5 years! Yeah, sometimes I was dead tired when I got home but it was a labor of love. Once I retired it was great to be able to prepare dinner at my leisure.
My point is that I think folks would all be a lot happier if families broke bread together daily and kept in touch with each other without devices at the table. I know it’s old fashioned as hell to many and as foreign a concept as flying to the moon, but sometimes there’s a while lot of wisdom in the quaint customs of yesteryear. Give it a try with your family and you may find that you enjoy it and become a lot closer too.
Eddie
Just to be clear that plain frozen vegetables like peas, corn, broccoli, etc do not contain any chemical preservatives. They're frozen right away after picking and the next best thing to fresh. Frozen meals and some coated frozen vegetables and canned are a whole nother story.
