No substance to this post, but it's on my mind. I read something once to the effect "you know you've made it when you don't have to think twice about adding guac, despite the extra charge." Along the themes of living large, I've come to realize that sometimes buying prepared foods kicks butt.
I'm coming up with a rough order of preference for prepared foods.
1. Diced onions
2. Sliced mango
3. Diced butternut squash
I don't count "triple washed" salad greens as being prepared, since I don't trust the washing. But all that dicing and slicing listed above, huge help. Onions make me cry. Mangos are slippery $hits. Butternut squash is just rock solid, hard to peel, and hard to dice.
I'm lucky that our division of labor means I only have to make a grocery list and then my husband does the shopping, but it means that I don't even really know what else is available in terms of short-cut prepared foods.
What else should I add to the list that's a big time-saver?
I have found prepared stuff is very hit or miss ... and almost never fully meets my expectations for fresh produce. Of course in the winter it doesn't matter :)
ReplyDeleteWe've done squash and tried the garlic but not much else recently. Getting frozen stuff like cut up veggies and fresh fruit can be a wonderful thing as well!
I totally forgot about minced garlic. I use jars of that stuff. I've been happy with the quality of the squash, onions and mango where the chopping has been done for me.
DeleteI buy frozen diced butternut squash, and, of course, canned artichokes and hearts of palm because no way am I tackling those with a knife. I think I chop onion almost daily and might be immune to it making me tear up because I never do anymore.
ReplyDeleteI've never done frozen butternut squash, we just do the diced kind that's in with the fresh produce. Frozen seems like a really good idea, I'll have to try it. I forgot that I also do canned artichoke hearts and hearts of palm, totally with you in not dealing with them. Onion immunity -- the sign of a real cook I think! Impressive!
DeleteOnions used to drive me nuts...then I got contacts! Never again! Now I have no reaction whatsoever. So lovely, because I put onions in almost everything.
ReplyDeleteI generally do not buy prepped vegetables. I never, ever, ever dice raw butternut - that is just way too much work. I prick it and either microwave it whole before using it or parboil (or parmicrowave!) it to the point that I can scoop it out of the peel and dice.
I don't buy much pre-prepped, mostly because I'm cheap, so I don't have any other recommendations.
Why don't my contacts give me that same protection? But I think I'm also lazy, so the diced onions are doubly nice.
DeleteI buy frozen butternut squash sometimes because it is a huge time saver and I love it! I also keep bags of frozen cauliflower, broccoli, and brussel sprouts on hand. I need to buy minced ginger because that's a pain in the neck to peel and chop. I do use the diced garlic, canned artichokes and canned coconut milk. I love these recipe blogs that suggest using coconut milk right out of the coconut. Right let me get my machete and hack it open. Did you ever see that video about how to peel a mango on a drinking glass? It does work, but still a bit messy.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to have to look that up! We should be better about having more frozen veggies on hand.
Deletei'm 100% with you on the pre-cubed butternut squash. have you ever tried to peel and cube one yourself? next to impossible. i almost cut my finger off the one time i tried.
ReplyDelete