This is an utterly random and non-Christmasy post. Sorry. But sometimes you're walking in WalMart and something bizarre catches your eye. And you whip out your camera and take a picture. Like this:
Potatoes! Yummy mashed potatoes in a plastic package. They're "America's Favorite"!
Don't you wonder what's
in there? Well, now, let's flip that package over and take a peek ....
Get a
load of that ingredient list! After "non-fat dry milk," it launches into a foreign tongue that my insides do not speak. At least potatoes are the first ingredient. Hmm.
They have quite a few
flavors ... err ... chemical combinations to please you. These were displayed right by the register for easy purchase of a packet or four.
Something tells me that Mom's Thanksgiving or Christmas mashed potatoes just were
not meant to be made this way. Ewww. Yeah, we all ate some Hungry Jack mashed potatoes from a box, way back when. But I'm betting the ingredient list on that box didn't hold a candle to the alphabet soup on these packages. No thanks!
Update: I checked online for Hungry Jack mashed potatoes (the flakes in the box), to discover its ingredient list. Here it is: Potato flakes, sodium bisulfite, citric acid, BHA, Monoglyceride, cottonseed oil partially hydrogenated, sodium acid phosphate, butter oil. Not great, but a lot better than the 11-line paragraph on the plastic packet.
6 comments:
Oh, my goodness. Convenience food at its absolute worst.
Yes, I despair over the quantities in thigns sometimes!
Don't hate me, but I like them!
I must admit to having some potato flakes in my pantry, but I rarely eat mashed potatoes. I think I have the less chemical-ized variety. lol. But I have made my share of "from scratch" mashed potatoes. Yeah, we eat some pretty plastic stuff. Makes one shudder to think. :-/
just awful . . . and real mashed aren't that hard or time-consuming, and loads better.
I get what you are saying - I really do - and I'm not much of one for processed fake foods. Sadly, the reality of my life is I'm often taking my kids places in the afternoon and supper just needs to be ready when I get home - so often everything goes in the crockpot and rice cooker. But some days are potato days - and those packets are rather handy so dinner can hit the table within 10 minutes of walking in the door - so there's time for family dinner before I head off to classes myself.
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