22 Sep, 2010
Scratch cooking
Posted by andrea tomkins in: Publishing/writing/career stuff|Recipes and Food|Yaktivism
The other day a lady came up to me and said HEY, I READ YOUR BLOG. And then she said I DON’T BUY MEATBALLS ANYMORE, and jokingly hung her head in shame.
We laughed, and I told her not to sweat it. I buy meatballs sometimes too. I do it because it’s cheap and it’s convenient, but the truth is, it’s best not to get too friendly with the frozen food aisle at the grocery store. Why? Because so much of it is crap.
I don’t want to make anyone feel bad (I was recently accused of being preachy, which I admit, may be true) but I would like to put this out there for wider consideration: Why don’t we want to spend good money on good food?
Studies show that Americans are spending less than ever on food.
“Cheap food is often the product of factory farming and industrial agriculture. With jumbo size products being sold for cheaper, Americans may be gaining more for their dollar, but they’re also gaining more weight, losing their health, spending more on their healthcare and supporting environmentally unsustainable practices.”
(From the Huffington Post – click through on the link and watch the video too.)
Why are we spending LESS on food instead of MORE?
This is what I found myself wondering as I tapped out my latest piece for SavvyMom. It’s about a food cooking/delivery service here in Ottawa called Scratch Kitchen. **
Scratch Kitchen makes great meals – lunches, dinners, mains and sides – that are cooked and frozen. So all you have to do is pull the food out of the freezer before you go to bed and it’s defrosted and ready to heat n’eat when you get home from work the next day.
Scratch Kitchen offers free delivery with a minimum order, but I bought some meals at the Metro in the Glebe, one of a handful of places you can pick it up yourself.
In the name of research I bought a serving of the portioned Singapore chicken potato and coconut curry for my lunch. It was a great antidote to a chilly fall day that also made my tummy very happy. I also bought a larger serving of Butter Chicken with a side of Chili Lime Rice for dinner that night. Delish.
These are not assembly-line products. This is not factory food. Sean, the owner and chef and delivery guy, is truly passionate about the meals he makes. I was really impressed by his dedication to the cause.
Sean – who has worked as a chef in many different places – started Scratch Kitchen because he was seeking some balance in his life. He wasn’t getting to see his sons, and he and his wife found themselves “passing like two ships in the night.” Scratch Kitchen was a good solution. He could (sort of) work regular hours and continue to feed people without the pressures that come with being a chef in steaming hot kitchen. (Although as I write that I realize he didn’t actually leave the kitchen at all. And added on a few different pressures in the process. But you catch my meaning right? This is a different ball of cheese.)
Anyway, I digress.
The single serving of my Singapore curry cost $6.00. It was a good portion for my lunch and it tasted great. I know, however, that many people will scoff at the price. Some of your are thinking: “…but my Michaelina’s costs $2.89! Why would I spent six bucks on lunch?” Right?
The only similarity between my lunch from Scratch and the Michelina’s frozen entrees is the fact that they can both go into my mouth and get pooped out the other end. That’s about it.
Eating is not just about filling our bellies. Eating is about good health – mental and physical – and what’s more, it should be a pleasure, not a chore. And yet it is becoming so, mostly because there are all kinds of food products on the market and it’s become confusing and you practically need a degree in science to figure out what you’re eating.
Most frozen meals contain ingredients you don’t recognize, along with additives and preservatives your body doesn’t need, and in fact, may be doing it harm in the long term. WHO KNOWS.
If you read something which extols “LOW FAT” virtues for example, you should immediately be suspicious. This is marketing lingo. It’s a bunch of executives and a few creative-types sitting around a table planning on selling more yogurt/sour cream/cheese. It’s not your doctor talking. These people are trying to make money. Food is business, and marking something as LOW FAT means market research indictes people would buy more product if it was low fat. So the food manufacturer cuts out fat and replaces it with something else. Sometimes it’s sugar, or cornstarch, or gelatin, or some other ingredients you can’t spell or pronounce.
Take, for example, Michelina’s Spaghetti with Meat Sauce. One serving (one package) contains 300 calories and 550mg of sodium. This is almost 31% the sodium you should be eating in one day. Here are the ingredients (remember, if there is a lot of something it appears early on the list):
Caps are not mine. Sorry this is hard to read.
INGREDIENTS: COOKED ENRICHED MACARONI PRODUCT (WATER, DURUM SEMOLINA [ENRICHED WITH NIACIN, FERROUS SULFATE, THIAMINE MONONITRATE, RIBOFLAVIN, FOLIC ACID]), WATER, DICED TOMATOES (TOMATOES, TOMATO JUICE, CALCIUM CHLORIDE, CITRIC ACID), BEEF, TOMATO PASTE, ONIONS, LESS THAN 2% OF CELERY, CARROTS, CHICKEN BASE (CHICKEN MEAT AND CONCENTRATED CHICKEN STOCK, SALT, CHICKEN FAT, SUGAR, DRIED WHEY, FLAVOR BLEND [AUTOLYZED YEAST EXTRACT, CORN SYRUP SOLIDS, CITRIC ACID, NATURAL FLAVOR], FLAVORING, EXTRACTIVE OF TURMERIC), SUGAR, RED WINE WITH SALT, GARLIC (WITH WATER AND CITRIC ACID), SALT, CANOLA OIL, MALTODEXTRIN, BEEF BASE (ROASTED BEEF AND CONCENTRATED BEEF STOCK, SALT, HYDROLYZED PLANT PROTEIN (SOY, CORN, WHEAT), CORN OIL, SUGAR, AUTOLYZED YEAST, FLAVORING, MALTODEXTRIN, DRIED WHEY, DEXTROSE, CARAMEL COLOR), MARGARINE (LIQUID AND PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED SOYBEAN OIL, WATER, SALT, VEGETABLE MONO AND DIGLYCERIDES, SOY LECITHIN, NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, BHA & BHT ADDED TO PROTECT FLAVOR, VITAMIN A PALMITATE AND VITAMIN D3 ADDED), MODIFIED FOOD STARCH, XANTHAN GUM, SPICES, EXTRACTIVES OF PAPRIKA AND NATURAL FLAVORS, MALTODEXTRIN AND NATURAL FLAVOR.
CONTAINS: MILK, SOY, WHEAT
That’s a long list. I’m not sure about you, but there are a few things in there I don’t recognize. Alarm bells go off for me when I see anything that’s hydrogenated, artificially flavoured, and corn syrupy. And I am pretty sure that many of us can make a decent meat sauce that doesn’t include half of the things listed above. (Hey, here’s a good one you can use!)
I realize that people are cash-strapped, and not everyone can afford to spend $6.00 on a nice lunch everyday. So I think that making it at home instead has to become a bigger priority for all of us. If a place like Scratch Kitchen doesn’t appeal to you, how about making a big batch of spaghetti/chili/stew/mac & cheese and freezing it in lunch-sized containers for yourself to eat during the week? It takes time, but you are worth it.
** Want to try a meal from Scratch Kitchen? Use coupon code ‘SavvyMom0910’ at checkout for a one-time 10% off your order. Coupon is not applicable for purchase of gift cards and is valid until October 31, 2010.
