# mixes are not necessary

Category: Grub Garage

## Post 1 by turricane (happiness and change are choices ) on Wednesday, 27-Jan-2016 18:41:56

I've been looking at all these wonderful recipes on here and I'm struck by a big issue. mixes. why do American think mixes are easier? there are many "scratch" recipes that have the same amount of ingredients or fewer. look at a cake mix, and it is disgraceful and disgusting the amount of extra stuff that is in them. from childhood, particularly for the young and by those who work in rehab teaching mixes are touted as the answer to all cooking woes. not really. they have lots of aditives preseravites and the good ol' fashioned original tastes as good or better. what do you think?

## Post 2 by AgateRain (Believe it or not, everything on me and about me is real!) on Wednesday, 27-Jan-2016 19:36:41

Definitely food from scratch, but unfortunately, I can't get my family on board with healthy eating or living. Also, my mom doesn't see it necessary that we make a budget to make healthier things. I will be making food from scratch once I'm on my own. It's a lot of work, but sooooo worth it.

## Post 3 by DevilishAnthony (Just go on and agree with me. You know you want to.) on Wednesday, 27-Jan-2016 19:50:44

I honestly like both, depending on time and circumstance. when I worked full time and overtime, mixes were a godsend. even now, when I don't feel like fooling with a bunch of extra stuff, I'll mix up a box of cookie mix. I do love to cook, and I enjoy cooking from scratch, but since it's just me these days, and I'm big enough as it is, I try not to live in the kitchen anymore.

## Post 4 by turricane (happiness and change are choices ) on Thursday, 28-Jan-2016 13:43:48

a lot of the stuff they make us do in home ec with scratch made stuff is unnecessary. for example sifting. no need. the only reason it is necessary is, as my mother in law put it so delicately, "to remove foreign bodies and creatures from your dry ingredients." since mostof our stuff is pretty refined and sclean these days, skip it. some folk who are purists say it adds a little more lift to a cake. 'xcuse me? I don't care particularly.

## Post 5 by DevilishAnthony (Just go on and agree with me. You know you want to.) on Thursday, 28-Jan-2016 13:48:37

In the really old recipes, they sifted, since flour would get compacted in storage. Nowadays, they say that if you need to get an accurate measurement, just stir it in the canister a bit, to lighten it, and then spoon it in to your cup.

## Post 6 by Shadow_Cat (I've now got the silver prolific poster award! wahoo!) on Thursday, 28-Jan-2016 14:26:54

Mixes are definitely not necessary, but they are a lot more convenient. I use them most of the time, simply because I don't like cooking. I *can* do it, but I don't like it. Mark, on the other hand, loves cooking, so tends to do most of his stuff from scratch.

## Post 7 by forereel (Just posting.) on Thursday, 28-Jan-2016 15:03:52

I try to eat as close to the earth as possible, so don't buy mix.
Now and again, I'll buy something ready made, but most of the things I eat I make.
Now, I'm not a cook. I can cook, and do it well, but it is only me, so I stick to simple eating.
I buy fresh or frozen veggies, nothing in a can or box if I can help it at all.

## Post 8 by VioletBlue (Help me, I'm stuck to my chair!) on Thursday, 28-Jan-2016 17:27:29

Really? I don't have to sift?
Yeah, that's all I took from this thread. Hahaha I don't like change, though, so I'll sift.
Of course, from scratch is the way to go, if you can. I enjoy using recipes from 50-plus year old cookbooks, so nary a mix is mentioned in them. But I've gotten a bit lazy, lately, so
corners are cut, and too much eating out is done.

## Post 9 by DevilishAnthony (Just go on and agree with me. You know you want to.) on Thursday, 28-Jan-2016 19:50:15

Now I've got a picture of Wayne eating from a bowl on the ground...

## Post 10 by VioletBlue (Help me, I'm stuck to my chair!) on Thursday, 28-Jan-2016 19:59:00

Me too! I pictured him munching on some dirt. Your grocery bill must be nonexistent, huh Wayne?

## Post 11 by Imprecator (The Zone's Spelling Nazi) on Thursday, 28-Jan-2016 22:41:34

Hell I've even managed to fuck up a pizza mix.

## Post 12 by forereel (Just posting.) on Thursday, 28-Jan-2016 23:11:30

hehe.
Guess it did sound that way.
Natural eating is called raw or close to the earth.
Some people don't cook anything. They eat it exactly as it grows, or raw.
I do cook things.

## Post 13 by pinkstrawberry (Zone BBS Addict) on Monday, 02-May-2016 22:03:28

I like homemade cakes and breads that are made from scratch. I don't like to much of the betty crocker mixes it doesn't really taste natural. I mean if I feel lazy then we would make it for a fast finish. I've stopped buying peanuts in the grocery. well I shouldn't say that but I don't buy the ready made ones. I just buy a pound of raw peanuts and either bake it or depending on how much high power heat the microwave could push I put it in for 10 to 12 minutes then salt them and it tastes better than store bought. I like to put pepper for a spicy taste.

## Post 14 by rdfreak (THE ONE AND ONLY TRUE-BLUE KANGA-KICKIN AUSIE) on Monday, 02-May-2016 23:35:37

Yeh I'd be reluctant to use a mix because of the preservatives etc.

## Post 15 by SilverLightning (I've now got the silver prolific poster award! wahoo!) on Wednesday, 04-May-2016 14:02:29

I find it funny that people think things are healthier simply because they're
made from scratch. You could literally grow the sugar cane from which you
made the sugar with which you made the brownies, and grind the flour and
raise the chikcens that laid the eggs and milk the cow you raised by hand, it
ain't gonna make your brownies healthy. They're brownies.
The really interesting thing is the Europeans, especially the French, actually
eat more unhealthy foods than we americans do. They frequently eat heavy
breads, drink wine, make dishes with a lot of cream and salt and fat. I mean
they slather duck fat onto just about everything. The difference is that
Europeans don't sit on their ass all day after eating. We americans tend to want
health in the form of a pill. We want to think that if we eat one specific thing it
will make us happy,a nd we fail to take all the other details into consideration.
P.S. don't measure flour with a cup, use a scale. With a cup you can have one
cup of really packed flour, and one cup of really lose flour, and have it be a wide
difference. But eight ounces of flour is eight ounces of flour. Its much more
accurate.

## Post 16 by rdfreak (THE ONE AND ONLY TRUE-BLUE KANGA-KICKIN AUSIE) on Wednesday, 04-May-2016 23:24:44

I didn't say healthier, I said additive free, or more so, especially if we grind our own flower and make our own butter and no, I'm not being smart, I can do this with my Thermomix (www.thermomix.com.au for the curious).

## Post 17 by forereel (Just posting.) on Thursday, 05-May-2016 8:19:41

I'd say healthier in a sense.
You can decide your salt intake, sugar intake, and many other things if you mix it yourself.
When you buy it prepackaged, you don't get a choice.
I personally think the less crap I eat, the better I feel and the better my body works.
This might not cause me to live any longer, but my quality of life while I'm living is marketly better.
You talk about the French, but that wine they drink and such is actually pretty healthy due to how it is processed.

## Post 18 by HauntedReverie (doing the bad mango) on Sunday, 08-May-2016 9:11:49

I'm glad some of you people have the time and wherewithal to make everything from scratch. When I get home from work, the last thing I want to do is make chicken noodle soup and corn bread muffins from scratch. Can I do it? Have I done it? Do I do a fine job? Sure I do, but ain't nobody got time for that. Hell, that Famous Dave's cornbread mix had all kinds of interesting flavors in it.
On the weekends, I do like cooking from scratch. I make jalapeno cheese bread by hand from scratch. But mixes are necessary in today's world. I'm not barefoot in the kitchen, but I want some delicious chicken noodle soup on a rainy Tuesday, and Bear Creek Country Kitchen does a fantastic job. I guess I'm resigned to the chemicals in my food. There's too many people, not enough time, not enough space. We have to sacrifice quality to feed the quantity. I'd rather die with MSG in my belly than standing at the stove still cutting up this chicken breast.
Are mixes necessary though? If not for mixes, I would be eating cereal and sandwiches for dinner more often than not, or else calling Jimmy Johns to come feed me. At least I can have a variety of things, I can have what I want, and I'm not pissed off standing at the counter cutting veggies for an hour. Are baking mixes necessary? Probably not, but that box can make a better brownie base than I can. If I didn't have premade Pillsbury cinnamon rolls, I would have eaten healthy yogurt for breakfast the other day. I do think mixes make us lazier, and baking mixes make dessert more easily accessible than it oughta be.
But as a full time working woman, I'll pick the mix over scratch any night of the week.

## Post 19 by SilverLightning (I've now got the silver prolific poster award! wahoo!) on Sunday, 08-May-2016 11:01:55

I wholeheartedly agree. Besides that, most of the chemicals people worry
about are nothing to be concerned about. I love this new notion that some
shadowy scientist somewhere is pumping every boxed and canned food full of
every poison they can lay their hands on in hopes of... what? Do people really
think that foods are that unhealthy? Now sure, if you sit around and eat oreos
all day, you're going to get fat, but that's not because oreos have preservatives
in them. its because they're packed full of sugar.
Perfect example, MSG. People think its horrible, that it gives you stomach
aches and headaches and makes your tongue explode or something. Except
only one scientist ever said that, and his only research was literally "I feel gross
after eating chinese food, its probably the MSG". Over fifty years of research
has proven that to be absolutely and undeniably wrong, and yet people still
worry about them.
Really people, just eat food, none of it is going to kill you unless you're
idiotically unhealthy about it. stop trying to outthink it. You all know fast food is
bad for you, so don't eat it as much. if you do, go for a walk that evening to
help counteract it. You know eating nothing but cake is bad, so don't do it.
Other than that, just shut up and eat something.

## Post 20 by forereel (Just posting.) on Sunday, 08-May-2016 16:55:45

The MSG debate is an interesting one.
When I eat Chinese food that includes it, that food goes in one end of me and out the other.
When it doesn't have MSG, it sticks with me.
One day research says, of this isn't bad for you. The next day, oh, yes, stop eating that, it is bad for you.
I'll take my chances the way my mom does, a women that worked all day, raised a family, and didn't use mixes.

## Post 21 by pinkstrawberry (Zone BBS Addict) on Sunday, 08-May-2016 23:41:58

I agree with forereel. I live in Trinidad and my family cooks a lot of Indian food. We sometimes included soya chunks but then someone heard from somewhere that it not good. then everyone stopped eating it. I agree that people could choose what ever they want to eat but some people over react and I keep saying just now we won't be able to eat nothing because they will say that this or that not good to eat. I eat what I feel to when I feel too. which is the easy way I take it sometimes. I use to like the packaged and cup noodles soup but I stopped eating it how it was too salty and it was just only noodles and chicken flavouring.

## Post 22 by SilverLightning (I've now got the silver prolific poster award! wahoo!) on Monday, 09-May-2016 8:03:32

Therein lies my point. Nevermind the fact that most of the time when people
say that quote-unquote science has found something to be unhealty, a scientist
somewhere dies of absolute annoyance. Unless you've actually read the studies
themselves, and know enough about science to judge those studies, shut up
about studies. It gets very annoying when people see something on the news
that takes thirty seconds for them to explain that eggs are bad this week, and
yet the study that news quote is citing has nothing to do with eggs, or is funded
by the anti-egg league, or only asked four people in northern Egypt if they like
eggs or not. It doesn't matter, cuz now people think that eggs are bad because
news.
In fact, ironically, Last week Tonight just did a segment on that exact subject.
its on youtube, go look it up, its very funny and very educational to people who
don't follow science very closely.
But here's the thing, and Strawberry said it, she stopped eating the cups of
noddles because she didn't like them. That is perfectly fair. I don't like seaweed,
its gross. Its healthy, but its gross. So I don't eat it. If you don't like something,
don't eat it. If you like something, eat it. We don't live in a world where eating
something is going to kill you without you trying really really hard to make it do
so. I don't thnk there's anyone ot there going, "man, tis soup is tasty, but it
would be so much better if I put bleach in it". Its soup, if you like it, eat it, if
you don't, get something else that you do like. Its not that hard.

## Post 23 by pinkstrawberry (Zone BBS Addict) on Monday, 09-May-2016 10:02:34

well said SilverLightening. for all the days of my life I drink milk someone heard something that milk not good so they just stopped drinking so far I'm not dead yet. and in time to come everyone has to die so what ever they eat and how ever they eat in the end we die when its our time. I used to drink tap water and we never had any filters like that but now I'm able to buy water and I feel comfortable with the filtered water. I red something about pork and honestly it made me feel sick to my stomach and i gave it up. it could be true or not but I'm really not a pork person. i would eat it around Christmas time but i not sure if i will this year.

## Post 24 by forereel (Just posting.) on Monday, 09-May-2016 11:03:01

I just stick to base. I want it as close to natural as I can go. With that, I feel better, it taste better to me.
Once I stopped eating lots of processed foods when I was a teen, I learned that raw veggies and such actually have more taste then I tknew they did.
My acne cleared up, and just lots of benefits I gained.
I didn't require seasonings or sugar on many things, because they were good as they were.
Now, I'm hooked on that.

## Post 25 by pinkstrawberry (Zone BBS Addict) on Monday, 09-May-2016 19:57:04

When I was a teen I had acne and I used a veeco naturally fear cream and it cleared up and I didn't have to stop eating things that I like. I don't like veggies much how some of them taste bitter to me. My favourite would be carrots, cabbage, Lettuce, cucumbers and mushrooms. I probably like more but that's all I could remember for now. I know that some canned stuff aren't good because they add preservitives but I just eat tuna and sometimes Vienna saugesses. Maybe the fruit cocktail and I drain the juice because its real sweet.