"Nutritional values, and quality are going to take the hit. "
My whole point is that they don't have to---not unless, like Ms Lee, you insist on making convenience the priority.
Here's an example of her style versus mine:
Sandra Lee's style: You buy a package of those Crock Pot Classics in the frozen food section. Throw it in a slow cooker and add some wine, instead of water, "to make it seem homemade."
My style: (Putting aside the fact I don't use slow cookers). You buy some meat and veggies. Add appropriate herbs & spices. Pour in a little wine. Cook until done.
In addition to being better tasting and healthier, mine is exponentially less expensive than hers. But with mine you have to invest some time. With hers you invest dollars.
Another example of the difference. Have you seen those commercially where a chain of gas station/convenient stores is pushing their coffee over coffee shop coffee as a money saving step. Why, the commercial asks, pay 4 bucks for a cup of coffee when ours is just as good for 99 cents?
I would suggest there is no way that 99 cent coffee is just as good as 4 dollar coffee. I also think than anyone who drops four bucks on a paper cup filled with badly brewed coffee and hot milk is a fool. But the real point is, if money is a concern, you can buy a lot of coffee grounds for 99 cents and brew your own. That way you'll reduce your daily coffee fix from $4 to about a dime.
"I was going to mention that name brand [I'm sure you meant house brand here] products are probably remnants swept from the floor and scraps not to the standards of the name brand product, lol.
I lol but sometimes I think it's a fact."
I guess it could seem that way. I don't buy enough canned goods to have a feel for it (I prefer frozen for many reasons). But what many people fail to realize is that produce for human consumption is graded, just like meat. Name brands use the equivalent of prime grade. House brands use the equivalent of unrolled.
Going back to the green pea example. The name brand will all be of a size. They will be plumb and smooth skinned. Color will be deep, rich, and appealing. They will all meet certain nutritional criteria, and fit into an industry standard brix scale. Etc.
The house brand will be different sizes. Some will be broken or crushed. There will be a diversity of visual appeal, with many of them wrinkled, shrunken, etc. Color will often be off. In short, they will look, as you say, as if they were the sweepings off the factory floor. And they will meet the minimum standards for human consumption as set by the government and industry. And, compared to the name brand, they will often taste bad (has to do with their brix number, you see).
Now then, if its a case where the name brand is say, $2 and the house brand a buck, I might consider the house brand for some applications. But if, as is often the case, there's only a few cents difference between the two, then I'll opt for the name brand everytime, as I'd rather pay a few pennies more for the increased quality.
Question: Have you, or has anyone, done a comparison between canned goods and frozen in terms of price? As I said, I rarely use canned goods, because frozen is such better quality. But I wonder if there's a cost difference as well.
