Cooking With Packaged Food Is Great, Actually
Packaged, processed, and convenience foods are convenient and economical, but unfortunately, cooking with shared biscuits and microwaveable pasta has received many derogatory names, including “cheap,” “low-end,” or “disgusting.” depending on who you are talking to. My advice? Don’t talk to those people anymore. Ready-to-cook, packaged ingredients are affordable and easy to prepare, no matter your culinary experience. And let’s not forget that these ingredients are delicious as hell and have a lot of nutritional potential. Grab your baking dishes, it’s time to take advantage of the convenience and creativity of prepackaged food preparation.
Let’s be realistic, if you’ve been working all day, can’t afford to order, and don’t have the time or energy to make everything from scratch, packaged ingredients are a real boon. Semi-homemade meals are cheaper and faster than those made from scratch, and they can slip between all-home-cooked meals on days when you don’t feel like cooking all your food. Packaged foods can be a good starting point for people who are just learning how to cook or season dishes, or for those who just aren’t interested in culinary jargon or “proper technique”.
Include reheated Madras lentils, boxed cake mix, canned chili peppers, spam, instant mashed potatoes and all condensed milk soups. They’re easy to make on a “just add water” basis, but more importantly, these packaged, shelf-stable foods have helped entire cultures thrive with their affordability and endless flavor. Thickened soups are best for baking and can turn into a creamy sauce similar to Swedish meatballs in a slow cooker. A jar of Popeye mashed potatoes can make the breakfast of your dreams . Boxed muffin mix can turn into black and white cookies , store-bought biscuit dough makes a damn fine sausage biscuit cookie , and if I start spamming I might not be able to stop .
Reef with canned soups
There is a wide variety of canned soups these days, but I divide them into two categories: creamy and brothy. Both types are good for bulking up dishes or making quick sauces. One of my favorite ways to turn a single can of soup into a multi-serving meal is to add protein and carbs, as well as vegetables (usually frozen). Let’s say I have meatballs and rice in my cupboard. Pour the soup, meatballs and uncooked rice into a baking dish with frozen vegetables. Any vegetable will do, but it’s best to add a vegetable that’s already in the soup.
Cover with foil and bake at 350℉, checking for doneness every 20 minutes or so. The water from the soup will cook the rice and leave a fragrant sauce covering all the ingredients. The same goes for any carbs, so try sliced raw potatoes, pasta, or farro if you’re fed up with rice. Depending on the soup’s available water content and how satisfying the carbs are, you may need to add time or a little water, so check the dish periodically and poke potatoes or grains to see if they’re done. When it comes to low carb eating, I usually try to stick to creamy soups, as proteins and vegetables won’t absorb excess water.
There are other ways to use your canned soups, like lazy chicken pie , and exploring the world of casseroles is highly recommended. Add a jar of beef vegetable soup with a tough cut of meat and pieces of root vegetables to the slow cooker. Make a star-studded mac and cheese sauce by melting shredded cheddar and havarti in a pot with canned creamy potato soup. The thickeners in the soup will take the cheese into the mix like an old friend. Add boiled pasta. (No one is going to get mad at potato chips in their macaroni and cheese, I’ll tell you what.)
Instant carb jam
My love for packaged food goes beyond canned soup. I’m also a big fan of instant dry foundations. Since childhood, I have loved Knorr Pasta Sides and similar instant pastas. Anyone who thinks, “Then just cook pasta” doesn’t understand what a great sauce comes out of this lovely green paper wrapper. The aroma dust is already mixed into the dry pasta, so you don’t need to have an entire spice cabinet or know which seasonings go well with others. It’s pre-portioned so I can’t do what I could and eat six servings, and its assembly is easy yet flexible. Boil with water. That could mean in a pot on the stovetop, or in my case, a pot of frozen spinach and leftover roasted chicken thighs in the oven for 20 minutes.
Other prepared carbs, such as instant mashed potatoes, canned cookies, or dry pancake mixes, offer more versatility beyond face value. Mashed potatoes can be used to coat crispy baked chicken or to thicken soups . Canned cookies can be mixed with cinnamon and sugar to make a holiday dessert . The pancake mixture can be moistened just enough to produce plump and tasty chicken and dumplings . Just in case it’s not clear, you can and should combine tips from canned soups and soluble carbs to continue your research on packaged foods. (I’m looking at Creamy Chicken Corn Soup and Bisquick Blend with Shredded Chicken.)
Using only natural, elemental ingredients is a great way to cook, and if you order every meal with Uber, live your best life, but never underestimate the possibilities that store-bought ingredients open up for creative meals. Break free from the bully mentality and openly show off the Viennese sausage ramen you made last week.