Food Rant

Regarding one of the financial/ frugal living blogs that I follow, The Simply Dollar, lately I've noticed more posts that are not useful to me. Like today, there is a post on cooking with a crock pot (Because I grew up eating traditional Asian cuisine, I've never used a crock pot. It seems pretty convenient- can anyone share their experience?). He references an older blog post:

Don’t have any idea what to cook? I’d recommend starting off with one of the spice packets sold in the grocery store, usually near the soup mixes. McCormick’s slow cooker packets are quite good for what you pay for, and the recipes usually involve dumping in the packet and four or five ingredients, turning it on low, and walking away for eight or nine hours. If you need to be away longer than that, add a quarter cup of additional water to the mix.

Cheap spice packets? Ew! Assemble your own collection spices- it's not that hard. (OK, I can't verify the exact ingredients online, but will check when I'm at the grocery store.) Later on, the first recipe includes canned cream of chicken soup. Yuck. Talk about unhealthy, not only because it's fattening, but because it's processed. What are we, living in the 1950's?

In another recent post about his well-stocked pantry, he states that a big key is to have a large store of non-perishable items (flour, rice, sugar, baking ingredients, etc.). Though he makes no mention of it because of the limited subject, I sure hope his family eats lots of perishables as well, since those are what contain the various nutrients our bodies need. A diet based on "staples with a long shelf life" is very paltry indeed.

I have to disagree with him on these food posts, because he is clearly eager to trade in healthfulness for frugality, and in my opinion, he has gone too far. It is downright foolish to ignore all the facts warning against eating processed foods, and especially foods containing certain harmful man-made ingredients (HFCS, preseratives, etc.). Sure he may be saving money for his family, but at the expense of health and decreased quality of life. I strongly believe that better and fresher food is worth the extra money, even if you are tight on cash. This is the only body you'll have- take care of it! (And I'm quite sure he's not poor and drowning in debt anymore, so these practices are probably of due to his old habits.)

As I scrolled through his other posts with the label 'food,' I found one on gardening (yes, it's cheaper than buying produce at the grocery). OK, that I can fully support. I know that his blog has a specific purpose (frugality), and that demanding awareness of another topic (healthy eating) is too much to ask, or maybe I'm reading too much into it. Hm, my healthiness radar is super sensitive!