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To: Gabz
IMO, and I could be wrong, a major part of the problem is the "need" of a long shelf life for products, thus requiring all the artifical additives to them. And that "need" was created by the food manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers themselves, not the consumers. I am truly amazed at all the "complete" meals you find on supermarket shelves

My eyes are open to it now. And if I can help it, I'll never buy another "prepared" supermarket meal again.

Before my lifestyle change, my wife and I (who both work) would prepare these type of meals every night. It was so convenient to just pop them into a microwave and have dinner ready in about 10 minutes.

Here is one example of a popular "prepared dish" we would make. This is actually something that we thought was good for us. It is Trader Joe's Chicken Chimichangas which is chicken, beans, tomatoes, onions and jalapeno peppers rolled into a flour tortilla. Just pop in the microwave for about five minutes and it is ready to eat. Sounds tasty and nutritious, right?

Here are the ingredients for this prepared dish:

Filling
Chicken Leg Meat
Cooked Beans (Water, Beans, Flavorings including Paprika, Salt, Dehydrated Onion, Enriched Flour [Bleached Wheat Flour, Niacin, Iron, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin & Folic Acid])
Tomatoes (Tomatoes, Tomato Puree, Salt, Citric Acid)
Onions
Water
Jalapeno Peppers (Jalapeno Peppers, Vinegar, Salt, Water, Calcium Chloride, Garlic, Spiced)
Modified Food Starch
Green Chilies
Bell Peppers, Flavorings including Paprika, Bell Peppers (Bell Peppers, Water, Citric Acid)
Salt
Chile Pepper (Red Chile Pepper, Citric Acid)
Vinegar
Tortilla
Enriched Flour (Bleached Wheat Flour, Niacin, Iron, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin & Folic Acid)
Water
Safflower Oil and/or Soybean Oil
Salt
Baking Powder (Starch, Monocalcium Phosphate and Sodium Bicarbonate)
Tortilla sealed with Water and Modified Food Starch, fried in Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil

And mind you, this was purchased at a natural food store know for it's quality foods. What you typically find in the supermarkets have even more artificial ingredients then what was listed.

As for nutritional information, two servings of these Chicken Chimichangas contain 780 calories, 1860 mg of Sodium (78% of RDA) and 104 carbohydrates.

I listed two servings because real world, nobody ever has just one of these ridiculously small "serving sizes" that you see on packaged foods. Otherwise a bowl of Lucky Charms cereal would last a kid for weeks (and we know that that just doesn't happen).

Now we would make somethings like this at home. Ingredients are as follows:

Low-carb tortilla
Grilled fresh chicken
Onions and Jalapeno Peppers sauteed in olive oil
Diced fresh tomato
Beans
Shredded cheese

It would take considerably longer to make something like this at home but as you can see, nothing but natural ingredients.

160 posted on 05/16/2004 1:37:58 PM PDT by SamAdams76 (I don't own this gas-guzzling SUV - my wife does!)
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To: SamAdams76

Sounds like you and your wife cook the way my husband and I cook. I will, however, admit to the occassional foray into the processed frozen food realm.

I don't know if beans are high in carbs or not - but I absolutely love them - especially black beans!

You commented in a much earlier post about olive oil, I can actually count the number of times in the past year(and probably longer) I have used anything other than olive oil when it comes to using oil in a recipe or for sauteing. I'm not big on fried foods, but every once in a while I do indulge, and olive oil is not conducive to frying.


164 posted on 05/16/2004 2:06:35 PM PDT by Gabz (Ted Kennedy's car has killed more people than my second hand smoke.)
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