What Totally Embarassing Food Products Do You Love?
In line with the fabulous JEP's question of what will we never find in your fridge, what food do you absolute love that you're really embarassed about? For instance, and this is pretty humiliating, I have a deep and abiding love for Spaghetti-O's w/Franks. I grew up in a super health conscious family and was never allowed such food. Now and then my nanny would slip some to me and to this day I love the stuff.
And Velveeta grilled cheese sandwiches. Yum!
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42 Comments:
Canned ravioli.
Nissin instant noodle soup (Jaden's gonna smack me for that)
Twinkies ... oh wait, you said food product ... skip that ...
Corn dogs, anytime, anywhere.
LunaPierCook at 10:14AM on 01/10/08
There are definitely a few:
pigs in a blanket
rice Krispies
saltine crackers
lipton dehydrated soup with extra noodles (basically salt and noodles)
KtMc24 at 10:47AM on 01/10/08
Kraft Mac and Cheese
Frozen weight watcher's pizza (doctored up with a bunch of pickled peppers)
Otter pops/ freeze pops
Kerosena at 10:52AM on 01/10/08
Krab with a K. Pollock. Dyed and squished together. (I like mine with cocktail sauce.)
Marshmallow Fluff - not as an "ingredient" in anything - with peanut butter on WW bread.
chiff0nade at 10:53AM on 01/10/08
I'm with you on the Velveeta love train. You simply can't make good queso without it. I don't care if it's "cheese product."
I also still have a strange affinity for ramen noodles. You'd think that I would have gotten sick of them after college, but they're still so satisfying for some reason!
sheeats at 11:23AM on 01/10/08
Cheez-Its, cheddar Goldfish, anything like that. And I was never allowed sugary cereal as a kid so even Honey Nut Cheerios are a "guilty" pleasure.
wellred at 11:31AM on 01/10/08
Blueberry Frosted Pop Tarts (have to be frosted!!), Elios Frozen Pizza, Bugles, Manwich (on soft sandwich buns)
but...far and away #1 is..
Funyons!
Abis144 at 11:51AM on 01/10/08
Oh, the Pop Tart. Such a good call...
blog in my soup at 12:15PM on 01/10/08
The first one that immediately came to mind was bologna. The next one was hot dogs, which, I guess, kind of makes sense since it's pretty much the same taste. However, I've noticed that it's significantly more embarrassing to love bologna than hot dogs:-).
brooke29 at 12:22PM on 01/10/08
olive loaf
earlybirdkate at 12:25PM on 01/10/08
Easy Cheese on any cracker available and sometimes, straight into my mouth.
I freely admit to eating Pop-Tarts and had them for breakfast this morning. I don't think I would have survived high school without Pop Tarts!
AuntJone at 12:30PM on 01/10/08
Well, I'm usually not much embarrassed by anything, because I tend to be very conscientious overall. I feel a few junk indulgences are fine. I'm all about balance and moderation. That said, I guess the category includes:
* Velveeta. 'Nuff said.
* Boxed mac'n'cheese. But it's Safeway's private-label organic brand, not Kraft. Tastes better and helps me rationalize.
* Bottled salad dressing. It's so easy to make my own, which I usually do. Embarrassing because there's really no good reason for it.
* Canned chicken breast and beef. Originally, I got them for the emergency kit (earthquake territory). Decided to rotate the stock and discovered they worked really well for certain ultra-quick dishes. Once, on a night when I was serving something made with the beef, we were joined by unexpected company of the "we don't own a can opener" persuasion. They raved and raved, and wouldn't stop pestering me to tell how to make it. Wow. That was a totally embarrassing moment. But it was VERY funny!
And, oh... the humility... store-bought frozen pie crusts. But that's something I've resolved to rectify this year. ;-)
LoCo at 12:37PM on 01/10/08
I'm with chiffonade. I love Fluffernutter sandwiches. I don't eat them often (maybe one a year and then I have to give the jar away or else I will eat it ALL) because they make my sugar soar :-(
I normally don't like baloney at all but I had to have a grilled velveeta cheese sandwich with a slice of fried bologna in the middle everyday for months while pregnant with my youngest. Also, I don't usually enjoy hotdogs but when roasted over a campfire, mmm!
coffeefrappe at 12:53PM on 01/10/08
Do Honey Nut Cheerios really count as embarassing? I love those! Okay, so that's on there...
Kraft Dinner
Velveeta Cheese for grilled cheese (on English Muffin Toasting Bread)
- these were before I became lactose intolerant :(
Animal Crackers (I could eat them by the barrel)
Spaghetti-O's
There are probably loads more, I just can't think of them all right now. :)
Traveller at 1:20PM on 01/10/08
Any type of lunch meat, the more unidentifiable the better.
Cheese curls where the orange dye gets all over everything.
Street food, especially the meat-on-a-stick variety.
Oh, BTW, Luna; Twinkies I think, qualify as toxic waste.
RichardCrystal at 1:32PM on 01/10/08
Traveller: I think I'm more embarrassed that I consider Honey Nut Cheerios a forbidden food, than they are embarrassing themselves. :-)
wellred at 1:43PM on 01/10/08
Totino's Party pizzas. The remind me of my childhood and then later, drunken 2am kitchen raids in college. I couldn't justify buying them now, so I got my 7 year old daughter to start liking them and then blame it on her. LOL!
jcrisco at 2:20PM on 01/10/08
Oh wait!!!! Any TASTYKAKE!!!!
RichardCrystal at 2:21PM on 01/10/08
I'm in a long-term, serious relationship with Velveeta as well. There's no denying it. It's awesome for an old-school grilled cheese straight from my childhood.
Stouffer's Creamed Chipped Beef. I let myself buy it about once a year.
Brownie mix. But I doctor it up with chunks of chopped chocolate, espresso powder and a little almond extract.
And ditto on those blueberry frosted pop tarts. I stare at them longingly in the grocery store...and then slowly, sadly, push my cart past them.
Ande at 2:49PM on 01/10/08
Little Debbie Swiss Cake Rolls, Cheetos, Nacho Cheese Doritos, bottled chocolate milk, Yoohoo chocolate drink. My husband likes that magic shell chocolate stuff you put on ice cream. It scares me. When it's separated it looks like chocolate goop and glue or plastic! But I eat it anyway, sometimes.
misseditor at 4:48PM on 01/10/08
Campbells Condensed Tomato Soup...
My homemade is eons better, but just gotta have that unmistakable flavor once in a blue moon (sodium, anyone?)...
sheldel at 4:56PM on 01/10/08
chisai---great question!
I have been known to make a batch of pie crust, sprinkle it with cinnamon sugar, cut in strips, bake & consume the entire recipe warm from the oven...(gulp...also like raw pie dough)!
JEP at 6:02PM on 01/10/08
I've got a few, but one that I had forgotten until a recent indulgence was Keebler's frosted animal cookies. With sprinkles. It's one bite of sheer trans-fat and corn syrup, but man do I love them. Once every 7 years or so.
Funyuns and cheetohs, though, are very big with me (and I with them).
renzata at 6:27PM on 01/10/08
I Can't Believe it's Not Butter . . . and I can't believe I just admitted that!
trabo at 6:31PM on 01/10/08
Cheetos and Kraft Macaroni and cheese- basically anything with fake orange cheese... yum!
laurakitty at 7:27PM on 01/10/08
I will admit it again...peeps
mrsmoosie at 7:46PM on 01/10/08
I'm thinking that nostalgia has a lot to do with many of the choices I read above. I'll bet that you ate _____ as a child? I've never tasted Spaghetti-O's, canned ravioli, Twinkies, sweet cereals, Little Debbie anything, ramen noodles, Pop Tarts. My mother didn't serve them, and neither did I. I guess you can't miss what you never had.
I recently had a salt craving and bought crunchy orange cheetos type snack (Goody brand) and ate every last one. Temptation is orange!
I may get crucified for this, considering where I live, but I have tasted, and never liked Tastykakes. Any of their products.
PerkyMac at 9:15PM on 01/10/08
yep, perkymac, cheetos, me too. frito lay, please, just to make it the worst possible sin. fried, not baked.
sugar frosted flakes. i can't remember the last time i had them, but when i read this question, that was the first thing that came to mind.
lemonheads and sugar babies. i could eat them by the pound.
cybercita at 9:33PM on 01/10/08
okay, big "admittance" here...Spam. I am so bad that I actually wait until the isle is clear before I grab it off the shelf! Then I look the other way when they ring it up so I don't have to risk a comment. How sad. My husband has a favorite casserole from his youth that he insisted I make and it has Spam in it. I mocked and laughed and then I ate crow when I discovered it wasn't that bad! Especially sauteed.
A few others: Little Debbie anything, Lucky Charms, Dinty Moore stew (a kid memory), Thank You Brand chocolate pudding and corn dogs.
radley24 at 10:59PM on 01/10/08
I ate ramen noodles for years...can't imagine doing so now--the sodium is unbelievable!
Guilty pleasures now? Little chocolates: kisses, Hershey's minis, etc...just a little something at the end of a meal.
AND, Whipped cream. From a can. I take a spoon (or my finger) and eat it like ice cream. DELICIOUS! Cool Whip works too, though it's not my first choice :)
luswim06 at 12:29AM on 01/11/08
Radley - I grew up in Hawaii, where Spam totally rules. And I've got to say, depending on how you make it, it's not bad. I usually get a yearly craving for the stuff. 1/2 inch sliced browned on both sides, on a hamburger role with mustardm and sometimes (hands head) a slice of Velveeta. It's delicious. My friends make fun of me. I understand the feeling at the checkout line. Thank goodness for Fresh Direct, where all such foods can be purchased with NO WITNESSES!
chisai at 8:57AM on 01/11/08
Kraft Mac&Cheese...but it HAS to be in the blue box with the powder mix. I add a stick of butter to that after it's cooked...no milk. Decadent.
bessfour at 9:55AM on 01/11/08
OMG, I forgot all about olive loaf! I love it on crusty bread with mayo. Grew up on that stuff! (Never tried head cheese, though.)
chiff0nade at 11:51AM on 01/11/08
Okay, I forgot about Smarties...the US version that's all sugar, not the version with chocolate, although those are good, too.
I would say ramen noodles, but unfortunately, I ate so many of them during my college (i.e. broke) days, that I can't stand them anymore.
Sauerkraut right out of the tin. I know, I know. I just really love that stuff! Must be the German in me.
Traveller at 12:05PM on 01/11/08
How on earth did I forget to include Spam on my list?!?!?
I am so with you there radley! Have you tried Spam Lite? I actually prefer it. Not only is it a little bit less fatty, it's way less salty tasting.
My favorite prep is sliced 1/4" thick, skillet-browned, on top of a bowl of white Japanese sticky rice. Spam sushi is a close second. But I've been known to eat it right out of the can (oh, the shame).
LoCo at 12:07PM on 01/11/08
Ooooh, I forgot about Spam too. Spam, as well as tinned ham and tinned corned beef...I haven't eaten them in years, so I didn't think about them right away, but I do have a weird and embarrassing fancy for these tinned "meats"...come to think of it, it's pretty much in line with bologna and hot dogs:-)
brooke29 at 12:45PM on 01/11/08
redi whip. just can't help it.
MaryColeman at 12:57PM on 01/11/08
Bagel Bites! I got through college eating Bagel Bites (mini pizza bagels) and now I still buy them...I can't help myself!
Hillary
Chew on That
Chew on That at 2:09PM on 01/11/08
@LoCo I don't remember ever seeing canned beef. If you had people asking for the recipe, I'd like to know the brand. Is it the same consistency as canned tuna and canned chicken?
PerkyMac at 2:55PM on 01/11/08
I get the canned beef at Costco -- it's one of their private label products: Kirkland Signature - Premium Brisket - Roast Beef - in beef broth. It's 1-inch chunks of very lean brisket that shreds really well, similar to canned chicken breast.
Big warning... as with almost all canned foods, this stuff is very salty. I find it only works as an ingredient in things where I can control the overall salt content. I mostly use it to make small batches of ultra-fast chili with canned beans or leftover cooked beans. Since I use my own special chili powder blend it's still way better than any ready-made chili from the store.
Sometimes I'll use it for really fast soups or burrito filling, too. If your BBQ sauce isn't too salty, it makes a very decent quick pulled meat sandwich. I can't remember what we ate the night I got that reaction, but it was almost certainly the quick chili or burritos if I had enough to share.
Trivia -- many of the best Mexican food joints actually use canned beef in their chili colorado, machaca, etc., which ironically is what makes it so hard to replicate their flavors. My Mexican restaurateur friends explained to me that canned beef is very common in Mexico because it does not require refrigeration, a huge consideration in a country where many still do not have the "luxury" of electricity. Or where the grid is not terribly reliable, as in the remote rancho regions.
LoCo at 3:17PM on 01/11/08
Taco Bell microwave bowls.. Stoffers potpies... Tooties Pops.
rabbitriddle at 3:18PM on 01/11/08
Sounds like a handy product to keep in the pantry. Thanks for the info LoCo!
PerkyMac at 3:41PM on 01/11/08