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I was just thinking about this.

I don't like washing fresh spinach. Worse, I HATE when it's not washed properly and it's gritty. But I love cooked spinach. So I buy a big bag at the farmer's market, I wash, rinse, repeat. And repeat again. And then I take this massive amount of spinach and it cooks down to nothing. And I enjoy it, but then the next time I see it, I remember the annoyance of washing it, and I think that frozen is a better idea. Not to mention that it stores in a much smaller space.

On the other hand, I could happily peel carrots and potatos endlessly.

@dbcurrie- SPINACH! I forgot all about the stuff. It's gotten to the point where I'd much rather just buy the bagged stuff. I bought some spinach recently that was FILTHY and after several rinsings I cooked it, took a bite, and felt that gross, sandy grit in my mouth. I had to throw it all away. I hate washing spinach.

I love tossed salads of all kinds but hate the labor intensive preparation. Was it fate or fortune that I have a mate that is absolutely anal about cleaning fresh vegetables? I get to kick back while the ingredients are bathed and coddled into a sublime mixture of squeaky clean goodness. All I have to do is add the dressing ;~D

Ideally, we would cut all our own veggies, but I still give props to the working cook who chooses to buy pre-cut onions, garlic and salad over buying their family a frozen pizza.

That said, for the most part, I try to chop my own, but I will buy onions on occasion because they make me cry.

I have been known to buy prepeeled garlic, I used to buy a huge "bucket" of it and poach it for future uses.

We go through lots of spinach, and only ever buy the frozen chopped kind.

I've also been known to cheat by using salad bars at grocery stores. A handful of chopped onion, some diced peppers, shredded carrots...if it's a meal just for us, it saves a lot of time, and there's no waste.

Phyllo or puff pastry. Frozen works for me.

Artichoke hearts- Frozen works again. And yes- canned pumpkin too, cybercita.

Any kind of large squash or melon. I'm concerned that the knife will slip.

Making layer cakes really bothers me, even from mix. The layers are always lopsided or slip off each other. Not worth the trouble for me. I'll stick with cupcakes.

Pre-cut squash = cheaper than a trip to the ER for stitches when you cut yourself. I find using a serrated knife a little bit better than a chef's knife for cutting squash or melons.

Okay, I can understand the preference for frozen spinach, especially if you live in a cramped apartment with those itty-bitty sinks and such, but pre-cut fruits and vegetables? You are wasting money! Cutting up your own just ain't that big a deal. Take a look at this.

Pineapple - It takes some time and effort to prepare a pineapple, so I buy them ready to eat.

Melon - I buy the mixed melon already prepared. We never eat 2 to 3 whole melons before they go bad.

I have worked in a grocery store that sold pre-made salads - caesar, greek, etc and pre-cut fruit in plastic containers. I can tell you that we used exactly the same produce as was being sold on the grocery store floor to make our stuff. And we were fussy. If anything wasn't good enough to feed us, it went out. My local store has their pre-made prep area in the middle of the produce section - you can watch them making your stuff. But the pre-cut onions and brocolli the like came into the store already bagged. No idea about that stuff.

When I was younger, my mother used to make carrot cake from scratch. That means I had to wash, scrape and cut up (so it can be shredded in the machine) dozens of carrots. Then she started getting into juicing and you know carrots were a main ingredient. Eventually, I had to put my foot down and started whining every single time she wanted to make either. She got sick of me, stopped making the cake, and bought a better juicer so that the carrots wouldn't have to be cut up. Many years later, the only way carrots make it into my house are in the form of baby carrots for salads.

i buy canned pumpkin and frozen spinach. it's just not worth it for me to process a stupid pumpkin.

Have to agree with the spinach, especially if I just need a little bit. I'll buy a tong-full from bulk. But when the bunches are just too cheap to pass up, a good trick I learned was to toss it all into a big bowl and let it soak in water. Most of the awful grit sinks to the bottom and then you can rinse the leaves like normal.

I made pumpkin puree from scratch once and the result just wasn't different enough to warrant repeating.

I know this isn't a fruit or veggie, but what about phyllo dough? I was just wondering if anyone ever makes that straight from scratch. So many delicate layers!

There's a secret I learned about how to cut acorn squash: microwave it for around 1-2 minutes first to soften it. The knife just slides through! And in Japan, they eat spinach with the root stub still attached, so the stems with the leaves are all attached. But they cut a cross up through the root and dunks the whole thing in a tub of water for washing, and lift the spinach up, leaving sand at the bottom of the tub. Then, in salted boiling water, blanch the stem ends first and then submerging the leaves until wilted. Results are a beautiful green. The pinkish-redish root-side ends are a little sweet are favored over the leaves by some.

Potato chips....so many good varieties out there now.

As my friend once told me "there's no short cut to coolness" in other words some things just take time. For me, never made phyllo dough or pumpkin puree from scratch.

Like most of you, I have never rendered a pumpkin from scratch--and the state of pumpkins (mostly jack-o-lantern types) I see don't make me feel motivated to do so.

However, I know one thing I will never do, and when I say never I mean never is this: compost.

I throw very little food away, but the idea of having a rotting heap of stuff in my kitchen or even in my yard, however well-contained--no, I have enough trouble keeping things clean as it is!

I can't find a reason to cop to the added value/higher price of precut, prewash, pre chopped anything.

I saw in the market that they were selling plastic cups with four slices of apples in each. Four slices. I cannot imagine the extenuating circumstance that would make you need to buy four slices of apple in a plastic cup. If you're that lazy to cut an apple, eat it whole.

The only thing I can think of that we buy that's been sliced for us is winter melon or maybe half of a kabocha squash or something. And that's only because its more prudent just to buy what the family can eat before it rots rather than a whole gourd (whole winter melons are the size of car engines).

Just an idea for mangos. What I usually do is slice off the rounded sides, leaving the flattish pit surrounded by flesh in the middle.
The sides can be scored then flipped inside out and the cubes will pop right out of the skin with a little coaxing.
The middle is tougher. You can either just go to town gnawing on it and make a glorious mess or you can slice open the skin and peel it all off in one piece. Then take your knife and start carving off slices around the pit until there's little fruit clinging to the seed.