Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

In all candor, I think she is gross, as is the show itself. It should be called the Nasty Chef. Her humor, which I guess is supposed to be bawdy, is just obnoxious. Sidling up to customers and assaulting them with uninvited sexual banter seems inappropriate at best. Insulting the intelligence of her staff (the "door whores") while presenting herself as the resident idiot on the wine panel was painful to watch. And her VERY ill-fitting chef's coat and stringy too-long-for-a-kitchen hair should be addressed by her handlers. It was a 60 minute cliche; a cartoon of the fat, ribald, unapologetically gluttonous female chef whose alleged charm will overshadow her serious flaws. And the food looked gross too.

I am not sure where I fit in. My favorite oatmeal is baked oatmeal that I started to have when I moved to the Pennsylvania Dutch country of southeastern PA. I can offer a recipe but more or less it is some of your typical oatmeal combinations with egg and baking powder mixed in and then baked like a coffee cake. It is hard to describe if you never had it - the oats have more texture (stay more intact) yet they stick together into a cake. Here is a basic recipe that serves about 6.

3 cups Oatmeal (old-fashioned = best texture), ¾ cup Brown sugar,
1 ½ cup Milk, 3 whole eggs, 1 ¼ tsp. Baking powder, ½ tsp. Salt
6 Tbsp. Melted butter or margarine

Mix all ingredients together. Pour into a greased 3 qt casserole dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 to 1 ½ hour or until center seems set and top is golden brown. Serve straight from the oven or keep it warm. Serve with warm milk.

You can add vanilla, spices, dried or fresh fruit, or about anything else folks have suggested.

I loved both as a kid, but as I've grown up, something about Cool Whip has really started to freak me out. Of course I prefer homemade whipped cream, but in a pinch, Reddi-Whip is surprisingly good. And yeah, it can liven up a party pretty handily. Although...Cool Whip has a spray-topped can now too, doesn't it?

I grew up with Reddi-Whip and never Cool Whip because my father was extremely allergic to it (as in, ate it once unintentionally and was hospitalized). It might be psychsomatic but I think it gives me a headache so I still avoid it.

I prefer whipped cream from an Isi creme whipper; just as easy as ReddiWhip but so much better.

Late entry but when I lived in Florida (that kind of explains it, huh?), the grocery stores sold toast- yes, toasted white bread! Even better? the brand name was Bimbo!

I do some convenience foods- my kids love to help cook, but I would rather not let my kinderkid chop carrots, so he gets to pick shredded or sliced from the salad bar. We have done the frozen pbj sammies- they are great for field trips- they are an edible ice pack! And quite honestly, I make a lot of my "convenience" foods- when I make waffles, I make a double batch and pop them in the freezer- the sitter is more likely to pop a whole grain waffle in the toaster than cook fresh ones, and I make tons of homemade chicken nuggets to freeze- they are great for lunchboxes and thaw just in time for lunch . We also buy spring mix salad because it has 6 types of lettuce without buying 6 heads and tossing a lot of it.

Pre-peeled and pre-cubed potatoes, purportedly for easier mashed potatoes. Not for me, thanks! :)

@GrumpyOldMan, what is "dishonest" about selling things in quantities that you're not used to? As long as it's labeled there is no dishonesty. Manufacturers selling smaller quantities for the same price, while obnoxious is hardly new.

I just checked my cabinet and my coffee, that I bought in my regular grocery store, is in a one-pound can.

I'm a bit late to the party, but yesterday I was in Trader Joe's and saw a bag of peeled boiled eggs - 10 to a package. I couldn't find the price, but yikes! Was also in Henry's Farm Market and saw Apple Crisp Mix, just add apples and butter. It didn't have anything scary in it but was just oats, sugar and spices. Geez.

I do buy rotisserie chickens sometimes and TJ's precooked baby beets pretty often. They're nice when I want to put a quick salad together. I've never heard of PB slices. Had a good LOL at that one.

But, I'd rather see someone pick up precut stuff to take home and cook after work than pick up McD's for their family. Also, a number of my friends don't find cooking therapeutic, as I do, and use precut things to save time but still provide their family a decent meal. Hell, I don't even mind good old Sandy Lee if she gets someone to pick up a pan instead of a take out menu.

@dbcurrie and coffeefrappe - you're right about that. Many of my friends will say "You make your own yogurt? Why?" And it's true, you can get excellent yogurt at many markets for pretty cheap. I buy TJ's Greek yogurt all the time. But often...I just have to make my own.

If you're running out at lunchtime to pick up some food for yourself because you forgot to bring your lunch, a pre-made pb&j isn't a horrible option, and it makes more sense than buying a loaf of bread and jars of peanut butter and jelly, particularly if you already have those things at home. It doesn't make sense if you're buying them by the case because you can't figure out how to make a sandwich for your kids.

I once heard someone ragging about an electric jar opener contraption and how lazy are you that you can't twist a jar, and an older person mentioned that if you have arthritis, you can't grip the jar, and having something like that means you can have your pickles whenever you want them, without having to go ask the neighbor for help.

Prechopped veggies and bagged salads can save some time and if that time is being used to make homemade salad dressing and fabulous sauces and desserts, I think it's a decent trade-off. Personally, I'd rather do everything myself, but I'd rather have someone give me a bagged salad and homemade dressing, rather than hand-ripped iceberg and Kraft dressing.

So yeah, convenience items have a place, and some people really need them at times, but it gets a little frightening when someone relies on that stuff for everything when they don't need them. And some of them aren't really that convenient. I remember someone selling "cheesecake mix" at a craft show, and the mix was mostly powdered sugar with some flavorings. You needed to add the cream cheese, eggs, make the crust, etc. For something like seven bucks, you got a bag of powdered sugar and instructions for making a cheesecake or cheeseball, but people were snapping them up like hotcakes.

One thing that I'm always skeptical about is the pre-seasoned and pre-breaded meats in the meat counter. I always wonder what that bright seasoning and crumbly breading is hiding. Seems to me that if you're able to figure out how to cook the raw meat, it's not such a huge leap in culinary skill to buy some paprika and sprinkle it on the meat before you cook it.

Oh, and instant mashed potatoes? I buy them. I use them in bread.

Ocarol, who brought up the government in this thread?

If owning a banana slicer isn't evidence of moral or mental failure, I don't know what is.

Pre-cut veg: In defense, when i need carrot or celery for a sauce or small soup, I get it in the salad bar. We would never eat a whole head of celery or bunch of carrots while they were still top notch, and in soup you cook the cr** out of it anyway. More a waste-preventer than time preventer but very handy on occasion. Same goes for olives, and cucumber, and I buy a bag of coleslaw mix for eggroll filling for the same reason.

The market works, people. If there is no demand for things they cease to be available. When there is a great deal of disposable income and not much time, people will go for convenience. As the economy contracts and more people have more time for whatever reason, they will do the prep work themselves. Sounds as if many of you prefer the Nanny state that says what we can and cannot make and consume. And calling for sterilization of people who choose something that you consider unwise sounds pretty extreme, although I know you were going for effect. There is so much derision here that it makes me sad sometimes. Live and let live for heaven's sake. Make everything from scratch and brag about it but leave other's choices to them.