A Label Reading Experience

Normally, when we go to the beach I pack the cooler full of goodies from home.  There are usually wraps, some salad, fruit, water and a cold bottle of white wine.  This past weekend none of those items inhabited the refrigerator here.  I guess if I had planned ahead I could have stopped at the store on my way home from work Friday but, I just didn't want to deal with people anymore.  So there we were, a full day planned at the beach and no provisions!  We decided to stop at one of the grocery stores along the way to the beach.  Now I have to say, this is one of my favorite chains to shop at.  The stores are clean, they have good deals and the staff at the store close to my home know me.  They know the kids and usually ask how they doing.

I figured we could pick up a couple of sandwiches, some fruit, a bottle of cheap Pinot Grigio and some kind of spread to go with the crackers we had packed.  Now, you need to know I love snack food especially dips and spreads!  The husband was tired of the spinach dip this store sells so I decided to get their seafood cheese spread instead.  It is delicious and one of my favorites.  We enjoyed it with our wine and our sandwiches at the beach.

Fast forward to last night.  We had a meeting to go to and planned to have supper when we got home.  I had taken some Talapia out of the freezer but was not really sure what to do with it...hmmm.  Into the fridge I went in search of a condiment and there it sat, the rest of the seafood spread waiting to be put on the Talapia and baked.  Now I have been buying this spread for probably about 10 years never had I looked at the ingredient list.  HOLY COW!!!!!!  The list is 3 and 1/2 inches wide by 2 inches long.  Doesn't really sound that bad until you know that the print is this big.   That is a lot of stuff, most of it not real!

I had read a blog last week about this group of folks who do not buy any processed food that contains over 5 ingredients.  You would be amazed what fell into the do not buy column.  There were things as basic as ketchup and mayonnaise.  The funny thing about this was here I had been thinking we didn't really use anything processed anymore...why did I not think of condiments as processed.

So where are you on the processed food debate?  Do you use it to simplify your life? We have made a conscious effort to not eat foods like that anymore which is why I started making pasta and our own bread.  I even read labels at the store (if I remember to bring my reading glasses).  I don't think I will ever give up the condiments though.

ps  The fish tasted awfully good!