Packaged Products = Good or Bad?
A coworker forwarded an article to me about how consumers perceive packaged products as “inferior” to products that they know have been freshly made. Out of curiosity, I thought I’d administer a very scientific Amy Survey to see what the Food Channel’s readers think about it.
First, what is “good food” to you? (Think of “good food” in its entirety – not just stuff that tastes good.)
Which qualifies more as “good food,”
• Salsa out of a jar or salsa that has just been made in a store?
• Spaghetti sauce out of a jar or sauce made scratch from tomatoes?
• Homemade salad dressing from scratch or salad dressing out of a bottle?
• Homemade cookies from scratch, cookies made in a bakery, or cookies out of a box or bag?
Okay, so here’s the toughest question: Why did you respond in the way that you did? What is it about one product or the other that means that it qualifies more under the “good food” category?
For once I’ll keep my opinions to myself so that I don’t unduly influence anybody’s answers. (Because everybody listens to me, right??) Thanks for playing.
P.S. The article is from The Hartman Group.
Comments
On Jan 22 at 12:32 PM Carol Bauer said:
When I can't pronounce 60% of the ingredients in a product it's not going in our tummies. Most of it is salt anyway to preserve the ingredients, you don't need to get 50% of your daily requirement in one serving of a dish.
On Jan 29 at 02:09 PM Connie Davis said:
I just don't like all of the salt that is in prepared or packaged products. I guess it is to preserve it, but it ruins the taste and I don't need that much salt. I think it is also cheaper to put salt than anything else. Just put a whole lot less salt and I would like it a lot more.
On Mar 1 at 06:21 PM MarineMom said:
Agree - way too much salt in prepared foods.
On Jun 6 at 11:06 PM said:
the salt is a big issue and for having hi blood pres, I keep close eye on what I buy pre-packaged. Everyone buys thies products because it's less time consuming than making it out of scratch.
On Feb 2 at 11:33 PM Pamela said:
I have celiac sprue and there are practically no packaged foods that are gluten free. The ones that are, are outrageously expensive.
I must admit, have sprue has helped my culinary skills since I have to cook all things fresh, as the prepackaged ones are so expensive. I do miss crusty french bread...
On Dec 7 at 09:23 PM Randy Smothers said:
Good food is very subjective, but as it relates to the "from a store- puchased complete" or "compiled from ingredients by me or someone else", I would have to say the extra step of compiling the ingredients seems to drive a premium cost. Is it better? If I pay more? Yes. Don't tell me otherwise....ruin my day.