Mr. Brillig and I went to the grocery store today to get everything we need to bring to my sister's house for Thanksgiving. While wandering the aisles trying to remember what we surely were forgetting, we saw something truly scary... Follow me below the dingledoodle squigglie dKosagnocchi dividerthingie fold after a word from our sponsor...
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It ostensibly was a no-bake pumpkin pie kit: crust, and filling. Until you looked veerryyyy closely:
Pumpkin Style Pie. "STYLE"??!
What the hell is pumpkin "style" pie? I'm envisioning some sort of Pumpkin Gangnam Style thing.... OK, let's check the filling ingredients:
Filling: Sugar, Contains less than 22% of Milk Skim, Cinnamon, Ginger, Flavor(s) Natural & Artificial, Corn Syrup, Dextrose, Caramel Color, Mono and Diglycerides, Soybean(s) Oil Partially Hydrogenated, Salt, Sodium, Carrageenan, Calcium Sulphate (Sulfate), Tetrasodium Pyrophosphate, Disodium Phosphate, Yellow 6, Yellow 5, BHA Preservative.
So our Pumpkin "Style" Pie filling contains 78% sugar and no pumpkin. And people buy this stuff why? Is it because a premade pumpkin pie at the same store costs $5 while pumpkin "Style" pie costs $2.79, which in itself is not accurate because you also need to provide sugar (it needs MORE sugar?!), milk and butter? A frozen Mrs. Smith pie costs $2.50 and has actual orange squash product in it. Is it because people get sucked into wanting "easy" food?
This got me thinking about the rest of a traditional Thanksgiving meal, which in this case I'm considering turkey, stuffing, potatoes, gravy, vegetable and cranberry sauce? Is there a case for using processed alternatives to homemade? I went BACK to the store to see what my options were in each case:
Turkey: Those who cook their own bird paid anywhere from $.49/lb (frozen) to $1.29/lb (fresh) from the supermarket, or more from the specialty grocer/Whole Foods, or if you're Casa Brillig, $3/lb for a turkey from our meat CSA, so fresh it was wandering the farm the day before we got it (ask me in the comments!). I learned today that you can buy precooked turkey breasts from the supermarket, in the case of mine, $5.33/lb. Isn't cooking the bird (even a chicken, if only a few will be eating!) part of the whole tradition?
Stuffing: There seem to be two options here, either homemade stuffing from individual ingredients (bread cubes either fresh or dry-bagged; onions, celery, etc) or Stuffing mix a la Stove-Top. Our stuffing does take time in the morning to prepare, from dicing & sauteing the vegetables to adding the bread, stock, seasonings and egg (don't ask me. Mr. Brillig's family uses one) and mixing it all together. Stove-Top involves mixing water, a little butter and the contents of the box. It also has all sorts of ingredients not found in my stuffing, including high fructose corn syrup, hydrolyzed soy protein, and artificial flavor mixed in with copious amounts of salt.
Gravy: Homemade gravy consists of the drippings released by the bird during cooking, flour, and water. Casa Brillig also adds a couple of cups of homemade chicken stock, because we are gravy lovers and don't want it to get ugly at leftover time when there's gravy rationing :-). Basically, it's a very low-cost part of dinner since there aren't "purchases" necessary unless you add extra stock. To get the quantity of gravy needed at our house, we'd need 5 or 6 cans of "gravy". As a bonus, those cans also provide Soy Protein Isolate, Caramel Color, Corn Syrup Solids and... yes, you guessed it, salt.
Potatoes: A 5lb bag of white potatoes at my local supermarket sold for $4.99. That's a LOT of mashed potatoes, my estimate based on the size of the bowl we serve in is at least 10 cups! Instant mashed potatoes WERE cheaper, $.99 for a box that claimed to make 5 cups. My potatoes do not include preservative, though :).
Sweet Potatoes: Fresh yams were selling for $.69/lb; the canned ones were $1.10/lb packed in corn syrup. Clearly, fresh sweet potatoes are a win here. Note: marshmallows on top are anathema here, so I did not factor in cost :-).
Vegetables: There really aren't, thankfully, a lot of scary processed options in this category. Fresh or frozen (or even canned), this seems to me to be entirely a matter of personal preference. If I've got children needing jobs, I buy fresh green beans and they get to prep them. If I'm going to be short on sous chefs, I buy frozen and manage perfectly fine.
Cranberry sauce: Casa Brillig is a fresh cranberry sauce family. The smell of a $2.50 bag of cranberries simmering with a bit of sugar and water adds to the Thanksgiving aroma! I don't think I'd consider canned "overly processed", however, so it's a matter of how you like it.
So what's on your table Thursday?
Two serious thoughts:
I don't by ANY stretch of the imagination mean to criticise or put down anyone's food choices. I know that we all have our own preferences on what tastes good. What we are and are not allowed to eat dietarily. What our living situation will permit us to cook. I also know that for many this holiday is one spent either in a church basement or shelter or provided for thanks to the generous donations to local food pantries. I spent many years of my life watching who-took-what at the table, so I could calculate what would be left over when the plates got to me. If you are able, please support your local food pantry, because long after the turkeys are eaten, people STILL need dinner.
I'd hoped to provide an analysis of what a made-from-scratch versus a "premade when possible", but life intervened in the form of a friend receiving unexpected bad news about her mother's health. I spent the afternoon with her. While you count your blessings, please say a prayer/meditate/hold in good thought all those who struggle with illness, depression, hardship and loneliness.
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From Yours Truly, brillig:
From Jed Lewison's diary Republicans still furious at Chris Christie for being governor comes Mike S' GOP in a nutshell.
Thank you Sherri in TX for a fine example of positive thinking!
Hastur begs diarist Unit Zero for an Onion link, or... worse.
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