I had to do a little grocery shopping today. Fun stuff all around I tell ya. My commissary is on the small side as commissaries go. They are in the process of remodeling it which has made it a joy to try and find things. I could drive 20 extra minutes to hit a larger commissary, but I am too lazy. I could also drive 40 minutes from my house to hit the mega-Army commissary, but then I would have to pay a toll. I am not sure that I would get anything more spectacular, but I would spend more money. So, I shop at my local-20 minutes away commissary.
Because my commissary is small, I have minimal selection, so it always surprises me when they choose to stock the newest in convenience food type products.
For example, I noticed that on of the cake mix companies now have a product that makes two very small cakes conveniently in your microwave. I looked at them a minute and figured that they weren’t much larger than a cupcake. They were on sale to make them even more tempting. I also noticed that cake mixes were on sale. I could buy a cake mix for 50 cents less than the self-serve microwave cakes. That was a no brainer. I could make a whole cake (or 12 cupcakes because I would probably eat too much batter like I always do) or buy the 2 cupcakes.
The other one that stands out in my mind from today is the convienence hot dogs. To make my life easy, Oscar Meyer has packaged 3 hot dogs, buns and all, into individually packaged serving sizes for the bargain price of double the cost of an eight count package of hot dogs. Is it really that hard to poke a few holes into a hot dog, throw it in the microwave for 1 minute, and put it on a bun? I guess it is. For the really desperate, just leave out the bun all together, slap it on a piece of bread, and you are done. Or, eat it with your fingers if no one is looking. (No, I haven’t done that, but I bet someone has.)
Honestly, though, I think that Lunchables take the cake on crazy convenience food. What you get for the money is crazy. I will admit that I have bought them in the past, but it was used as a bribery tool. Why kids are fascinated over crackers and cheese in their own little plastic squares is beyond me. And have you checked the sodium content on those babies? I am not a healthy eater by any stretch of the imagination, but I do have a few standards. And seriously, cold chicken nuggets?
Don’t get me wrong, I am not against fast food. I love my microwave popcorn and those frozen tortellinis stuffed with cheese. I also understand that these individual servings are made to help us all from eating ourselves into oblivion. If you are only making one little cake, you can’t eat 12 cupcakes worth of batter. I can’t imagine anyone wanting to eat all 8 of the hot dogs, but then again some of you probably can’t imagine eating cake batter either. It is kind of like those 100 calorie packs that cost as much as the entire package of regular cookies. Maybe we just need to be slapped with a little self discipline or something. (I am not one to talk, though, as I watch the scale creep up slowly, but that is another post.) Maybe the companies just have some really good marketing strategies.
Regardless, I am just surprised by how much of this type of food takes up the precious space in my dinky tiny commissary, but they have to stock what people want. If people want individually wrapped hot dogs, who am I to say otherwise?
Tressays 
Our commissary is small, too, and I wish they would give more room to basic ingredients instead of all those stupid one serving convenience foods. Though we sure bought a lot of that stuff when I first joined the Air Force! I was only 18 and couldn’t even boil an egg without messing it up. Young people have to eat something. LOL
I let my Goobs take Lunchables to some karate activity once. One of the mothers there was outraged. “That is food PORN!” she screamed, and then pretended that she didn’t know us for the rest of the day. I didn’t care. Those Lunchables made the kids very happy. I was the hero! I don’t get the attraction, either, but I still surprise them with Lunchables once a year or so.
I understand about those convenience foods. I use to buy the Lunchables every once in a while as a treat. I haven’t done it in a long time, though.
That is so funny about the Lunchables. I bought them for the boys when they were going to Veritas once a week and Melanie is right – they become your fans. lol What I don’t understand are “Uncrustables”. How low can we go?
I try to stick to the ‘outer aisle shopping’ as much as possible. Fortunately, at our commissary, the ice cream is an outer aisle.
Hey, I am really enjoying the Cyberbrethren blog. Thanks for linking to it!
I have yet to buy a lunchable because they look completely disgusting to me. I mean, cheese and crackers? Is that really going to keep them satisfied for the rest of the day? (I had to laugh about the mother who freaked at someone else’s lunchables, though. I would freak if someone fed them to my kid, but who cares what the other kids are eating?)
I totally understand the appeal of all this convenience food, but now that I cook most of our meals from real foods, I’m surprised at not only how much better it all tastes, but just how few aisles I walk down now.