Now the damn kids have ruined my sauce...

If they're too damned lazy to cut up and/or chew a fruit or vegetable, then why can't they just drink it in the form of one of the many vegetable-fruit juice drinks available already rather than fuck up completely good foods and sauces? They can get various juices with little straws stuck to the sides of the boxes so that they don't even have to hardly do any work to even drink it. Will it eventually devolve to the point that major companies will have to invent nutritious "IV" foods so they can avoid the pesky business of even eating altogether? They can gnash the shit out of Big Macs and McNuggets with their nubby little teeth, so I don't see why they can't be bothered to gum a banana or shove a cherry tomato down their gullets.

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If YOU are the "exception" to what I am saying, then why does my commentary bother you so much?
I don't hate your kids, I HATE YOU!

We used to buy Prego but lately, we've been buying Newman's Own and Muir Glen. Muir Glen is more expensive, but it's good. Just hope those sauces don't start doing the same thing. We're also trying to cut back on high fructose corn syrup, and have done so since many of those sauces don't have it.

Where does all of the "for the children" stuff end?

JD

what the fuck ever happened to parents telling the fucking brats "shut up, stop bitching and eat your goddamn vegetables"? if they refuse to eat it, bread it and tell them its a fucking fish stick. they won't know the difference...

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JohnDrake
We used to buy Prego but lately, we've been buying Newman's Own and Muir Glen. Muir Glen is more expensive, but it's good. Just hope those sauces don't start doing the same thing. We're also trying to cut back on high fructose corn syrup, and have done so since many of those sauces don't have it.

Where does all of the "for the children" stuff end?

JD

it doesn't. it's fucking annoying as piss too. they fuck with everything-whole grain pasta in canned spaghetti, low sugar and sodium shit, fucking no potatoes in stuff, etc. first, changing my food is not going to make the little brats any healthier. you could feed them straight wheat every day, but if the little bastards are going to sit in front of a wii for 18 fucking hours a day, they're still gonna be fat as hell. secondly, you can't magically make bad food healthy by changing one or two things in it. so you put whole grain pasta in it-it still has high sodium, processed fats, sugar in 15 different forms and whatnot in it. and just remember, when you fuck with one thing, you gotta fuck with something else to make it taste palatable. like low fat. fat gives food taste. so when you take out fat, sodium, sugar and artificial flavors are loaded in to compensate for the taste going to piss.

OK, I tried the new Ragu and it sucks. I read the ingredients on the old recipe and the only difference is they used high fructose corn syrup and it has been switched to sugar. And apparently they concentrated it more. They added no vegetables, they merely concentrated it so there is more tomato sauce per serving and they can make their claim of so many servings of vegetable (tomato) for the chyldren. It tastes sweet and strange. Corn syrup has been demonized as of late but you get a lot more of that in soda than in a little tomato sauce on your spaghetti. The culprit in the new sauce is the sugar.

Tomatoes aren't even vegetables, technically. They are botanically classified as fruits.

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"I have learned that pleasing everyone is impossible, but pissing everyone off is easy and fun as hell"

:eatu

In our house, it was "If you don't like what's on the table, you get to cook the next meal. But there won't be anything else at this meal, so eat it whether you like it or not - or you can go to bed hungry."

Not only did it teach me to eat different/new/unfamiliar foods, it caused me to become a good cook at a young age.

SkyEyes

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blondie
OK, I tried the new Ragu and it sucks. I read the ingredients on the old recipe and the only difference is they used high fructose corn syrup and it has been switched to sugar. And apparently they concentrated it more. They added no vegetables, they merely concentrated it so there is more tomato sauce per serving and they can make their claim of so many servings of vegetable (tomato) for the chyldren. It tastes sweet and strange. Corn syrup has been demonized as of late but you get a lot more of that in soda than in a little tomato sauce on your spaghetti. The culprit in the new sauce is the sugar.

You don't say...I would never have guessed. But now that you say this, it makes sense.

I would just love to know why Ragu feels SUCH a heavy responsibility to make sure the world's children get their fucking veggies that they'd mess with a product they've sold successfully for over 30 years. As Kim pointed out...there are plenty of other alternatives!

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entitude413
I would just love to know why Ragu feels SUCH a heavy responsibility to make sure the world's children get their fucking veggies that they'd mess with a product they've sold successfully for over 30 years. As Kim pointed out...there are plenty of other alternatives!

My guess is that they, like the cereal companies, sense impending legislation (that's two different links) and are thus eager to be seen as "doing the right thing" so that the voluntary code of conduct approach will be used instead. I envision that they are also worried about future lawsuits when the current crop of behemoths reaches the age when they can cast the blame for their obesity on others.

A little internet digging reveals that Molly Ringwald is the spokeswhorewoman behind the Ragu "Feed Our Kids Well" campaign.

A little more digging uncovers numerous mommy blogs that glowingly "review" Ragu's new and improved sauce. They strangely all use the same words, almost like they were getting paid...by...Ragu? I left some choice words of my own on those blogs.

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law1204
I am convinced that people who "sneak" food into other food when they find out you don't eat a certain thing are being controlling and abusive. It's a lack of respect for you and your boundaries.

it all depends, i think. if it's for health reasons-and i mean doctor proscribed-then i don't think it is necessarily controlling or bad.

but if you have someone who says they don't like something and you switch it, not only is it controlling and abusive, but dangerous. what if the reason they are not eating something is not merely because they don't like it, but it causes them to have an allergic reaction.

besides, it's more fun when people realize what is in their food. such as carmine.

If breeders want to sneak food in on their kyds, then that's their business. I see NO EXCUSE though for someone to sneak in shit on an adult who is not under their care, like in the case of a caregiver to a difficult loved one with dementia who refuses to eat properly. Since I have no caregiver, there is NEVER a reason to "sneak" anything in on me. If they ask me and I say I don't want it, even if I give no reason, then it's outrageous for them to sneak it in anyway and indicates a major control problem. If they don't think that I would want it and sneak it in only to tell me later, then that's obnoxious. If they KNOW that I am allergic to it or that it causes me discomfort, then that can be criminal or just mean, whichever applies. WHAT exactly do they expect to get out of it other than some odd satisfaction that they were "right" and that I couldn't "tell the difference"? If I "can't tell the difference", then it MUST not do much to enhance the flavor, so what's their point?

Most of the food sneakers are just DETERMINED that if I try whatever it is that I will like it. MOST times I have already tried it and DO NOT WANT IT. If I "can't tell the difference" due to their spy-culinary skills, then that's not a "win" if I can't taste it and then back down and admit that I like it. How can you admit that you like something if it can't be tasted? I "couldn't tell the difference" if someone poured arsenic into a pecan pie probably, but that doesn't mean that I want to eat it! Most everyone I have known for any length of time KNOWS that this shit pisses me off. So, IF they go on and do it anyway, then it is for NO OTHER REASON than to purposely and with malice and aforethought, royally piss me off! The last time it happened was with the beans and the father in law, but I seriously doubt that he will pull that stunt again after I voiced my threat.

There is NO EXCUSE to tamper with an unsuspecting grown adult's food unless you are their caregiver, like has been mentioned. I find it offensive, childlike, and in some cases outright psychotic to fuck with other peoples' food. These food-sneak offenders need to keep their fucking mitts to themselves and their OWN food. IMO.

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If YOU are the "exception" to what I am saying, then why does my commentary bother you so much?
I don't hate your kids, I HATE YOU!

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kidlesskim
If breeders want to sneak food in on their kyds, then that's their business. I see NO EXCUSE though for someone to sneak in shit on an adult who is not under their care, like in the case of a caregiver to a difficult loved one with dementia who refuses to eat properly.

That reminds me of something I had to do to my grandmother to make her eat what I made for her. I made one of those croissant-egg-cheese sandwiches, and she would say I didn't cook the eggs right. So I stuck it in a styrofoam take-out container and told her I got it at the breakfast place nearby, and she packed her face with the whole thing. It was a damn good sandwich even if I say so (I made one for myself too).

However, I didn't sneak in any INGREDIENTS, I just sneaked it into take-out packaging.

With my grandfather, I had to "sneak" vegetables into his food, not because he didn't LIKE them, but because my grandMOTHER would do the same thing with his food as she did with her eggs, which is obsess about the color and texture and cooking methods I used. Poor Grampa would just refuse to eat anything unless SHE "pre-approved" it.

Now that she's dead and he's in the nursing home, we don't have this problem. He LOVES to eat, will eat anything, and you have to take things away from him or he will eat too much.

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"I have learned that pleasing everyone is impossible, but pissing everyone off is easy and fun as hell"

:eatu

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SlumSlut

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kidlesskim
If breeders want to sneak food in on their kyds, then that's their business. I see NO EXCUSE though for someone to sneak in shit on an adult who is not under their care, like in the case of a caregiver to a difficult loved one with dementia who refuses to eat properly.

That reminds me of something I had to do to my grandmother to make her eat what I made for her. I made one of those croissant-egg-cheese sandwiches, and she would say I didn't cook the eggs right. So I stuck it in a styrofoam take-out container and told her I got it at the breakfast place nearby, and she packed her face with the whole thing. It was a damn good sandwich even if I say so (I made one for myself too).

However, I didn't sneak in any INGREDIENTS, I just sneaked it into take-out packaging.

With my grandfather, I had to "sneak" vegetables into his food, not because he didn't LIKE them, but because my grandMOTHER would do the same thing with his food as she did with her eggs, which is obsess about the color and texture and cooking methods I used. Poor Grampa would just refuse to eat anything unless SHE "pre-approved" it.

Now that she's dead and he's in the nursing home, we don't have this problem. He LOVES to eat, will eat anything, and you have to take things away from him or he will eat too much.

Sneaking food on kids isn't really new in my opinion. I once had a coworker who let his kids have those sugary cereals in the morning but he and his wife were having to cut corners because they had both been laid off from previous jobs and had to take a drop in pay. One thing they did was switch to the generic versions of those cereals. The kids said they didn't like them because they weren't the same cereals. What he started doing was keeping a few name brand boxes around and when the kids went to bed, he would fill them with the generic stuff. The kids saw the name brand box and didn't know the difference.

I remember I think it was in the old Bratfree forum, there was a member who posted of how when they worked in a supermarket deli, they would get customers who wanted thinly sliced deli bologna because their kids wouldn't eat the stuff from the refrigerator case. I wonder if the parents had simply bought the Oscar Mayer or store brand cold cuts, wrapped them in white butcher paper, and told the kids they were from the deli, would they have known the difference? If I had refused to eat what was put in front of me, I'd have been told to starve.

Donna Four Eleven

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Donna411
If I had refused to eat what was put in front of me, I'd have been told to starve.

And the ones who are REALLY "hungry" DO eat what is put in front of them.

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"I have learned that pleasing everyone is impossible, but pissing everyone off is easy and fun as hell"

:eatu

Aww, entitude, I wish I could send you some of my grandma's homemade sauce. She makes it very mild. She learned to cook it from my Italian grandfather.

I'm a Prego girl myself, but it's a bit garlicky and probably not great for sensitive digestive systems. I tend to get a little heartburn from it.

Personally, I hate green vegetables unless it's salad. They taste OK when they're roasted, but they still do a number on me GI-wise. They tend to repeat themselves and I just avoid them. I don't eat the healthiest diet thanks to that, but what can I do? Carrots, squash and green beans are OK, but the leafy green vegetables like broccoli do me in, and spinach is out of the question.

Fish is another thing I won't touch with a 10 foot pole. The smell makes me want to gag, and the taste of even the mildest fish is absolutely disgusting. This is unheard of in my husband's family where fish is a traditional food for them.

Oh, and we don't eat a ton of meat, but when I do eat it, I prefer organic beef. Hubby bought the grass-fed variety a couple of times and that was just disgusting. It had this tangy taste that made it seem like I wasn't eating beef at all. Gross.

If they want to make food healthier for the kiddies, why don't they revamp things like Yoplait yogurt? It's got that damn corn syrup in it and it drives me up the wall since they have good flavors. I have to buy the organic or store brand instead because they don't use the corn syrup.

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kidlesskim
If breeders want to sneak food in on their kyds, then that's their business. I see NO EXCUSE though for someone to sneak in shit on an adult who is not under their care, like in the case of a caregiver to a difficult loved one with dementia who refuses to eat properly. Since I have no caregiver, there is NEVER a reason to "sneak" anything in on me. If they ask me and I say I don't want it, even if I give no reason, then it's outrageous for them to sneak it in anyway and indicates a major control problem. If they don't think that I would want it and sneak it in only to tell me later, then that's obnoxious. If they KNOW that I am allergic to it or that it causes me discomfort, then that can be criminal or just mean, whichever applies. WHAT exactly do they expect to get out of it other than some odd satisfaction that they were "right" and that I couldn't "tell the difference"? If I "can't tell the difference", then it MUST not do much to enhance the flavor, so what's their point?

Most of the food sneakers are just DETERMINED that if I try whatever it is that I will like it. MOST times I have already tried it and DO NOT WANT IT. If I "can't tell the difference" due to their spy-culinary skills, then that's not a "win" if I can't taste it and then back down and admit that I like it. How can you admit that you like something if it can't be tasted? I "couldn't tell the difference" if someone poured arsenic into a pecan pie probably, but that doesn't mean that I want to eat it! Most everyone I have known for any length of time KNOWS that this shit pisses me off. So, IF they go on and do it anyway, then it is for NO OTHER REASON than to purposely and with malice and aforethought, royally piss me off! The last time it happened was with the beans and the father in law, but I seriously doubt that he will pull that stunt again after I voiced my threat.

There is NO EXCUSE to tamper with an unsuspecting grown adult's food unless you are their caregiver, like has been mentioned. I find it offensive, childlike, and in some cases outright psychotic to fuck with other peoples' food. These food-sneak offenders need to keep their fucking mitts to themselves and their OWN food. IMO.

when i said "health reasons", i meant changing something such as using an alternate item-such as switching from salt to a spice and herb mix for a person who refuses to use less salt on their food and not telling them. i make my foods differently than my parents. when i cook for them, i use what i want, such as himalayan sea salt instead of regular salt, because i like it. i use more spices and herbs than they do, too. i only tell them if they ask about it.

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entitude413
WHAT?!?! My entire life, they have been successfully selling the same recipe and style of sauce, and now because the fucking kids need more veggies, they have the nerve to fuck with perfection?!?!

I know it's only sauce...but, what the fuck.

I bet the kids feel the same way about the sauce that you do. It's really only aimed at appealing to bizzy mawms. Why can't those brats use their so-called 'pester power' to demand their parents not purchase modified products, I wonder? Maybe they really are only interested in the brand rather than the product?

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Donna411
Sneaking food on kids isn't really new in my opinion. I once had a coworker who let his kids have those sugary cereals in the morning but he and his wife were having to cut corners because they had both been laid off from previous jobs and had to take a drop in pay. One thing they did was switch to the generic versions of those cereals. The kids said they didn't like them because they weren't the same cereals. What he started doing was keeping a few name brand boxes around and when the kids went to bed, he would fill them with the generic stuff. The kids saw the name brand box and didn't know the difference.

I'm always happy to try out the generic version of a product to see if I can tell the difference. I don't want to be manipulated by branding; I want to make a logical choice based on flavor. Lots of the time I can't tell the difference, and then I'm happy to switch. Some products, however, just taste foul in their generic forms (cola, for instance).

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yurble

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entitude413
WHAT?!?! My entire life, they have been successfully selling the same recipe and style of sauce, and now because the fucking kids need more veggies, they have the nerve to fuck with perfection?!?!

I know it's only sauce...but, what the fuck.

I bet the kids feel the same way about the sauce that you do. It's really only aimed at appealing to bizzy mawms. Why can't those brats use their so-called 'pester power' to demand their parents not purchase modified products, I wonder? Maybe they really are only interested in the brand rather than the product?

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Donna411
Sneaking food on kids isn't really new in my opinion. I once had a coworker who let his kids have those sugary cereals in the morning but he and his wife were having to cut corners because they had both been laid off from previous jobs and had to take a drop in pay. One thing they did was switch to the generic versions of those cereals. The kids said they didn't like them because they weren't the same cereals. What he started doing was keeping a few name brand boxes around and when the kids went to bed, he would fill them with the generic stuff. The kids saw the name brand box and didn't know the difference.

I'm always happy to try out the generic version of a product to see if I can tell the difference. I don't want to be manipulated by branding; I want to make a logical choice based on flavor. Lots of the time I can't tell the difference, and then I'm happy to switch. Some products, however, just taste foul in their generic forms (cola, for instance).

Also on that list:

Generic mouth "rinse" (tastes like cold medicine)
Fake store brand cheese (tastes like wax paper)
Off brand ravioli-skettios-spag and meatballs (tastes like vomit)
Fake "A-1" (So awful it can't be described in words)
Off brand feminine hygiene products (might as well use toilet paper)
Cheap candy (only if you want to pull your teeth out)
Fake Hawaiin Punch(tastes like soured Koolaid)
Store syrup(too damned runny)
Off brand chili (dog food)
Generic potted meat (cat food)

and the MOST GROSS off brand award goes to TREET, the "Spam" look alike.

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If YOU are the "exception" to what I am saying, then why does my commentary bother you so much?
I don't hate your kids, I HATE YOU!

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kidlesskim
and the MOST GROSS off brand award goes to TREET, the "Spam" look alike.

Spam is so disgusting I have difficulty imaging this product.

All generic food products manufactured at the major food producer that I worked for was name brand food with "no name" labels.
All they changed was the labeling line because it would cost too much to change anything else.

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cassia
All generic food products manufactured at the major food producer that I worked for was name brand food with "no name" labels.
All they changed was the labeling line because it would cost too much to change anything else.

Which one does that because I'll be buying their generic products from now on then.

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If YOU are the "exception" to what I am saying, then why does my commentary bother you so much?
I don't hate your kids, I HATE YOU!

Kidlesskim, I tried a "generic" shredded mozzarella cheese once. NEVER AGAIN! I made Chicken Parm and sprinkled the mozz on top, anticipating that gooey, golden-colored, melted cheese on top. Not one shred of that cheese melted. I honestly think it was some kind of plastic that they market as "cheese." NEVER AGAIN.

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labwoman
Kidlesskim, I tried a "generic" shredded mozzarella cheese once. NEVER AGAIN! I made Chicken Parm and sprinkled the mozz on top, anticipating that gooey, golden-colored, melted cheese on top. Not one shred of that cheese melted. I honestly think it was some kind of plastic that they market as "cheese." NEVER AGAIN.

The same thing happened to me! I dumped a pile on top of a piece of leftover pizza and stuck it in the toaster oven. When it was "done", it was one big glob of hardened plastic-like shit that could be picked up off of the pizza in it's entirety with a fork. It reminded me of that "play vomit" that you can buy in novelty stores. Another time I tried the sandwich cheese and even though it had ham, lettuce, and tomato on it too, the whole thing was ruined. At first I thought that I had left the plastic on the cheese because it was that nasty.

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If YOU are the "exception" to what I am saying, then why does my commentary bother you so much?
I don't hate your kids, I HATE YOU!

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SlumSlut

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Donna411
If I had refused to eat what was put in front of me, I'd have been told to starve.

And the ones who are REALLY "hungry" DO eat what is put in front of them.

This. I've been there before. I ate what was there, or I'd starve and go hungry. It's no fun and a crappy feeling. (It was during a hurricane that stalled, for like 2 days. Ugh.

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lab mom