Daley Ponderings

The first blog post in a long time, I realize.  And I won't make any promises about more frequent updates, etc.

I have found that I am writing on facebook more often, and reviewing products online (got a Kindle for Christmas, and so have been reading and reviewing on Amazon) and generally have less time for internet stuff anyway, so haven't been blogging anywhere near as much as we were before.

But, anyway...  Today's topic: stuff food manufacturers put into food that wastes my time since I have to read the ingredient labels in the store.

We aren't that picky, really, I think.  We try to avoid corn syrup, especially the high fructose kind.  We generally pick brands that have less ingredients on the label, all else being equal, and we pay more for some items.  I try to avoid foods that have unpronounceable ingredients.  We try to avoid non-sugar sugars, and foods that have 5 different kinds of sugar to pretend that that sugar isn't the first ingredient.  We try to not buy anything from Nestle or its subsidiaries.

I have been happy to see that bread manufacturers are starting to get the idea - some brands put on the front label: "No high fructose corn syrup" - that makes it easier and quicker to find.

We avoid most artificial sugars, and I've gotten better at realizing what the sneaky phrases that really mean "contain chemicals".

But, it is irritating to me when companies put chemicals in our food without any mention in any prominent place other than buried in the ingredient list.

I recently bought some candy for Heather that contained aspartame.  I bought some cereal that I checked for sugar content, but didn't notice the aspartame.  And then today, we found out that the so-called "100% juice" Langers brands actually isn't 100% juice, but has Red #40 in it.  The dyes particularly annoy me as there isn't any reason to add them, and if there was a good reason to add it, there are perfectly good, natural ways of dying food.  Presumably Red #40 is really, really cheap, and so food manufacturers use it to save on cost.  I'd guess that food is a pretty low margin good, and so manufacturers look for anything they can do to make the food cheaper.

We used to buy Breyer's ice cream, but once I discovered that most of their "ice cream" can no longer be called ice cream, I got pretty fed up with the whole system.  I figure my standards are higher than the FDA, and so if the FDA is forcing them to call it a "Frozen dairy dessert", it must be pretty bad.  I bought a Whynter ice cream maker so we coudl make ice cream with a couple ingredients.  We've really liked it, and make ice cream more than we used to, since it is so much easier than with our old ice cream maker (the main feature is that it comes with an air compressor, and so generates -22 degree temperatures and can cool the ice cream without any ice, salt, or planning ahead).