22 Supermarket Items To Leave On The Shelf

[hikerman]

In one of the latest newsletters from the folks at Serious Eats. By my main man over there J. Kenji Lopez-Alt

www.seriouseats.com/2016/01/22-supermarket-foods-to-leave-on-the-shelf.html

[tlg4942]

 Makes sense.  I already abide by this for the most part.  I have bought shredded cheese from time to time. I cheat on the garlic sometimes and buy the peeled whole cloves at Sams. But not often.
 The  RICOTTA though is something I use a lot. I add it to my cornbread pretty often.  I think I'll try making it and see how that goes.
Shrimp are a breeze here, Even if I buy thawed deep gulf shrimp I get them at Fresh Market the day of or day before I need them.  If I'm going to keep them I always buy IQF. They are loose so you can just grab out what you want when you want. The taste is very close to fresh. We can go to the marina and get bay shrimp and even get them using Face Book to see who's coming in with them.  Usually $3 or $4 dollars a pound and they are still jumping sometimes.

[spuds]

Mom was a meat packer at a butcher shop.Marinated meat is code for outdated meat.

If you havent,try making your own salad dressing,much cheaper and flavors cant be beat,also simple simple.Mrs has a little grinder mixer mini blender thing she uses almost exclusively for dressings.Her dressings are high on my list of things worth making.

Disagree on not buying boneless skinless chicken breasts,can find them cheaply on sale around here at least all the time.

Grind your own burger,yup,do it a couple times and NEVER will you buy ground beef again.

[Tailgating is my game]

I don't like buying fish from a super market..........seafood market is the way to go

[drholly]

Thanks, Gene - great article - J. Kenzi is a favorite of mine too - missed this one. I do like the convenience of the B-S-less chicken breast, when priced ok. Some good learning here as with almost all of his offerings. Book marked - thank you.

[Hub]

I agree with most of what he says, but every now and then you are either lazy or don't have much time.  Net, you "pay for convenience" in both cash and flavor 

I'm surprised he didn't mention the off brand spices that are in most stores at about a third of the cost of name brands.  Often found on the ethnic food aisles, these are quite risky.  You might get an actual bargain but more often than not they are diluted down with "extenders" or are made from older stocks and have less potency.

Hub

[muebe]

Never knew about the whole wet scallops vs dry scallops thing.

Good read... Thanks!

[hikerman]

I agree with most of what he says, but every now and then you are either lazy or don't have much time.  Net, you "pay for convenience" in both cash and flavor 

I'm surprised he didn't mention the off brand spices that are in most stores at about a third of the cost of name brands.  Often found on the ethnic food aisles, these are quite risky.  You might get an actual bargain but more often than not they are diluted down with "extenders" or are made from older stocks and have less potency.

Hub

I agree Hub. Sometimes life is a balancing act with available time. One item on this list, jarred minced garlic, I smelled it ONCE, and that is as close as it will ever get into my home. Besides that, my dear deceased Italian grandma would smack me in the head if she knew I used that sulphurry excuse for fresh garlic!
Everyone must decide what works best for THEM! But it's good to see how easy alternatives can be.