I thought frozen pancakes were the most ridiculous thing I had ever seen. Not any longer.

[Kali]

Frozen oatmeal.

99 cents for an 8 oz portion

jeebus fucking keerist! you can buy a container of oats for $2.50. makes 30 or more servings. How hard it is to boil water???

no time savngs, MAYBE a dish to wash less, but all that packaging to throw away.

[Graybeard]

1. I microwave my oatmeal.

Couldn't be easier. Equal amounts of oatmeal and water, a dash of salt and it cooks in the bowl.

[RebelOne]

11. Same here, but I like the flavored instant oatmeal. n/t

[MrScorpio]

31. I nuke mine as well

I use butter and milk, with some sugar and top it off with either raisins or yoghurt, or both.

But then again, I'm fucking nuts.

[srican69]

2. dunkin donuts sells a measly portion for 3 something ... what a joke !!!

[csziggy]

3. I'm too cheap to buy the "instant" flavored oatmeal

Besides that stuff tastes like chemicals.

"Quick" oatmeal costs less than $3 for 30 half cup servings. It takes the same amount of time in the microwave to make as the "instant" crap and you can add whatever you want.

I make mine with 1/3 cup of oatmeal, 1/2 cup of milk, 1 teaspoon butter, nuke until it's nice and thick and add some demeara sugar or stir in some preserves. It cooks in the same time it takes me to set up my coffee pot.

[sharp_stick]

4. You can now buy

single serving pasta. It comes in a vacuum sealed bag inside the box. You have to either nuke it or boil water and dump the bag in.

Nice thing it only takes about 4 minutes in the boiling water to heat it through whereas if you were to use that old fashioned dry noodle alternative it would take a whole 7 minutes and you might accidentally cook too much.

Or Kraft Easy Mac and Cheese? Really...If you don't have the ability to actually make a box of Kraft Mac and Cheese or KD as it was known in Canada I don't think you should be living independently.

[MuseRider]

5. I always laugh at one store

when I go through produce. They sell plastic containers of already shelled hard boiled eggs. Nothing special just pre-cooked and shelled. I don't know how much they are asking for them, I have never looked but they are still there so they must sell enough to justify having them.

[Incitatus]

6. That would be pretty lazy if you're taking them home.

Some stores have them in their deli section and people get them when they come in for lunch, just like the ridiculously priced premade salads

[MuseRider]

19. Nope, not in the deli.

In the produce section where you can also buy fruit that is already prepared for you. The egg thing just cracks me up when I go by it but then I remember when my kids were young and I was running all over the state doing stuff for and with them and my own stuff and I remember never letting myself use the easy way because I knew I would become addicted to never having to do it myself. My lazy streak is a mile long and I can't ever let it get a hold of me :/

[Kali]

8. I could ALMOST see that

especially on those days when you get a batch that just won't freaking peel. but yeah...some convenience foods are MORE work than the old way. I guess like a lot of things, people have been convinced they aren't qualified to do anything but pay for service anymore.

I will buy frozen lasagna, because I can't make it for the same price, it is a mess o' pans and dishes to clean when I do and Stouffers tastes just about the same as my recipe anyway. But frozen OATMEAL???

[4_TN_TITANS]

13. Don't laugh - we went years without knowing how to properly

boil eggs that would peel easily. The trick is to poke a hole in one end with a needle and steam instead of boil, then they peel perfectly for deviled eggs.

[hedgehog]

18. Which end do you poke?

[surrealAmerican]

42. I do both ends.

You never know which end will have an air bubble.


I've heard the age of the egg matters too. Fresher eggs are harder to peel.

[Paulie]

43. Big end has the bubble. And older eggs have a bigger bubble

As the membrane around the white shrinks with age.

[MuseRider]

20. Never knew that.

I always did it the way Julia Childs said to do it and it is perfect.

Put eggs in water. When the water starts to boil cover the pot and remove from the heat. Let stand for 20 minutes then immerse in cold water and they should peel like a charm. The yolks are also nice and yellow not that greyish green color.

I will have to try your way, sounds interesting. How long do you steam them?

My kids bought me some Eggies, they are actually kinda cool but more work since you have to clean them when you are done.

[GoCubsGo]

22. Use older eggs to hard-boil.

The shell-sticking happens more with fresh eggs. If you are planning to make hard-boiled eggs, look for the ones on a manager's special, where they're at or near the "expiration" date. They're still edible at least a week after that date. If I have some really old eggs, I'll hard boil them to extend their life just a little bit more.

[MuseRider]

23. :-) I only buy farm fresh directly from the farmer

however I do freeze some. This would be a good way if I think ahead to let some get older, thanks!

[dixiegrrrrl]

38. or

put 1 teas of baking soda in the water and boil the eggs.

[GoCubsGo]

17. People want convenience food.

They probably hard-boil them to extend their shelf life a little more. That way they can cut down on losses from waste. But, yeah, there is likely a market for them. Lots of people don't know how to hard boil eggs, despite the proliferation of cooking shows on TV. They also don't like to cut up melons or pineapples or other produce. My sister works for a large grocery store chain, and at one time spent half of her day cutting up fruit. On numerous occasions, she showed people how to cut up pineapples, because they had no clue as to how to do it.

BTW, there is at least one egg producer that sells peeled hard-boiled eggs, that I know of, that regularly has coupons for them. I have never bought them, but with sales and doubled coupons, they can sometimes be a pretty good deal.

[MuseRider]

21. I can see it

if you are in a real time crunch or somehow unable to do it (something I did not think about when I posted).

[Denninmi]

7. Oh, C'mon. It's a terrible ordeal to have to boil water.

Uh huh.

I'm right there with you on that one. Reminds me of the peeled, boiled eggs at the supermarket that cost like $5 a dozen.

[WolverineDG]

9. frozen PBJ sandwiches

ffs.

how damn hard are THOSE to make?

[NJCher]

10. I saw it the other day, too

And had the same reaction.

Oatmeal is good for people and helps lower cholesterol and blood sugar. But microwaving is not good, whether you fix it yourself or buy the packaged oatmeal.

I like to have it on cold mornings, but I admit it is a hassle to clean up, from sticking to the pan to clogging up my screen sink drain when I wash out the pan. I wish I could figure a way to fix oatmeal without the microwave and without such a difficult cleanup job.


Cher

[irisblue]

37. buttered crockpot

I make irish cut oatmeal in my crockpot at least once a week in cold months. If you've got a crockpot, it's really really nice to get up to a hot mapely/cinnamon bowl of goodness. I lightly butter the pot so cleanup is an easy soak off.

[NJCher]

45. I do

Thanks for the idea. I have a small one that would be perfect for this; going to give this a try!


Cher

[dixiegrrrrl]

39. Clenup is easy, if you

fill the pan with cold water and let it sit for awhile.
dump the contents thru the garbage disposal, wipe out pan with Dobie pad, and rinse.
I always have either a sink or a big pan of water and dump dirty dishes into it thruought the day,
to soak.
Works well if you are not overly compulsive about having the kitchen spotless in the am.

[KamaAina]

12. Pre-peeled bananas.

Fo' shiz.

[kudzu22]

15. We have a winner!

Maybe they could come pre-chewed too.

[butterflygirl]

24. Now I've seen it all.

When I get too old to peel a banana, well then, its time for me to go.

[Kali]

34. OMG

[GoCubsGo]

14. As a single person, I can understand frozen pancakes.

It makes some sense if you only eat one or two at a time, and don't eat them all that often, especially if you can get a good deal on them. But, it's a lot easier to make a single serving of oatmeal than it is a single serving of pancakes. And, that's even with plain oats, and not the instant kind. I saw the frozen single-serve oatmeal in the grocery store, and I thought it was nuts.

[mythology]

29. If you have the space in your freezer, you can make a batch of pancakes ahead

and freeze the leftovers. I do a lot of my cooking ahead because my evenings are often tied up with working out or a side job and so I like to be able to pull out a premade bowl of soup or pasta.

[GoCubsGo]

33. I do a lot of that already.

Especially with rice and beans. Pasta is easy to cook in a single serving. Rice, not so much. And, one might as well cook the whole bag of dried beans and freeze what one doesn't use. As for pancakes, I haven't had 'em in years. If I could get a great deal on the frozen kind, I would consider buying them. I don't always have all the ingredients on hand to make my own when I want some. And, with sales and coupons, it's sometimes cheaper to just buy the frozen ones.

[Paulie]

44. You can treat rice like pasta. Make it the same way with lots of water

Then just strain it.

Though ya can pry my Zojirushi fuzzy logic rice cooker from my...

[datasuspect]

16. ever try the "batter blaster?"

batterblaster.com/

[RedCloud]

25. Once I saw a housefly!

And if you think that was crazy, I was once making toast and saw that butterfly away!

[antiquie]

27. Double groan.

Go to your room!

[Purveyor]

26. Only reason I buy the 'old fashioned rolled oats' is to make dog treats. They certainly love them.

[GoneOffShore]

28. It's like the K-cup coffee makers.

You can't boil water and spoon coffee into a coffee pot?



Alrighty then.

[hibbing]

36. waste

Hey,
I hear you, I don't drink coffee, but just what the world needs, more plastic. I just don't get it sometimes the stuff people will pay a premium for instead of doing it themselves. I was shocked when I first saw peeled eggs in the grocery store. I wonder how many of them get trashed.

Peace

[NJCher]

46. oh yeah, the eggs

And now all the pre-cut vegetables.

Everyone knows that once vegetables are cut, they start deteriorating. I've seen butternut squash, which might almost be worth it since it is a pain to peel and cut--but zucchini? Bet that lasts about 10 minutes on the shelf. The waste has to be horrific.



Cher

[Danmel]

41. those are good in an office

when making a pot can be wasteful, or when you have a meeting and some people want regular and some want decaf. I wouldn't have one at home, but it is good at work (where someone else is paying for it)

[woo me with science]

30. A device to crack open your eggs:

[dixiegrrrrl]

40. No wonder other countries laff at us.

[sendero]

32. Not only that....

... but instant oatmeal that you can cook in the microwave probably faster than you can heat that stuff

Nobody ever lost money underestimating the intelligence of the American public.

[Duer 157099]

35. Maybe homeless people want to eat healthy too?

I suspect that is one portion of the market they're going after.