My, how could that taste so awful?

[smartie]

ok so don't shoot me I was in the mood for a can of soup and bought a Campbells Light Chunky Vegetable soup. It was gross. A dry texture in the mouth (too many turnips) and just tasted disgusting and flavorless. I can't believe it passed quality and taste control with the powers that be at Campbell's.

What have you eaten that is really yukky from a can or packet and can't understand how the recipe got to be mass produced?

[linguafood]

OK, this is probably less of a flavor than a textural issue.

Here's the horrible tale: in an effort to be 'better' about my cheese addiction, I thought I'd give those Kraft (I know, I know - my bad!) Natural Cheese Polly-O Cheddar & Mozzarella sticks a shot.

Holy crap that stuff is awful. It's like biting into an eraser, basically, with zero flavor. I first thought - ok, maybe let it come to room temp a bit and see what happens.

Alas, the rubber stick texture remains, and so does the lack of flavor. Incredibly bad.

So it's back to XXX sharp NY cheddar, I s'pose. Just less of it.

[buttertart]

See if anybody near you sells aged (as long as possible) Canadian cheddar, it's so flavorful you don't need a lot.

[linguafood]

The xxxtra sharp cheddar we have is pretty awesome, but I'll lout out for Canadian cheddar, too.

Of course, "needing" and "a lot" are highly subjective terms for a cheese addict '-D

[buttertart]

I'm a card-carrying member and always have been.

[Bakerloo Line]

Brownies made from any of the mixes available today - at best, flavorless brown cakes. At worst, poisoned cheese. Disgusting. It's just too easy to make your own brownies from scratch.

[flourgirl]

I absolutely disagree with this. I bake all the time - but I keep a box of ghiardelli brownies mix on my shelf at all times for chocolate dessert emergencies. They taste great and there's nothing "poisonous" about them.

[Bakerloo Line]

Well, flourgirl, I may need to give these a try. Do you recommend any particular version of Ghirardelli? I know they have a few flavors.

[flourgirl]

I like the chocolate supreme with and without walnuts.

For the record, this mix does contain partially hydrogenated soybean and cottonseed oil. I know those aren't great for you - but I don't consider them poisons either. It just puts them in the class of "Things we don't eat too often." I bake from scratch almost every baked good we consume (except bread - I'm not quite there yet with a regular bread baking schedule), I buy almost no processed foods and we almost never eat any fast food etc., so I don't worry too much about using a box of this mix now and than. You may feel differently.

[mattyboy]

Nestles chocolate-cooconutty and vile. Low fat sour cream-by accident Subway-smells awful , tastes the same.

[Basiorana]

Cap'n Crunch. Loved it as a kid, bit into a bowl as an adult and was reeling from the sugar, the texture, the way it scraped my mouth up... Ugh.

Also, not really applicable because it's a gag food, but Baconnaise has the vilest smell known to man.

[Sandwich_Sister]

Chef Boyardee - How did I ever like this as a kid?

Spray Cheese - only if your a drunk college student or a teenage boy playing video games.

Canned or Jarred Pizza Sauces - once I started making my own at home to lower my sodium level I found out I actually enjoyed the sauce I made 100 times better

[Miri1]

I bought a a package of the Nestle's cookies that you just break apart and bake. OMG, NEVER AGAIN! I'm a dan good cookie baker but I just HAD to try them. Silly me. What was I thinking? They had no substance, the chips looked as if they had been sprinkled over the dough rather than mixed in, they were greasy and salty and there was a certain off flavor that I can't quite put my finger on. It's homemade for me from now on!

[TheHuntress]

I am morbidly fascinated with the concept that cheese can come in a spray can. No such thing exists in Australia and until I started reading Chowhound I had no idea it existed. I struggle with the concept that there would even be a market for such a thing - I can only imagine how awful it really would taste.

[Sandwich_Sister]

the spray cheese even comes in bacon flavor. lol.

[TheHuntress]

Are you serious!?! Wow. I am completely lost for words. People actually buy that stuff?

[buttertart]

It was one of the first "space age" foods. When it first came out in the '60's it was "modern" and therefore very appealing (and since it predated the heavy-duty food preservative/emulsifier/plasticiser chemical innovations since, it wasn't quite as grotesque as it seems).
My mom bought it a few times, I haven't had it since childhood (and have no inclination to do so ever again).

[maggiedev]

yup, some of us do. i love the sharp cheddar on ritz crackers or garlic flavored crackers. it just sprays right out. i don't buy it often as it is pricey and i am sure not very good for me, but i love the flavor of it on the crackers and it makes a great occasional and very quick snack.

[TheHuntress]

I suppose I'm just perplexed as to how you get cheese into and out of an aerosol can. And WHY would people want cheese from an aerosol can? But like you say it's a quick snack, so I suppose that would be a part of the appeal. I'm still getting over people who buy whipped cream from a can...maybe we're just more isolated than we realise...

[small h]

<And WHY would people want cheese from an aerosol can?>

1) Because it's fun to make designs with the cheese on a cracker.
2) Because it's fun to spray the cheese directly into your mouth.
3) Because every once in a while, cheese food tastes pretty good.

[southernitalian]

I like to fill up Bugles with spray cheese.

[maggiedev]

i DONT buy whipped cream out of a can.. i make that from the real thing.. i DO have my standards.. ahhahahhaha and yes, the cheese in the can actually does suit some pallets.. mine especially. makes great party trays when you spray on the crackers and i have never found anyone that does not like it.

[Passadumkeg]

Maggie, put the whipped cream in your coffee and leave the Coffee Mate Dark Side of the Force.

[gaffk]

Must agree. 45+ years and still haven't tasted cheese out of a can. I live in an area with actual good, real cheese.

[TheHuntress]

LOL Well thanks for enlightening me everyone, it has been a genuine curiosity for me.

[vjgower]

Wolfgang Puck's Mushroom Soup. I was trying to upgrade the string bean casserole and had not been satisfied with the results of my web search for a substitute for canned cream of mushroom soup, so I got this stuff. Sorry to say, it was awful in every way, and I discovered that Campbell's does shine at something, after all.

[flourgirl]

I've never tried any of his canned soups. But I DO really like his chicken broth (in the box.)

[shallots]

Stomach flu has caused us to venture farther into some grocery stores than we ever should have.

Mr. Shallots remembered how he loved Chef Boy. ravioli as a kid and that it would be just perfect for me. He bought several cans. He is still wondering how it could have changed so much from his childhood.

[livetocook]

haha. I bought it about 10years ago, remember how much I loved it as a kid and feeling a bit nostalgic. The tomato sauce didn't taste right at all. Very disappointed.

[maggiedev]

left over chicken and turkey make great noodle soups you can freeze for times when there is illness, or you just want a soup and sandwich meal. we are trying to get rid of all canned goods in our house and start making our own and buying veggies as fresh as possible. we will not drink or eat anything with aspertaime (spelling), or splenda. there is too much controversy as to the health problems sometimes associated with those ingredients. being retired gives me a bit more time to put into good, wholesome foods. with a husband that is terminally ill and a quadriplegic daughter i want healthy foods in their bodies. i think the effort will be well worth it. i have to try to stay as healthy as possible to take care of everyone else. i am 63 and in pretty good shape for the shape i am in.

[Passadumkeg]

My Yankee wife was just sick. I opened my first ever couple of cans of Campbell's New England clam chowder as comfort food. My wife's comment? "Why is there no flavor?"

In the last month or 2 I had my first slice of Dominoes Pizza, ever and my first slice of Pizza Hut in 42 years. I couldn't and didn't finish them. I this what mainstream America considers pizza? No thank you.

Ms. Keg just shouted from the kitchen, "Kraft Mac & Cheese".

What an harmonious couple. (:0)

[flourgirl]

We have both of those pizza chains here in Flemington. We never eat food from them. Yuck.

[Passadumkeg]

The Dumbinoes and Pizza Crud were brought to school events; I sure as hell would buy them as a food choice. Life's too short to eat bad food.

[flourgirl]

They actually serve Domino's pizza at my son's elementary school for lunch once a month - that's OK to do but than they get all hysterical about enforcing their "nutritional policy" aka the "sugar is the devil" policy. The hypocrisy blows my mind. (My son always brings his lunch, can't stomach the slop they serve.)

[Passadumkeg]

It's the same at my high school, but the snack shop sells a lunch from a different local restaurant a day of the week. Today is Tuesday, it must be Canton Cafe.
The cafeteria grub id terrible and even worse, my classroom is directly above the kitchen. Mornings quasi meat smells waft into my room. Pretty disgusting instead of what could be delish!
Didn't I promise you a saltena recite 3 years ago? I never did find it and use one from a Bolivian food web site. Sorry.

[maggiedev]

i eat at school with my 4th grade granddaughter at least once a month. i am literally amazed at the garbage and the quality of the garbage served in the school. i don't find much nutrition. the teachers have a buffet area where they can get a full, nicely enhanced salad, but the kids get a bit of lettuce with some dressing. they don't seem to care that the KIDS go without. i always get a big salad and share with the granddaughter. when i was a child, 50 years ago, the food in our texas schools was great. we did not get choices. we ate what was put in front of us and it was well cooked and nutritious. i think they are using the "nutritious" as an excuse for cheap, cheap, cheap. stale hamburger buns, cardboard freezer pizza and only God knows what is in some of the other things they serve. we don't have any restaurants in our very small town to get lunch from at our schools. they are confined to the slop chosen by whoever does the choosing.

[LauraGrace]

The difference, IME, is manpower, maggiedev! When I was a kid (20 years ago), my small-town K-5 school employed four full-time cafeteria workers, and that meant that every durn thing was made from scratch, from chili (made with dried beans and local beef) to cabbage pockets to macaroni and cheese to cinnamon rolls and hamburger buns -- all of which they were rightfully famous for.

When schools started making cuts in lunch programs, the biggest-ticket items went first -- and that means So Long Lunch Lady! Which in turn means food that's quicker to prepare, which means processed, packaged garbage, which (surprise!) turns out to be... not so cost-effective. But no school board is going to approve what they see as a superfluous employee at $25,000 plus benefits when they can just keep slapping frozen burritos and mystery meat-wiches down in front of our kids.

[maggiedev]

i agree with that. i live near a town of 1600 with quite a few of the kids coming in from farms and ranches. there are 6 lunch ladies, but i don't think they make nearly that much money. a lot of the food is pre-packaged which means a ton of preservatives and other stuff that should not go into little bodies. i am making a list of the foods served when i go to eat lunch at school with my granddaughter. after i have compiled a list and researched the ingredients and things like that, i am going to start a campaign to go back to the old days when the food was truly prepared in the school. if they are going to pay the lunch ladies, then they need to really do the cooking. most of them are out of school really early and several have second jobs. that says a lot for the time spent preparing the garbage for the children. i do not use that term loosely. it is truly garbage. back in school our lunch ladies made a huge pot of pinto beans fresh every day. if you ate all the food on your tray, you could get a helping of beans and an extra piece of bread. this was a healthy choice for most of us instead of desert. even desert was a very small piece, more healthy than most of the food served today. they actually baked the cakes themselves.

[flourgirl]

I don't know, Laura, I was in elementary school a lot longer ago than you were and the lunches were pretty gosh darn bad then. And I grew up in an upscale area in NJ. I'm not saying they haven't gotten worse - I think they have. But the bar was set pretty low to begin with in a lot of schools.

And I would add that we are paying a FORTUNE in property taxes where I live - almost $9k a yr on an 1800 sq. ft house - and over 85% of that money goes towards our schools. And OF that 85%, well over 80% of that money is going to pay for the salaries, pensions and benefits of the admins and teachers. How about a little less of the pie for the teachers and admins and a little more for decent school lunches. among other things?

[maggiedev]

OMG!!! almost $9k on an 1800 sq. ft house. i am totally mind boggled. i have a 2018 sq. ft house, 22 acres of land and we pay just under $2k a year in taxes, combining county and school district. my home is only 12 years old to and is a nice brick. even in the town i grew up in south of houston, very upscale, the taxes were nowhere near what you pay. we don't have state income tax either and we don't tax food except prepackaged or eat in food. our school lunches when i was young were really wonderful and even when my 42 year old daughter was in school they were still good. it was when the grandkids came along and they started talking of nutrition in the schools that the food went down hill. they broke what was already fixed.

[flourgirl]

I know, how insane is that? And we own an acre and a quarter of land to boot. Welcome to the state of NJ.

But it really burns my britches that we pay so much for the schools and yet my son can't get a decent lunch there.

[maggiedev]

i have visited new jersey one time. we got lost, then lost again, then found out the signs were posted backward. we kept returning to the same place over and over. that was in jersey city. i was amazed that you could get so lost in such a small state. i plan to come back again in future with more time to explore. in the meantime i will stay in texas where the cost of living is a whole lot cheaper. come on down. i prefer to pack a good ceasar salad for my granddaughter to take to lunch. even peanut butter sandwich would be better, but she is going to school in a totally peanut free zone due to other children's deadly allergies to peanuts.

[LauraGrace]

True, flourgirl. I definitely recognize that I was very blessed with the food we got in elementary school.

Another component is the fact that the school lunch program came after a time in our country when a large percentage of American children were *underweight*. Hearty, filling foods fit the bill for kids who were going home to lots of work and not much dinner.

[monpetitescargot]

i haven't had domino's since their overhaul. but.... not interested. "what's that you say, domino's? oh, your pizza doesn't taste like straight up cardboard anymore? oh, you upgraded to regular subpar pizza flavour? great!"

yeah, last time i had a slice of pizza hut (at a get together, to be polite).. i mean... it's just a mashup of super salty, super sweet and super fatty. ugh. no real flavour components.

agreed on the kraft mac n cheese as well, it's kind of the worst. though ii don't object to the "velveeta" style annie's all natural mac n cheese once in awhile....it satisfies that nostalgic craving. at least the cheese isn't that scary orange "cheez" colour.
http://gizmodo.com/5748769/kraft-has-...

[maggiedev]

i used to love domino's pizza. when i was working i would buy the 'buy one get one free" every tuesday night and take one to the emergency room staff where i worked. now they have changed the formula and they are totally nasty. our pizza hut is great, thank goodness, and so is our subway. i had pizza in new york a couple of years ago. our friends we were visiting said they were the best in the world. after trying 4 different pizza places on that one visit, i gave up. i am afraid they were tasteless to this Texas girl. i am used to food that bites back when i bite into it. as far as macaroni and cheese, well, i make mine home made. cannot stand the boxed stuff though the granddaughter eats the velveeta boxed mac and cheese for a quick meal after school and before going to dance. as far as sub sandwiches and pizza, i am going to research recipes and start making my own. it is 20 miles to the nearest pizza place. only drawback to living way out in the country. then again it sure saves money.

[Passadumkeg]

The Dumkeg Phiolosophy: Eat what is local cuisine, stay away from chains and treat every meal as it may be your last!
My formative years were in the NYC area; I ate great pizza, subs or haogies, seafood and local Polish foods; New Mexico; I became a chileholic, nuff said; Norway, lots of seafoods, lamb & reindeer; Finland, the same, plus wild mushrooms; Bolivia; lots of beef, quineoa, Amazonian fish and saltenas(!); avoided local pizza at all places; Maine, seafood junkie, but found a New Yorker who made excellent pizza (Finelli), but avoided "gas station" pizza. Now back in NM, the locally owned pizza shop pizza wouldn't be half bad, if they just didn't call it pizza. The local Chineses is inedible as well as 2 pizza chains. We often make very good pizza at home. The 6 local New Mexican restaurants are all very good, however. A no brainer where we eat.
Note: I cook at home all the cuisines I desire that I can't find locally. Thanks to the Hound Finelo, we now enjoy some of the best Chinese food, I've had outside of China Towns at Budai, in Albuquerque.
I'm sorry if I sound like a food snob, and don't wish to sound maudlin, but ever since I returned from Vietnam, 43 years ago, I take my food as a daily Holy Sacrament.
ps Maggie we are 75 miles from Albuquerque, the only real place to food shop.

[gaffk]

I have lived in Philadelphia all my life (besides a brief detour--fortunately not to Vietnam) and still can't understand how Dominos, Pizza Hut, Pappa John's, Subway, etc. continue to have outposts here. You cannot go more than a block or two without passing a good mom & pop pizza and hoagie spot using good local ingreients (or the best imported).

[LauraGrace]

There are people who straight up love Subway. I am not one of those people, in fact I'd rather go hungry than eat their low-quality cold cut sandwiches on the yeastiest bread ever made... at 6 bucks a pop. But I have friends who will not voluntarily venture into any restaurant but a chain. De gustibus...

[Passadumkeg]

"Nobody ever went broke underestimating the bad taste of an American."

[monpetitescargot]

i recently had to serve jury duty and i ate at subway. it was the only thing close by. literally. the. only. thing. and i was so hungry. all the meats tasted exactly the same.vaguely meaty and mostly salty. and the veg just looks like it is some mass produced, straight- from- mexico, poorly handled, salmonella-laden, genetically modified product awaiting you in those sixth pans.

[vjgower]

re. "the veg just looks like it is some mass produced, straight- from- mexico, poorly handled, salmonella-laden, genetically modified product awaiting you in those sixth pans."

What item does this refer to?

[Passadumkeg]

Taco Bell went bankrupt in Mexico City. I love it!

[gaffk]

Yes, I take solace in the fact there are so few of these chains in relation to the number of mom & pops.

[EWSflash]

there is a God.

[maggiedev]

you certainly do NOT sound like a food snob. everyone has different tastes and you have been lucky enough to sample food world wide. no wonder you don't eat at the chains. we don't have the choices here. we go 50 miles one way to do our grocery shopping in bryan/college station in central texas. there is one really good place to eat in our nearby town and they make all of their own. otherwise, it is chains, or make the food at home. i am going to learn to make pizza. we love it, but except for pizza hut and the new pizza's at dominoe's we have nothing. donimoe's is totally yuk today.

[RedTop]

Before this thread runs it's course, I think Subway will be the clear winner as the skankiest smell and taste known to Western palates. So my question is: why do people still patronize these places?

[i_am_Lois]

One of my favorite things to serve was Lipton's noodles in a chicken flavor sauce. This is now sold as Knorr (formerly Lipton). Knorr must have changed the recipe and I bet they are also using inferior ingredients. I recently bought a package. During the cooking process, the noodles broke down into a million little gummy bits that tasted awful. The sauce tasted starchy. The whole experience was horrible. I will never buy it again.

[jubilant cerise]

I know this has been mostly prepackaged food but I gotta say Subway sandwiches are the WORST SANDWICHES EVER. I don't care that they bake the bread on-site and assemble the sandwich in front of your eyes, the low quality ingredients make terrible food. There's one down the block from my house that I avoid when possible - the smell of their baked bread wafting through the street is hideous.

[Passadumkeg]

+1

[PotatoPuff]

+1 +1 +1.... ugh. worst smell ever. worst food ever. will walk to the other side of the street to avoid the smell.

[dustchick]

I thought I was the only one who reacted to the smell of Subway. When they first started baking their own bread it smelled fine. Now the smell activates my gag reflex. Really. Once a colleague brought lunch from Subway into the office, and I had to leave. What IS that smell?

[flourgirl]

I've only eaten a Subway sandwich once, because my SIL asked me to pick some up for a playdate with our kids.

Never again.

[Sandwich_Sister]

I worked for a subway back in college I can tell you that while they do bake the bread they don't make it. When I first started working there they got the frozen bread dough from Pillsbury but after that year they went for the cheaper option and had a brand made for them.

Also all of the meats are prepackaged - When prepping the turkey meat we used to stab the bags open and put it in front of coworkers face because the smell that exuded out smelled like farts.

We were all so scared into maintaining food cost that we used the 5 second rule.

and no matter how many times I washed my uniform that smell never came out.

I have worse stories but I won't go into it. I'll just say that if your getting a 5 dollar foot long for it to be that cheap they have to use the cheapest ingredients and pay their works minimum wage. Better service and food comes from places that use quality ingredients and treat their workers with respect and pay them enough to live on.

[jubilant cerise]

I'm not surprised that they ship the bread dough in frozen - I was reading about how Tim Horton's (I'm in Canada) started doing this with their doughnuts and other baked goods a while back ago because they basically don't want to employ bakers who know what they're doing and want ensure product uniformity and quality (ha!) across the country.

[1sweetpea]

Before they moved to a different location, my chiropractor and massage therapist had a storefront next to a Subway. The smell of the bread would waft through the vents. It was terrible. They endured it for a few years but finally moved, partially because of the smell.

When Subway first came to town I had a decent sandwich or two, but since then (and that was more than 15 years ago) I have never had anything approaching a quality sandwich. The lettuce is either white or yellow, the tomatoes are usually mushy and not red and the rest of the toppings are either tasteless or pure salt (olives, jalapenos, hot pepper rings, pickles, sauces).

I recently brought home some aged provolone cheese and when my husband tasted it, his comment was: "that's not at all what they're calling provolone at Subway". Now granted, it was an aged provolone and had a punchy taste, but I know exactly what he meant. All cheeses at Subway taste like processed mild "American" cheese.

[gemsquash]

While you were working there, did you find out what is in the bread to produce the smell that everyone complains about? I mean bread has mostly low cost ingredients like flour.. right? How much cheaper could it be.. and what could they be putting in to turn a normally wonderful smell (bread baking) so strange?

I'd really like to know as although I avoid any meat-type ingredients at Subway, I do sometimes get the veggie sandwich. Depending on the specific location this has ranged to awful, to not bad (it really helps to be hungry though).

[Sandwich_Sister]

like I said it used to be pilsbury frozen dough now its subway brand. My guess is some sort of preservative in the bread. I do know that while I worked there the wheat bread was not whole wheat it was enriched white bread sold as wheat.

Also with the frozen dough they have a rack and a proofer the proofer can get nasty and end up with calcium deposits and other things if not cleaned and treated properly

They also use bread forms which should be washed each night but I can tell you sometimes they aren't or are so quickly washed in just some sanitizer solution and stacked up together.

They don't always staff the place well and when in high demand sometimes the bread is forgotten about and is over proofed. We'd still serve it because we were making such little money close to minimum wage and anything like that comes out of our pocket. This is why we were such a believe in the 5 second rule. If food cost were high we'd be scolded or worse yet the money got taken out of our checks.

You should be able to ask somewhere at their location about the ingredients of the bread, they should be able to take the label off of the box is comes in.

[gemsquash]

Nice - thanks for the information! All that for an innocent looking sandwich..

[maggiedev]

do we have the only good subway in existence? the veggies are always fresh and crisp and all the ingredients are in good condition. now i will qualify this with the fact that we are in a very small town of 1600 people, the store is staffed by all locals that take pride in their work. this must make a very big difference. we have never gotten a bad sandwich out of our subway here in central texas. the only regret is our subway quit carryine provolone a couple of years ago so we do pepperjack instead. i guess i will pass on eating at a subway in a big city.

[Sandwich_Sister]

You are right, there are a lot of different variables since subway is a franchise that means that some franchise owners are better than others.

With produce; they have the ability to choose whether they get quality ingredients or go the cheap route. Tomatoes are expensive and the franchise owner where I worked didn't want to shell out the money for the quality ones, so what we got especially in off seasons was either over ripe and mushy or under ripe. or worse yet some of them were moldy in the box, we'd throw those way and just rinse the good ones.

If the store is well stocked with workers who are paid well enough to care about their jobs then this also helps with quality.

My advice to anyone is if the subway is understaffed and over worked, if the tomatoes are always of poor quality then chances are there are even worse problems and you should avoid.

[POAndrea]

And I thought I hated the Subway smell because I worked there in the 80's! (Imagine four to six hours a day of that!)

[fara]

here i am, reading everyone's replies and thinking 'subway bread, subway bread" is the only thing that has sickened me to that extent. i also don't understand how they can get away with a buffet of sorts where the customer is looking at the "meat" and "vegetables" and chooses them to fill the sandwich, maybe they think the customer will ask for less fillings once they see what's there?

[greygarious]

Maybe 10-15 yrs ago there was a small company - in Maine, I think - that had a lot of press and advertising about their superb apple and blueberry pies. They promoted them if not as all-natural, then as premium quality, with top quality, juicy fruit and flaky crusts. As I recall, the box was paper-bag brown. I think they were delivered to supermarkets in the Boston area daily. If memory serves, the box was paper bag brown. They had a van that went around offering samples to the public. Wish I'd have encountered it, because it would have saved me a trip to return the atrocious apple pie to the store. Honestly, the free apple pies doled out by KFC or Boston Market are more edible than this thing was. Dry, mealy, bland apple overloaded with cinnamon, in a thick cardboardy crust. I made a point of telling the supermarket manager how horrendous the pie was, and suggested that they should not sell it. It was kind of pricey, too. Although the store returned my money, since the company said it wanted feedback I called them and told the poor customer service gal how terrible their product was. She tried valiantly to come up with possible explanations and wanted to send me a coupon for a free pie, which I declined, saying that they could not pay me enough money to eat another slice of their product.

[monpetitescargot]

i understand that you had a bad experience, but to turn them down on a second chance is a little harsh, in my opinion. maybe it was legitimately a fluke and they deserved a second chance. i mean, no restaurant reviewers (not bloggers) write a restaurant review without visiting the restaurant usually at least 3 times.

on another note: i love heinz ketchup but really wish they would switch the whole product line back to sugar. the HFCS is so cloying. and the organic brand, which is made with regular sugar, is far more expensive. and it's too bad because i really enjoy using it as part of the base for some of the bbq sauces i make, but i don't like using an HFCS product because i can't control the level of sweetness as much. sigh.

[smtucker]

They have! It is called Simply Tomatoes or some such silly thing... sugar instead of HFCS's.. All the stores around here carry it.

[Querencia]

I will answer your question in reverse---while recovering from stomach flu I suddenly developed a taste for something I had not eaten since I was ten and would normally regard as disgusting---canned spaghetti. Now that I am all better I once again think it is inedible, but at the time it hit the spot. It's sort of like mushy worms in tomato soup.

[Passadumkeg]

My wife too, had a stomach virus today. She wanted chicken noodle soup, we only had Kroger's. She said it tasted off and wasn't like Campbell's. We only have Campbell's when sick. "Nuff said.

[piccola]

Vitamin Water. It tastes like crushed up Vitamin C tablets. Also, Zoodles -- my boyfriend goes crazy for the stuff, but it makes me gag.

[vil]

Chocolate soy milk. I usually alternate between milk and unsweetened soy milk for my morning latte or cereal, and once got a box of chocolate soy milk in a three-pack deal, thinking it might be nice for a change.

I couldn't taste the chocolate, nor the soy milk. It tasted like some overly sweet sugar-flavoured but thin, milky liquid. I tried to add extra chocolate, and to dilute the sugar with the plain soy milk, but it was just vile and not worth the trouble. I think it ended up expired and mostly untouched, and I am the kind who rarely waste a scrap, always trying to find a creative use for the occasional purchase gaffe. Never again for this one.

[Passadumkeg]

Be forced to eat "Ham Muthas" for six months and you'll avoid canned foods for the rest of your life!
Read and enjoy your soup:
http://www.vietvet.org/usmcdict.htm

[lisavf]

While not in a can or packet, my most recent "yuk" was Jax. I loved them when I was younger, couldn't get enough, hadn't had them in years. Oh, nostalgia, how you fooled me! I opened the bag... smelled like dirty feet. I tasted one... ewwww. I closed up the bag, put it in the snack drawer thinking maybe later I'd want some. Tried them again the next day, and immediately threw the bag away. How could anyone (me!) think these are good???

[Cinnamon]

Lowfat soy cheese.

[woodleyparkhound]

lowfat cheese = yuck

soy cheese = YUCK

lowfat soy cheese = YUCK! YUCK!

[flourgirl]

hahahahahahahahahaa!!!

[1sweetpea]

Every so often, I get a craving for hot chocolate and buy one of those boxes, cans or jars of instant hot chocolate. Not one has ever lived up to my expectations or even come close. It's particularly infuriating when I find a more expensive one with decent sounding ingredients that seems like it might be a winner. Sometimes they're even worse than the cheapo ones. I have yet to find one that I like. It seems the only way is to melt a good quality chocolate bar in steaming hot milk. The only problem is that I get really depressed when I realize how much chocolate I want to toss in the mug and how much better it would taste if I used full-fat cream instead of 1% milk ... HELLO, 40 gram of fat beverage! At that point, I might as well heat up a milkshake.

[Querencia]

Get hold of some Cadbury's Drinking Chocolate. It is not generally sold at retail in the United States but you no longer have to order it from England---you can get it online via a British groceries vendor. Try making hot chocolate using Cadbury's and milk, and it won't hurt if you add a shot of dark Jamaican rum.

[POAndrea]

Oooh! That's the BEST! (And you don't have to worry about the strange little "marshmallows" infesting your drink!)

[jubilant cerise]

Coco Camino hot chocolate is pretty good IMO. Or you can make your own mix:

1 tablespoon dutch cocoa
1 tbsp sugar
1 pinch (1/8 tsp) of salt

You can play with the measurements to suit your taste without messing up too much. My current mix is Soma dutch cocoa (any good quality cocoa would be fine), tubinado sugar (ground finely in my spice grinder - don't leave any in there, it hardens up a bit but is fine once mixed with the other ingredients), smoked sea salt (also ground fine) and some cinnamon.

Drinking chocolate as rec'd by Querencia is seriously delicious. I've seen it here in Canadian grocery stores, so it might be worth checking into ordering across the border (if you're in the US, that is) rather than across the ocean ;)

[laliz]

canned peas
canned beef stew
canned asparagus

[EWSflash]

+1, add canned spinach.

[TexanGert]

If it has Aspartame, I cannot stand it. Leaves this gross afterfeelingtaste in the back of my throat that just will not quit. I read once somewhere this might be a hereditary thing.

Don't like any of these low fat cheeses, either. Always seem to leave a weird coat on my tongue that is difficult to remove.

It isn't just the Campbells Light stuff. Lot of the "low sodium" stuff is baaaad. Not that I mind the lack of salt, I never add salt in my cooking and unless you have an addictive shaker reflex, you'll still love what I cook. People are always surprised about that, but the problem is most people seem to equate low sodium with little to no spice or herbs. Part of the problem is a lot of products in the spices and herbs section include salt. I just make sure to buy either fresh, or organic whole and grind or chop my own.

[JudiAU]

Ha ha. I ate a lot canned spinach when I was a kid. Canned spinach mixed ith canned beets and like a quarter cup cider vinegar. and I Liked it. Survived I suppose. Also canned asparagus was a big treat as a kid.

[RedTop]

General Mills Fibre One Cereal...sweetened with Aspartame. Absolutely inedible. For me at least.

[Disneyfreak]

Yes those Campbell's Healthy Choice things are awful. I too bought some on sale for an easy emergency lunch at work and had to throw it away. I couldn't eat it.

[Firegoat]

No salt ketchup. Bought by mistake.

[luckyfatima]

Pretty much any canned soup needs a lot of doctoring up for me to eat it.

At Sprouts in the frozen section I saw these broccoli and apple "fries" next to the sweet potato and potato fries. They are meant to be baked. I thought, why not, they might be good. Yuck! Dog biscuits are probably better. The broccoli fries were gross, but I had some hope for the apple fries. Nope. Blegh. Inedible.

[Miri1]

Nonfat mayo. Please. Give me a smidge of the real deal (or even some light ones are OK) but the nonfat? Ugh. Same goes for nonfat cream cheese. Watery and almost rubbery tasting.

And I concur with the Campbell's soup. When I was sick I needed soup in a hurry. My sister picked up a couple of cans of their vegetable soup for me. Oh, gross! Evenshe wouldn't eat it and nothing fazes her!

[Isolda]

With the exception of milk and meat, any food that has its natural fat removed is going to be gross. They have to replace that fat with something in order to get the proper texture, and that something is usually repulsive guar gum which has a gummy texture and a sweet aftertaste.

[Terrieltr]

The one that baffles me is non-fat sour cream. Um, notice the word CREAM in the name. It's supposed to have fat in it.

[Passadumkeg]

How about Non-Dairy CREAMER? And a little water and is the best hand cleaner I know, but not past my lips.

[smartie]

yes that stuff is awful, so are the flavored 'creamers' like hazelnut.

[LauraGrace]

OHGAWD. Yes. I always get weird looks in diners when I ask for "something from a cow" to put in my coffee. If I wanted to put hydrogenated soybean oil in my coffee... wait, why would I EVER want to put hydrogenated soybean oil in my coffee?! ;)

[maggiedev]

i have to admit i am a 'coffeemate" addict. i refuse to drink a cup of coffee without at least three spoons of coffee mate. i do not like milk or cream in my coffee. i will say that the flavored non-dairy creamers make me sick even to smell them. my daughter drinks coffee from her keurig with hazelnut in it and i cannot stand that either. i want pure folgers with coffee mate and one spoon of sugar. then i am in heaven.

[smartie]

my boss uses the hazelnut Carnation stuff. It smells of BO to me.

[gaffk]

Please, coffee only--do not dilute with cream, creme or non-dairy stuff.

[maggiedev]

i make soup from scratch, even tomato and then i put in plastic freezer dishes just right for portion. freeze and then all you have to do is take out, put in saucepan with a couple of tablespoons of water to help it steam quickly and you have a much better soup than you get out of a can. i do this with our cornbread dressing as well. makes taking a lunch to work easy. even busy people can find time once a month or so to make a pot or two of soup, stew, chili, and freeze in individual containers for future use. canned soup? yuk!!!!!
also, regular may, cheese and other items in moderation are much healthier and tastier than the non fat.. secret is moderation. margerine? yuk again.. a chemical compound. butter healthier, again, in moderation.

[maggiedev]

i should qualify the "canned soup, yuk" statement. i do use the cheddar cheese soup for a base to cheese sauce on broccoli and cauliflower. i use only half the milk, heat well and then add a cup or cup and a half of shredded cheddar cheese. it makes a really good cheese sauce if you do not have the time to make the rue from scratch. i also keep several cans of campbell's tomato soup on hand for when i run out of home made. nothing like a bowl of soup when you don't feel well.

[Angela Roberta]

I agree. No fake mayo ever again--not no-fat or low-fat. I'd rather use a lot less of the real thing, go without, or take the calorie hit.

[1sweetpea]

Yes. I don't use mayo often, but when I do, I won't touch the "lite" or non-fat versions. They taste horrible.

[flourgirl]

Same here.

[nofunlatte]

Smart Balance Peanut Butter. I tried this a couple of years ago when I was visiting my mom. She bought a jar for me, knowing how much I love peanut butter, but also that I tend to eat healthy. Well, I have a very LOW bar for peanut butter--I love freshly ground, natural (that you stir), as well as the more waxy Skippy, Peter Pans, and the like. Really, if it is peanut butter, I'll probably enjoy it. But there was something quite nasty about this.

[cycloneillini]

I agree and was very disappointed. I have tried a lot of other SB products and have liked all the others a lot. The PB was even worse after it sat around for awhile. It separated into an oily goo. I ended up throwing out most of the jar.

[joonjoon]

I had the same reaction with a bowl of Campbell's grab n go (or something) creamy tomato soup. I literally had two bites of it and threw it out, and I NEVER throw out food.

[juliewong]

What happened to Campbell's soup - it used to be my go to but now - bleh. Hubby purchased some Campbell french pea soup as he knows I love pea soup - oh so nasty. How hard is it to make pea soup - Habitant has been doing it for years. So sad.

[buttertart]

They cut down the salt and with it went the taste.

[LauraGrace]

Same. I know that my taste has changed since I was a kid, but not that much! I bought a can of Campbell's bean with bacon last week at the end of a brutal stomach flu, and it was the ONLY thing that sounded good... such a disappointment!

[Isolda]

Diet sodas fit the bill for me. I just don't get how anyone can tolerate that awful, fake sugar (or even natural sugar tweaked in some weird way) aftertaste.

But I have a feeling our disparate answers are yet more evidence that people really do taste things differently. I know plenty of people who love diet sodas.

[tatamagouche]

Not to repeat myself ad nauseam (from other threads), but developing a familiarity with the taste of diet soda via addiction isn't quite the same as loving it. I drink anywhere from 8-12 cans a day, acknowledging it that's a disgusting habit—and if I could ever quit, I have a feeling that one sip after time away from it would taste foul.

[Basiorana]

I do love diet soda. I can't drink full-sugar HFCS soda, it tastes vile and makes me sick to my stomach. I like cane sugar sodas well enough, but nothing compares to diet. It's not always an addiction.

[flourgirl]

I love Canada Dry diet ginger ale. I drink it because I like it, not because it's diet. I just try not to drink too much of it.

[1sweetpea]

Tatamagouche, I am also one of those with an aspartame addiction. I don't need to drink it every day and don't, but when I have it, something happens to me and I want more of it. A few years ago, I went 6 months without it, but decided to indulge in a single Diet Coke while in Saigon, Vietnam. I joked with my husband (then my boyfriend) that I hoped I wouldn't be "sunk" after just one. I recall thinking that it didn't taste good at all. I'm sure it didn't help that it wasn't quite cold enough to be refreshing. For a few brief moments, I thought that I was past all the cravings for diet soda, but I found myself buying one the very next day and after that, I was back on the "sauce". I do understand that it doesn't actually taste good. This was reinforced the other day when I tasted a Pepsi Throwback. It was pretty good. I started wondering why I settle for chemical-tasting diet sodas when there are better tasting options out there, but then I remembered the calorie content of sugar-laden sodas. No matter what, though, I can't drink HCFS sodas. They're unpalatable to me.

[jmcarthur8]

I had nothing to eat at work one day a few weeks ago, and dug around in our office kitchen cabinets for something.. anything. I found a can of soup that I had brought for an emergency, one of those 'BOGO plus a coupon' deals that was too cheap to pass up.
Anyway, it was Healthy Choice Chicken Tortilla soup in a microwaveable bowl. Nasty!!

If I'm really hungry, I'll settle for mediocre, but this was inedible. It was mushy and salty and bitter. Nothing good about it. I threw it out, which was a pain because we have a bar sink, no disposal, so I couldn't throw it all down the drain. I had to use my hand for a sieve to strain out the liquid so I could throw the vegies and whatever was in there into the trash bin. Double yuck.

[DBinNOLA]

When ever I need to dispose of something that has a lot of liquid that I do not want to put it in the garbage can, I use the "flush method" for getting rid of it.

[jmcarthur8]

Ever have a senior blonde moment?
Why did I never think of that?
;-)

[Eat.Choui]

I was craving guacamole and decided to buy jarred guacamole that was on sale. DISGUSTING.

[small h]

Gah! Seconded. Although it's the texture that gets to me, more than the taste.

[beachmouse]

Given that even my podunk grocery store has 3-4 different types of prepared guac that are 95% or more avacado, I'm not sure why the sour cream with 'avacado flavoring' variety of guacamole is still a viable product in terms of sales.

[NVJims]

Price, price and price... couple that with a cheep populace that has been raised on tasteless packaged food, and that is why it usually has more shelf space.

[EWSflash]

Oh man- guaranteed disappointment.

[Renee Fontes]

I tried those Cambell's Soups too. I thought I could get a quick lunch and not worry so much about salt, calories and all...I had no idea that it would taste so bad. Threw out 3 cans!

[RedTop]

Did you at least cut off the Label for Education and donate that to your local elementary school? Makes a lose/lose into a lose/win at least. Just joshing with you Renee.

[chefathome]

In a moment of great weakness I purchased Olivieri pasta (tortellini I think it was - don't want to recall the filing). Talk about insipid! What was I thinking???

[small h]

Whatever the stuff is that's used to grease up microwave popcorn. It tastes like the bastard child of motor oil and burnt Tupperware.

[flourgirl]

I don't understand how anybody eats that. My son received soome pop secret in a goody bag the other day so I threw a bag in the MW for him and his friends. OMG - the smell alone almost killed me and my son refused to eat it. The rest of the box went in the garbage.

[Isolda]

My son adores that stuff. He actually adds extra butter and salt. The rest of us have to leave the kitchen when he nukes his popcorn. The smell is indescribably awful.

[maggiedev]

i bought an old fashioned pop corn popper and we love it. trying to stay away from the nuked stuff.

[JudiAU]

The local good movie theatre has real butter for their popcorn. But they also offer the fake kind for people who prefer it. How sad!

[Japanecdote]

I bought an individual microwave bag of popcorn from a Brazilian market - a brand name I'd never heard of. I put it in and popped it for the reccomended amound of time and a terrible chemical smell filled the kitchen. I took it out, it looked fine, so I ate a piece and it had that same chemical taste. I have no idea what was wrong with it, but I've kind of been off popcorn since.

[Miri1]

This reminds me of when I was in high school... it was a very small school, only about 80 kids. We had a single microwave and every day at the 3 PM break one girl would go in and make a bag of popcorn. The smell wafter through the small building, hanging in the air for the rest of the afternoon until school et out at 4:30. I hated the smell and I still can't stand it!

[buttertart]

I once travelled by train from Québec City to Montréal sick with gastroenteritis (not fun in itself). Compounding the joy, microwave popcorn had been recently invented and was even viler than it is today. And the train was full of a highschool group. And there was a microwave on board. And every one of those kids just had to get the microwave popcorn. Suffice it to say it has never quite appealed to me since...

[Miri1]

buttertart, I feel your pain! When my sister stays at my house she likes to have it while we watch movies. I've told her I'll be happy to air pop the stuff but she WANTS the microwave one. UGH!

[small h]

That's the burned Tupperware. Maybe it's called something different in Portuguese. I think I used to have a higher tolerance for that chemical-y taste than I do now. Recently, I had breakfast delivered, and the toast was margarine'd instead of buttered. I thought I'd been poisoned. And I really have nothing against margarine, philosophically.

[Terrieltr]

My college roommate loved microwaved popcorn. I never understood why. Personally, I make mine on the stove with some oil, the way God intended.

[small h]

There really is no accounting for taste. I can see choosing microwave popcorn because it's portable, easy to prepare, and a cinch to clean up. But I'd much rather open a bag of Cheetos.

[LauraGrace]

My students eat microwave popcorn like it's going off the market next week. I bet, in my school of 60ish kids, there are 15 bags of popcorn made a day. Me, I think it tastes like greased aluminum foil, but like you say, no accounting for taste!

[Terrieltr]

I sorta get why she ate microwaved popcorn, but I found it so nasty that I preferred to go without.

[monpetitescargot]

this all seems kind of silly to me. if you get a normal bag of microwave popcorn- sans all the fake butter or cinnabon flavourings or whatever, it is totally fine. all youre doing is popping kernels with microwave generated steam.

i suppose most people that complain about the odor are speaking to the artificially overly buttery stuff, but why the hate for regular old microwave popcorn?

[LauraGrace]

I think all microwave popcorn, even if it's just plain and salted, tastes like aluminum foil, maybe from sitting next to the aluminum foil in its sealed packaging for however long it's on the shelf? I wish I liked it -- it's very convenient -- but I just can't eat it. De gustibus...

[joonjoon]

I think Cook's Illustrated did a popcorn test and Microwave was actually the winner...

[monpetitescargot]

im not aware of any microwave popcorn brands that are encased in an aluminum packaging. plastic or paper, i believe.

i do, however, think that jiffy pop (right?) comes in an aluminum pan, but that is a stovetop product.

[travelmad478]

Amy's Organic soups. My God, these are disgusting. I have tried several varieties and without exception they are completely devoid of flavor, mealy and gross.

Another thing I bought by mistake--no-salt cottage cheese. Who knew there was salt in cottage cheese, and that it was so important? I won't do that again!

[libgirl2]

I have had no-salt cottage cheese, I sympathize....

[im_nomad]

Dunno, I liked the "chicken' noodle one I tried.

[Isolda]

Yep, those soups are horrid. And it's really strange, because Amy's frozen dinners and burritos aren't bad at all. I have been able to salvage the lentil soup by adding some sherry and a ton of black pepper. I just don't think anyone can make a decent canned soup, though.

[piccola]

They're hit-and-miss, but some of Amy's soups are good. I remember I liked the split pea one.

[pinkprimp]

the lentil one is good too!

[JudiAU]

But so, so much worse than the Progresso version. I'd rather buy organic but seriously Progresso is a 1,000 better than Amys and doesn't have anything nasty in it.

But Amy's tomato soups are pretty tasty, a lot less sugar than Cambells, and harken back to the Campbells flavor palatte of my youth.

[piccola]

But I don't think Progresso is as vegetarian-friendly.

[JudiAU]

Progresso lentil is vegan. The rest if their soups are horrid-- wasn't endorsing them.

[piccola]

Good to know, thanks!

[rednails]

+1 for split pea.....

[beachmouse]

I like the Wolfgang Puck tomato soups. IMO way better and more of a tomato taste than Campbell's tomato soup, which I find sicky sweet to the point of being inedible.

[Terrieltr]

Agreed on the Campbell's thing. Actually, 90%+ of canned tomato soup seems to be loaded with sugar. These days, I just make it myself from canned tomatoes. Quick and not as nasty.

[im_nomad]

That's probably why I can drink them now. I never used to want to drink tomato soup as a child because it burned my throat too much, too acidic or something.

[monpetitescargot]

made that mistake also. lots of salt in cottage cheese, actually. i also once got high moisture cheese instead of low. WOW that was gross. id never had high moisture cheese so it was a total shock to me.

also agree on the amy's products. i dont like any of their stuff. though ive not tried their veggie burger patties.

[eclecticsynergy]

Amy's canned Potato & Leek soup was really quite good, but apparently has been discontinued- I guess they decided it was too tasty to suit them... The Black Bean soup is not bad; I tweak it a bit with hot sauce, cheese, and a butter swirl.

[flourgirl]

Have to agree. I was really surprised how bad they are.