Living out of a Can

There is a big push advertising how "canned and frozen fruits and veggies are as healthy as fresh" going on right now, and I don't believe the hype. I'm a firm believer that even fresh mass produced produce is not at healthy as home grown.

That said, I don't believe that basic canned food is harmful. By basic, I mean basic canned veggies, beans, and fruit. I don't believe it has as much nutrients and fiber as fresh, and if you watch the salt and sugar (get those with the lesser used in the processing) I don't think it is harmful, just not as good.

I home can lots of fruit and veggies and I don't consider them harmful either, but again, not as perfect as fresh.

Eating totally fresh is just not an option for many people because of the cost, and the access to markets and stores that sell it reasonably.

At our house, there is a mix of canned, home canned from the garden, lots of fresh, and yes, the occasional boxed or partially prepared (like a cake mix for a larger recipe). Moderation in everything is the key, with the emphasis on more whole and healthy fresh foods.

Oh, and i so hear you about the canned frosting, so gross. I think it has changed over the years, as I don't remember it tasting so bad many years ago, or maybe once I started making homemade, I finally got the difference!

nantucket: You're on to something. I believe there's a correlation between the entries of processed/canned food/bad eating & entries of illnesses (in particular, diabetes) that are the result. This forum is riddled w/ posters in a quandary about their glucose levels then proclaim they eat processed food. Processed food can't be good...no matter what kind of marketing team it has.

Of course you are correct: canned and processed are not as healthy as fresh. However, mominohio hit the nail on the head: not everyone can afford fresh food or has access to it. In their situations, canned foods are economical and not bad if you watch the sodium. Further, cans themselves are more easily recycled / better for the environment than all that plastic packaging we see these days.

The general term used to describe zones like these throughout the country is "Food Deserts." This also refers to the economic state of people; a household is said to live in a food desert if it doesn't have access to a car or public transportation, and lives more than a mile from a grocery store. According to the USDA, there were 2.3 million such households in 2009. Here's what that looks like spatially, broken down by county:

While there's lots of local variation, the emerging theme is one where relative poverty and food deserts coincide spatially, particularly in the South and in Appalachia. Huge chunks of rural America lack access to fresh foods, relying instead on smaller stores with a greater abundance of processed foods. The Brooklyn Food Coalition is also noting this trend on the community scale, and with greater detail about the specific character of food availability.

You're trying to get people to make healthier choices by suggesting they make homemade frosting?

On 7/23/2014 ChynnaBlue said:

You're trying to get people to make healthier choices by suggesting they make homemade frosting?

I'd rather eat homemade frosting than that cra(p)py canned stuff anyday!!!!

I don't buy any boxed or canned food anymore. Too much salt and who knows what the can is leeching into the stuff inside. I cook from scratch every meal. I freeze extras for a future meal and have very few leftovers as they go to my family's lunches. I have cut way back on meat due to health concerns but mostly , because of the cost. I try to buy locally as well. I buy frozen veggies and fruit tho, especially during the winter. What the crime is about canned food junk--its cheap!! Fresh produce is outrageously expensive as is any meat or dairy. If I could afford to buy strictly organic I would but I have to settle for buying the things I can. Its a shame that this country can't feed all its people healthy food. We should be able to, easily., but who would make any money?? Right??!! And I have a gripe about the tons of coupons there are--they are all for the processed junk. I may use 1 or 2 out of the Sunday paper but most of them are for the processed cr(a)p. So then, there is a small reward of a few cents off, to buy this junk!! Crazy!!!!

On 7/23/2014 ChynnaBlue said:

You're trying to get people to make healthier choices by suggesting they make homemade frosting?

of course not, 2 thoughts addressed in one thread.

Just too easy for everyone these days to open and heat or open and spread. Need to sit back and realize what are we really doing and what's really in that can.

It's hard for people who live alone, they look for convenience and it's really hard to shop for one let alone prepare meals. I think too watching Guy's Grocery Games last Sunday and having a woman talk about how her mom cooked by buying frozen dinners and "fixing them up" so the entire family could eat. I never even thought about taking all the food out of the tray and making something else out of it....too easy to start from fresh than starting from processed.

Why do we need frosting? Do y'all really eat that many cakes?