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When they first hit the mainstream, I was totally in favor of baby carrots. It happened sometime during my high school years and I remember being able to buy a turkey sandwich on a bagel and a small bag of baby carrots from the cafeteria for $1.50. It felt like a huge bargain and it gave me the sense that I was eating a fairly healthy meal, since nothing in my lunch had taken a trip through the deep fryer that the cafeteria workers loved so much.
Friday night I was at my local Acme, and I came across pre-packaged pineapple wedges, orange slices and grapes, pre-plucked from their stems. They were all packed in a plastic tray, which was then wrapped in cellophane. They came in four-packs, so the wrapped trays were then swathed again in an additional layer of cellophane, to keep them bundled together. I blame baby carrots for these overly packaged fruits, as they were the first product that made us accustomed to ready-to-eat produce.
I think we've gone too far. I know that people claim that these products increase the amount of fruits and vegetables that people eat, but how hard is it to slice an orange yourself? I know that fresh pineapple is a pain to cut, but if you don't want to trouble yourself with the minutia of taking it apart yourself, you can buy yourself a gadget that will do it in seconds.
What do you guys think about the pre-cut, pre-packaged fruit and vegetable trend?
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3-24-2008 @3:25PM Michael Schmitt said... The minimally processed, pre-packaged products are marketed for those people that are on the go and don't want to have to worry about bringing all their utensils along with them to eat their fruits and/or vegetables. Just like Marissa was able to have carrots at the cafeteria without having to chop off the end and peel them, one can now enjoy a lot of different fruits and vegetables without the hassle of prepping them. There is still a market for the loose F&V at the produce section and those people will still take the F&V home and core them there.
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3-24-2008 @3:32PM zanken said... after a recent trip to South Florida I am so Not in favor of pre packaging. everything and I mean everything there was wrapped in cellophane packed two or three to the trays.. the old with the new the good with the bad. I was told it was to prevent damage from over browsing customers but it looked like some kind of loss prevention plan to me...
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3-24-2008 @4:12PM Barry said... I think its helping people who don't consider themselves "the cooking type" to get over a psychological barrier that is food prep. Sure, chopping up a head of Cauliflower takes all of about 2 minutes. But if you show an average consumer a whole head of Cauliflower vs. a prepackaged, chopped-up-and-ready-to-cook version and ask which one is easier to prepare my money would be on them choosing the prepackaged version every time.
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3-24-2008 @4:22PM Doctor Electro said... While I still enjoy preparing my own foods in the kitchen, prepackaged salads are definitely a time saver and more convenient too. That said, you need to inspect each package carefully to make sure you are not buying spoiled produce. Yes, it often looks like a loss prevention plan!
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3-24-2008 @4:30PM ChefGirlMisty said... It's great that more and more people are opting for fresh fruits and veggies for snacks, but I have to say that the price we pay for convenience is unnecessary waste. I'm not sure exactly when we all got to busy to care about the ramifications of "convenience".
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3-24-2008 @4:46PM Gnat! said... Didn't we used to buy pre-cut fruits in cans? Was that a bad thing too?
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3-24-2008 @5:05PM Mike said... It's bad enough that the "baby carrots" weren't really immature carrots, but big ones whittled down to make them smaller.
If the prepped, bagged fruits and veggies were sold in small single serving packs I might be willing to believe the bit about being an alternative less healthy snacks, but the bigger bags in the produce department aren't for that purpose.
In the interest of saving a tiny amount of time, people are suckered into paying more for something that isn't as good. Cut up fruits and veggies usually don't keep as well as whole ones. If they do, there's a good chance they've been treated to keep them looking good in the store.
You'll be better off peeling your own orange, slicing your own apple.
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3-24-2008 @5:31PM Helen said... While I don't use them for ingredients, I do use them for packing lunches and the like. It really has increased the fruit/veg intake of the battalion I prepare lunch for. When I put an entire fruit in, it would almost always come back uneaten. I put one of the handy packages in, and they're gone.
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3-24-2008 @5:55PM Beta Xtal said... If I'm on lunch break from work, and fancy some carrots (or whatever),not having my kitchen with me is a bit of a bind....I go for the washed, clean prepack.
Once back home, where I normally leave my kitchen, it's time to open the bags of loose produce and get chopping / peeling.
I think it's good to have the choice.
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3-24-2008 @6:41PM Derek Jones said... I find pre-cut/packaged fruits and veg lead to less waste. Everytime I try to buy fresh un-cut items I end up throwing half of it away. Which really annoys me for both the expense as well as being so wasteful.
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3-24-2008 @6:53PM Doctor Electro said... I still peel my own oranges because I like the fresher taste better and peeling the orange is part of the experience. I still use my apple corer to instantly chop freshly washed apples into sections. I still peel and cut potatoes for the stew pot and hand wash whole spuds for baking. However, those baby-cut carrots are the perfect size to dump directly into the stew or soup. One step, done. I still pare and peel whole carrots for other purposes though. As previously stated, the premixed salads are worth every penny if you choose carefully.
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3-24-2008 @7:01PM armmat said... If you thought we produce incredible amounts of plastic waste before, now we are even producing more....
Pre-packaged stuff is for the stupid and lazy. If you can't take 5 minutes of your life to cut an apple, a few strawberries, an orange, and pick some grapes....and wash them all, frankly, you don't deserve to eat any!
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3-24-2008 @8:27PM Kristen said... I think the only pre-packaged ones I go for are the baby carrots, and that's just because they're a good snack-size to bring to work. Everything else, it's cheaper to buy them 'regularly' and cut them yourself.
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3-24-2008 @11:35PM fliptrx said... ...and think what a bit of exercise in the kitchen might do for your figure. It takes a lot more calories to pare your own potatoes and carrots than it does just tearing into a plastic bag...
There weren't any fat people in my family, just follow mom around the kitchen for a day or two or dad around the garden, and you'd see what I mean :)
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3-24-2008 @9:32PM K said... I think the first commenter stated my position perfectly. I use the pre cut and pre packaged fruits and veggies pretty much only when I'm on the go, or to pack lunches. I cut my own fruit and produce at home, but if I stop for something to eat during a trip or work day, I'll go for the pre-packaged. I only have one exception, and that's pineapple. I always buy the plastic bowls of pre-cut cubes from Trader Joe's. For some reason, it tastes the best consistently, and I find it a real chore to clean and prep a pineapple.
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3-24-2008 @10:28PM princexy said... While I do not often buy the prepped fruits or veggies, I am not opposed to them. I have really bad allergies and fresh produce aggravates them (yes the produce, not the chemicals used to treat them, look up OAS if you don't believe me) so I don't eat pretty much any raw produce. Pretty much everything I eat either I cooked or someone else cooked so the only issue is how that food is packaged so that I can eat it at my convenience.
They are there to provide convenience. People are busy. Everyone is always on the run. People who read this site take a more avid interest in food and therefore are more likely to choose to allocate their limited time to food prep than the average person. There are tons of people who do not enjoy cooking but want to give themselves and their families relatively healthy meals and snacks. This cuts out the 15 mins a day that they would have spent chopping (yes, 15 mins, they don't want to do it and are often not very skilled at it) and now they can spend that time doing something they want. For those with children too young to give a knife, prepackaged fruits are a great snack when you send them off to school. If you cut up the fruit in the morning and they get it at lunch, what they get is brown and unappetizing. There is a lot of technology behind the packaging of these fruits and vegetables to help them maintain their freshness. You don't have it at home. It is not the right thing for everyone but it exists because there is a market for it.
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3-25-2008 @1:03AM Matthew said... I, for one, welcome our pre-packaged convenience overlords.
Well, maybe not with open arms, but I completely understand their place. Those 'baby' carrots probably saved my life when I had to cater a dinner for 120 and one of my assistants 'misplaced' the roasted tournéed potatoes side 2 hours before service. If I had to deal with peeling and tournéeing veg and had to deal with the usual rush, I would probably pull a Vatel.
Isolated incident, yes, but this all goes to say that the convenience is undeniable. Most people don't think about food the way we do, and that's fine--I don't think about my car the way some others do. And trust me, there are people out there who have no business wielding a knife, just like I have absolutely no clue what to do with a spark plug (those are in cars, right?).
I will definitely agree with you on the waste and packaging aspect of it, though. That's just a shameful.
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3-25-2008 @4:22AM fuchsoid said... They are definitely convenient in an emergency, but the excessive packaging does bother me, and pre-prepared veg are often treated with chlorine as well, to prevent their going bad.
What really, really annoys me though is excessive packaging on unprepared fruit and vegetables; I once even saw a whole coconut wrapped in clingfilm and laid out in a little plastic tray!
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3-25-2008 @7:47AM badfrog said... I figure that the instore versions are "manager's specials," fruit with a "bad spot" or local mold, that the store renders down in the hopes of making a little extra money on what would normally be a loss. At best, it might be fruit at the absolute peak of ripeness that is going to go downhill from now.
I never buy it unless I plan to eat it immediately, and open it on premeses (before buying) to ensure that it is good. If it's going bad I feel justified in putting it in the discard piles. The store doesn't want substandard food going out for customers to complain to their friends about.
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3-25-2008 @7:44AM Ozymandia said... Prepared and pre-packaged squash and turnips have saved my fingertips from mutilation numerous times, and have increased my consumption of these vegetables because prep from scratch can be a major hassle.
Anything smaller and safer I prep myself, mostly to save the costs and because I usually honestly do enjoy prep-work. Just not when I have to hack into large, round, incredibly hard vegetables.
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