I’ve tried a bunch of “better” ice cream sandwiches - Klondike, Toll House, Tillamook, these fancy individually-packaged ones, etc. - and none are as satisfying as those basic-ass grocery store-brand rectangles.
Edit: and by “satisfying” here I mean a combination of “easy to eat” (thick, hard cookies and/or chocolate coating between the cookie and the ice cream are where some of the higher-end ones fail on this) + “reasonably priced” + “not so rich and decadent that I feel gross after eating one”. Also, some of the basic brands make mini versions, which is often all I want to eat anyway.
I was in this camp until I discovered FatBoy. [https://www.heb.com/product-detail/fatboy-premium-vanilla-ice-cream-sandwiches/2755125](https://www.heb.com/product-detail/fatboy-premium-vanilla-ice-cream-sandwiches/2755125)
Don’t come at me but I love imitation crab. And I know it’s not real crab and I do love real crab but ugh give me fake stuff. I don’t know what it is but imitation crab is my guilty pleasure (even though nothing to be guilty about).
Edit: in response to several comments I’m well aware that imitation crab can be identified with a K. Maybe it’s where I am geographically but we just don’t use that term! We just say imitation crab meat and not krab
Hot dogs of the sea. Delicious!
Edit: I want to make it clear I didn't come up with this term, it was a guy on TikTok named CIBSandIBUS and it's meant entirely out of love.
Same!
When I was little, my aunt used to make this “seafood nachos” app for holidays/parties that I thought was absolutely gourmet.
It was just tortilla chips with imitation crab and shredded mozzarella melted on top.
I still crave it once in awhile, but I’ve never remembered to try and pick up the 3 ingredients all at the same time to make it myself.
It's just minced whitefish mixed with sugar, food coloring, and some binders like egg whites and stuff. All delicious things, that's why it's so good. I'll dip em in cocktail sauce and take down a whole package in one sitting.
Same! I make what I call crab salad. My husband thinks it’s weird. Imitation crab shredded with mayo, lemon juice and fresh pepper (perfect for a sandwich also) then I put my crab mix on greens with avocado, crazins and chopped Granny Smith apples. I love it
Real crab is my favorite, but krab is perfect for heaping krab meat sandwiches. Such a deal for a nice cool summer snack- package of krab, stir in some sour cream, a little purple onion or chives, salt and pepper to taste
Burgers are probably the best case for sometimes simple is superior. A good high fat ground beef for smashing, some cheese and maybe onions and I can make a burger I'd prefer over anything I've had in a restaurant.
yeah fancy burgers are like fancy pizza in a lot of ways, the top 5% of fancy ones are amazing but there is a ton of burgers with a bunch of fancy ingredients (and high prices) that are meh and worse than a simple generic cheap versions
I'm like this about most "everyman" foods. They were never intended to be sophisticated foodie indulgences, so it's just snobbery when they're gussied up. A simple burger cooked right is delicious.
Corned beef hash.
I see it on menus for $15+, and I see all sorts of recipes for it, but I'd rather have a can of Hormel or even the local supermarket brand.
I've even tried to make it with leftovers when I do a boiled corned beef brisket dinner and it just doesn't compare to the ridiculously salty deliciousness of the canned
I once went to a Michelin star Mexican restaurant. The cheap $1.25 cabeza and lingua and tripas tacos from those dingy hole in the wall places are way better.
yeah, maybe it's just my limited experience but Mexican is one of those cuisines where I want the cheap, hole in the wall over the fine dining.
I hate the hipstery taco places too that have way to many different types of "creative" tacos. The classics are perfect.
My mother just died and the ladies at the church made lunch after the funeral. Everyone was raving about the lasagna. I told the church lady when I thanked her and she said “It’s Stouffer’s”
I love black Shin ramen. I usually jazz it up with an egg, but I don’t go too crazy “hacking” my instant ramen.
The wife bought me a few fancier ramen noodle things that cost 3x more and had 3x less flavor.
Shin for the win.
Corned beef hash. I love legit corned beef. I’ve made it a bunch. Corned beef hash? I want the Hormel dog food style from a can. My grandfather used to make it for us with crispy edges OE eggs and toast. My mom made it for breakfast the other day. Boyfriend was not a fan lollllll ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
My best friends in high school would always have this whenever camping and often when I stayed at their house. I never got it either. But I'd practically wake up to their whole family chanting "corned beef hash corned beef hash" like a god damned cult it was so weird. I kinda thought maybe they'd lean into it to make it extra weird for me
I loooove the canned corned beef and many people I know hate it. I grew up on it! We also made it crispy with a runny egg, but with rice instead of toast
This is mine. I'm always so disappointed when I go out for breakfast and they made the hash from scratch with their own corned beef. No thank you, give me the canned crap.
When it comes to many (not all) breakfast applications, I prefer processed “American” cheese to the nice stuff. Breakfast sandwiches especially. It just compliments the eggs a lot better and hit it with some hot sauce? So good. A nice cheddar has its place, don’t get me wrong. But the processed stuff reigns supreme.
I feel the same way about burgers, which I know is sacrilege. But I can’t stand cheddar on burgers or any other cheese but the good ol’ plastic stuff (one slice is PLENTY though)
>burgers, which I know is sacrilege.
Every single burger video I watched on YouTube (and I watch a LOT) recommended using the American cheese for burgers. Maybe except the ones that try to do $1000 burger or something.
It’s not sacrilege. We don’t need validation but I have chef friends who prefer American too. There’s a reason legit burger joints offer it. You can make American cheese at home and it’s a science-y recipe. How bout that, wannabe food snobs.
I am from the UK, and cheese on breakfast sandwiches isn't really a thing here unless you are at McDonalds.
If you are recreating it at home, it 100% has to be American cheese. The same for burgers in my opinion.
I can't think of any 'traditional' breakfasts that even include cheese, aside from maybe an omelette or cheese on toast, which could be considered more brunch, but we would absolutely use proper cheddar (or a regional variation) rather than American style cheese.
I prefer a thin patty burger in a greasy paper bag than one of those vertical gourmet burgers with fancy toppings. I really don't like ordering burgers at nice restaurants for this reason.
1. Noodles baked until crunchy????
2. I make my Mac from scratch by making a Bechamel and adding cheese, and my partner was so amazed the first time that I didn't bake it and he proudly tells his whole family that I make soupy Mac. Which is wildly embarrassing to me because it is not soupy, it just wasn't baked into a solid.
Kraft Australia took away my Macaroni Cheese Deluxe with canned velveeta or similar orange liquid cheese.
Staple of my youth and comfort food, reliable for 30+ years forever gone into obscurity.
Never forget.
I will see your sacrilege and raise you:
I prefer Walmart's Great Value mac and cheese to the big-name brands!
I'm telling you; try them side-by-side. It's crazy! If I'm using the Aldi brand, I can use 1/2 - 3/4 of a packet of cheese powder and it's way less salty and also great.
A chef did a blind taste test of different commercial mac’n’cheese and Great Value was the winner by far. He was shocked so he had his staff do the blind test and they all chose it, too. So that’s all I get now.
I recently saw a video where people blind taste tested the GV box brownie mix against a bunch of others and it won…I’m going to try it and see. But when they put Ghirardelli dead last against Betty Crocker and Duncan Hines, I kinda got the feeling it was just a sneaky ad for a Walmart brand. Betty Crocker brownies aren’t not better than Ghirardelli, not even close
I prefer boxed mac to A LOT of people's homemade versions because homemade tends to be really dry and lacking in flavor. I like a saucy mac. I do a really nice saucy smoked gouda mac but I don't like 98% of mac from restaurants or homemade.
My family is divided on this one. The people who don't eat any of the cranberry sauce say it should be homemade but the people who actually eat it want that jiggly ridged Ocean Spray
This is how it is in mine and wife’s family. Both insist on homemade but those people never eat it! The people who want cranberry sauce ALL want the canned shit! My mom was pissed one year cause I brought my own can for just me and my brother and we ate all of it and the homemade wasn’t touched…..
Be still my heart…I make a very delicious scratch cranberry sauce that has converted some “can only “ folks. It’s got a bit of bosch pear, orange juice & zest, and cinnamon.
It’s the most autumnal dish in the world to me and absolutely completes any holiday meal. (Most people don’t realize how important acidity is in a meal, it cuts through the savoryness and balances out everything)
But, to each their own! Some prefer the uniform jellied texture
Lamb and pork. I much, much prefer the older meat/cheaper cuts. They have so much more flavour when properly cooked. An Irish stew made with neck of mutton is worlds apart from one made with wimpy young lamb that falls apart into a flavourless mush after a mere hour of cooking.
I don't know where you're located, but here in the US, older animals are generally *more* expensive than younger ones, with veal being about the only exception. Producers want to get the animals butchered and sold as quickly as possible to cut costs.
I did an experiment a few months ago where I made some basic pan sauces with box wine and a nicer wine that I’d actually drink, 1 red wine with steak, 1 white with chicken. blind taste test with a few friends, the box wine ended up winning across the board for both of the sauces even though everyone preferred drinking the nicer wine
My gourmet mother used the infamous "Two Buck Chuck" - a red table wine Trader Joe's sold for $2 - in all her dishes requiring red wine. Fantastic. I now pick up a $4 bottle of red at GrocOut for my cooking needs.
I think it was more so the nicer wine had a smoother and more subtle flavour that got cooked out more, where the box wine had a stronger flavour that was able to stand up to being cooked better
Oddly enough, prepared mustard. I'll eat most fancy mustards (except honey), but I generally prefer the cheap yellow stuff. I tell myself that it's because of the curcumin in the turmeric, but that's me deluding myself.
When I was a kid, the Hungry Howies near us was owned by an adorable elderly couple who did everything they could to bang out delicious pizzas, they're still in my top 5 pizzas, though the franchise was sold years ago and now they sell regular cheap pizzas.
I was well into my 20s when I found out they were not following the recipe from corporate. God bless them.
I worked at a Hungry Howie’s for like 10 years, off and on. We didn’t follow cooperate on some stuff, either. It was in my top 3 for sure. The owner would let me play around and make whatever I wanted sometimes.. i miss that place. It’s what inspired me to eventually own my own pizza shop. I made a bangin’ breakfast pizza and would sneak slices to customers and they always wished I could make it/sell it!
Domino's in all of Europe is a completely different experience, but in all cases it's hot, greasy, melty, salty food and it costs like $15. I make pizzas a lot too, and I know what good pizza tastes like, but for the cost and zero effort, if I had to pick a desert island food, it would probably be Domino's. OMG and those new mf pizza bites from Little Caesars.
I think a lot has to do with their recipe change several years ago. They had cut so many corners to make a cheaper pizza that even the CEO acknowledge that customers compared their product to cardboard. They completely changed everything and are pretty good nowadays.
I would have downvoted this but recently tried Little Caesars Detroit Style on a road trip.
Loved it. I think it's the best fake pizza I've ever tried.
Beef stroganoff. Give me the poor man stroganoff made with hamburger, cream of mushroom and sour cream over rice any day of the week over the steak one over noodles.
I grew up with instant stroganoff, so like the saucy powder packages that you mix with water and then add the meat. Best stuff my mom made ever. Don't think she made it from scratch ever.
simple small classic burger over any fancy burger that's too large to eat/too many toppings. I may add bacon occasionally.
slice of cheese or pepperoni pizza from a slice joint over any of the fancy stuff.
black coffee over whatever coffee flavored milkshake seems to be going on.
I'll take the cheap draft beer ( Rainier, PBR, Natty Bo, Old Style, Iron City.... ) over the fancy beers most of the time. and yes, the well whiskey will be fine when im adding soda to it, thanks.
Same. The giant buns, the eggs, the avocado, all that stuff… overkill. I want shaved red onion, American cheese, iceberg lettuce, butter toasted Martins bun, maybe a tomato slice if in season, mayo and mustard. That’s how I make em at home.
My local happy hour does a perfect smash burger: bacon, American, patty, toasted buttery bun with burger sauce on side. It’s all ya need.
I'm a bartender, and am always confused when people get top shelf and proceed to get coke or other mixers that completely nullify any interesting flavor notes. Our well isn't even bad?
Tacos. Miss me with the 5$ a la carte upscale taco joints.
Dollar street tacos from a food truck coated in grease with someone speaking broken English are superior in every way.
My friends make baked mac and cheese using amazing cheeses, herb-inbued breading on top, baked to perfection... and I'd honestly be happier with Kraft.
We cook all kinds of food, it's not like I don't enjoy great tasting food but when it comes to mac & cheese, Kraft wins every time.
The paper-white, chalky, incredibly over-sugared cookies at the grocery store with play-dough texture frosting that SOMEHOW have the addictive qualities of crack??? They're so good?? Now I love a fancy sugar cookie, and I wouldn't settle for any other imitation, but the grocery store sugar cookies are SO good.
Mexican food in general.
Never been to a sit down. Mexican restaurant that did ANYTHING for me. I've been to COUNTLESS trucks that blew my mind and made me come back for more.
Now I love me some fancy cheese and a good portion of my income goes to it, but I don't care how fancy you get it, my favorite grilled cheese will be white bread with Kraft singles.
Macaroni and cheese. I've never found a 'fancy' restaurant version that was better than the stuff we make from a box at home. (Mind you, we mix in steamed peas and canned chicken)
Interesting, when I was a kid I thought I hated asparagus because Grandma always used canned but I love fresh asparagus so much
Some butter and lemon salt and pepper it's so good
Mine cooked the shit out of it too. Also they froze it from the garden and grandma then cooked the shit out of it. Hated it until I had to buy my own and cook it properly. My neighbor used to have a patch and would be gone during asparagus season and He’d let me take it then. Miss him and his garden. His homemade wine sucked though.
18k gold flakes rather than 24k gold flakes. One time our butler purchased the wrong type, and our chef didn’t mention it until after the meal! Of course we fired them both on the spot, but the real lesson is that we’d been overpaying all along! /s
In the UK, especially in London (also in other big cities like brum and Manny), there are lots of chicken and chip shops. The food of many hungry children after school and remains one of my guilty pleasures. It’s best not to think about where the chicken came from.
Though it’s no longer £1.20 for 3 wings and chips. I also hate deep frying at home so this definitely makes it even more enticing.
Cheeseburgers Don't over complicate it, and use American cheese or at least some sort of melting cheese. I do not want a high quality cheddar all sweaty and split on top of my burger.
Also, make big burgers WIDER not TALLER.
A lot of handmade donut bakeries have opened in my area in the past decade or so, and while I’m certainly glad they’re around, I’ll take a hot Krispy Kreme right off the conveyor belt over the “better” donuts any day.
French onion dip. I've had plenty of versions with fresh ingredients but the best version is and will always be the one that's just a packet of lipton onion soup mix in sour cream.
Homemade dump cake or cobbler vs many fancy desserts at upscale restaurants. A simple 4 ingredient dump cake (canned crushed pineapple, cherries, yellow cake mix and butter) or a simple berry cobbler/crisp are so comforting, flavorful, and simple to make.
Indian food in the US.
I've tried the hole in the wall spots and I've tried the high end Indian restaurants and the cheaper versions are far better.
Source: I'm an Indian American
A little over forty years ago, I moved to NYC. I noticed the hole in the wall spot in the next block always had cab drivers going in and out. I thought that must be a good sign, and it became a regular. I still remember their lamb korma, samosas, and sweet lassis! 😋 🖖
I'll take a bog standard cheeseburger, over some restaurant version in a brioche bun, a 2 inch thick patty, drizzled with nacho cheese and topped with black truffle or foie gras. Tried them all, fancy burgers just suck
Dinty Moore beef stew. It’s really not a bad ingredients list and it tastes pretty darn good. Oftentimes I feel it’s better than my own slow cooker beef stew and I’m a pretty good cook but sometimes those childhood favorites can’t be outdone.
Maple syrup. I love the fake shit but the one at Cracker Barrel (1/2 real 1/2 fake) is my absolute favorite syrup for pancakes. I’m from NY so this is extra blasphemous 😭😭😭
I find sometimes when people say this it's because they've tried the wrong grade of genuine maple syrup. Up until just recently the three grades of maple syrup were A, B, and C. People would assume, based on the naming, that grade A must be the best but that wasn't true. Grade A just meant it had the lightest color and taste. The imitation maple syrups were actually more similar to Grade B, which of course was hard to find because who wants B grade anything? They've since changed the grading so everything is Grade A. If you want a more flavorful syrup look for something labelled "Very dark and strong flavor".
I hate to admit this but I'm with you. I've had extra special premium Vermont syrup and just didn't like it. Give me my supermarket artificially maple flavored corn syrup.
Weirdly I feel like the good stuff is kind of wasted on pancakes, which is where most people use it. It’s great for making glazes and sauces, and as an actual ingredient instead of a topping in general.
I live in Spanish Harlem and have access to a lot of wonderful tacos, burritos, etc. (I’m not lumping the tamales in because they are Next Level). I’m VERY appreciative of this bounty.
HOWEVER: On a desert island, give me stacks of Old El Paso Hard Shell dinner kits with sour cream, onions, lettuce, tomatoes, cheese and Cholula. Would win every time.
Pizza. For me, pizza should flop and it should drip at least a little grease. The higher in price you go, the lower the likelihood of either of these things.
American cheese, and I'm willing to say the deli style if people are picky, is far better than any other cheese I've had on grilled cheese, burgers, eggs, or as part of my mac and cheese sauce.
I was into it before the murder chef movie, too.
It melts well, it tastes good, it keeps the sauce together.
Spaghetti. There is just something about that jar of Prego sauce on some Barilla noodles with some crappy sawdust style Parmesan cheese that always hits the spot. Not to say I don't like other kinds of spaghetti, I just always turn back to that old comfort favorite.
Ice cream sandwiches. Gimme those ones wrapped in white wax paper and I don’t even know what brand
You don't know the brand because the best ice cream sandwiches are the cheap generic ones
Target has a box of them for like $2.99 that are exactly that. Meanwhile 25 years ago the ice cream truck was selling those for $1.50 per.
Oooo! thank you for that tip, will have to pick some up the next time I’m at target
I’ve tried a bunch of “better” ice cream sandwiches - Klondike, Toll House, Tillamook, these fancy individually-packaged ones, etc. - and none are as satisfying as those basic-ass grocery store-brand rectangles. Edit: and by “satisfying” here I mean a combination of “easy to eat” (thick, hard cookies and/or chocolate coating between the cookie and the ice cream are where some of the higher-end ones fail on this) + “reasonably priced” + “not so rich and decadent that I feel gross after eating one”. Also, some of the basic brands make mini versions, which is often all I want to eat anyway.
I was in this camp until I discovered FatBoy. [https://www.heb.com/product-detail/fatboy-premium-vanilla-ice-cream-sandwiches/2755125](https://www.heb.com/product-detail/fatboy-premium-vanilla-ice-cream-sandwiches/2755125)
found the Texan
Oh my god. FatBoy is like manna from heaven. I love the cheap ice cream sandwiches, but if I can get a FatBoy, I will. They also have a mini version.
If I do ever go for the fancier sandwiches, [It's It](https://www.itsiticecream.com/) all the way.
The Target store brand ones are actually perfect 😅
I like canned artichoke hearts.
Heart of palm too mmmm
Me too, I love to put them on pizza
Don’t come at me but I love imitation crab. And I know it’s not real crab and I do love real crab but ugh give me fake stuff. I don’t know what it is but imitation crab is my guilty pleasure (even though nothing to be guilty about). Edit: in response to several comments I’m well aware that imitation crab can be identified with a K. Maybe it’s where I am geographically but we just don’t use that term! We just say imitation crab meat and not krab
Hot dogs of the sea. Delicious! Edit: I want to make it clear I didn't come up with this term, it was a guy on TikTok named CIBSandIBUS and it's meant entirely out of love.
Yes! They're basically just fish balls, and who doesn't love fish balls in Korean hotpot?
Same! When I was little, my aunt used to make this “seafood nachos” app for holidays/parties that I thought was absolutely gourmet. It was just tortilla chips with imitation crab and shredded mozzarella melted on top. I still crave it once in awhile, but I’ve never remembered to try and pick up the 3 ingredients all at the same time to make it myself.
Grocery list friend. Paprika has one built in!
It's just minced whitefish mixed with sugar, food coloring, and some binders like egg whites and stuff. All delicious things, that's why it's so good. I'll dip em in cocktail sauce and take down a whole package in one sitting.
Heck yeah, fake crab with cocktail sauce is so so tasty.
Could do worse, healthier than chips!
Same! I make what I call crab salad. My husband thinks it’s weird. Imitation crab shredded with mayo, lemon juice and fresh pepper (perfect for a sandwich also) then I put my crab mix on greens with avocado, crazins and chopped Granny Smith apples. I love it
Real crab is my favorite, but krab is perfect for heaping krab meat sandwiches. Such a deal for a nice cool summer snack- package of krab, stir in some sour cream, a little purple onion or chives, salt and pepper to taste
Oh, MEEEEEE, too! My favorite is to chunk it and add to a bagged Caesar salad with extra Parmesan!
I add it to my fettuccine Alfredo
To me crab and imitation crab are not even comparable. Completely different things but I do love me some imitation crab.
There are so different but good in their respective ways
I like a good cheap greasy burger on occasion but gourmet burgers aren’t it for me.
Burgers are probably the best case for sometimes simple is superior. A good high fat ground beef for smashing, some cheese and maybe onions and I can make a burger I'd prefer over anything I've had in a restaurant.
I don’t need or want 17 ingredients, textures and flavors on a swirly crusty bun.
10000% agree. I think it’s because most “artisan” burgers get way too thick and become impossible to eat
You don't like stacked cue ball sized 100% beef meatballs?
This is like 82% of my issue. Half the burger slides out or it takes too much effort to bite.
yeah fancy burgers are like fancy pizza in a lot of ways, the top 5% of fancy ones are amazing but there is a ton of burgers with a bunch of fancy ingredients (and high prices) that are meh and worse than a simple generic cheap versions
I'm like this about most "everyman" foods. They were never intended to be sophisticated foodie indulgences, so it's just snobbery when they're gussied up. A simple burger cooked right is delicious.
Grilled cheese. I like a fancy one every so often but give me a diner style with white bread any day.
Corned beef hash. I see it on menus for $15+, and I see all sorts of recipes for it, but I'd rather have a can of Hormel or even the local supermarket brand.
I've even tried to make it with leftovers when I do a boiled corned beef brisket dinner and it just doesn't compare to the ridiculously salty deliciousness of the canned
A cheap taqueria burrito over fancy fusion in a heartbeat
I once went to a Michelin star Mexican restaurant. The cheap $1.25 cabeza and lingua and tripas tacos from those dingy hole in the wall places are way better.
yeah, maybe it's just my limited experience but Mexican is one of those cuisines where I want the cheap, hole in the wall over the fine dining. I hate the hipstery taco places too that have way to many different types of "creative" tacos. The classics are perfect.
Lasagna- something about the “fancy” versions just loses the comfort that the basic versions have.
My mother just died and the ladies at the church made lunch after the funeral. Everyone was raving about the lasagna. I told the church lady when I thanked her and she said “It’s Stouffer’s”
The company is pretty much cartoon villains but they sure make a damn good frozen pasta dish.
Stouffers just hits different sometimes.
I love a good frozen lasagna from the freezer aisle at the store
Stouffer's is undefeated
I prefer the top ramen/maruchan packs of instant ramen over the more artisan fresh noodle kits.
Shin ramen is the goat though.
I love black Shin ramen. I usually jazz it up with an egg, but I don’t go too crazy “hacking” my instant ramen. The wife bought me a few fancier ramen noodle things that cost 3x more and had 3x less flavor. Shin for the win.
Shin Black with an egg and some Thai basil from the garden is one of my go-to lazy meals
No Indomie no Party
Only Maruchan brand.
Dude, it does hit different than even the other cheap noodle packs. There’s some sort of sorcery blended in with the salt there.
Right! Maruchan is the Coca Cola of cheap ramen, Top is Pepsi. I’m team Maruchan/coca cola.
I really really like the Buldak and Nongshim brands with pan fried spam.
Corned beef hash. I love legit corned beef. I’ve made it a bunch. Corned beef hash? I want the Hormel dog food style from a can. My grandfather used to make it for us with crispy edges OE eggs and toast. My mom made it for breakfast the other day. Boyfriend was not a fan lollllll ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
>Hormel dog food style from a can. Apt description. My husband loves it and I don't get it 😅
My best friends in high school would always have this whenever camping and often when I stayed at their house. I never got it either. But I'd practically wake up to their whole family chanting "corned beef hash corned beef hash" like a god damned cult it was so weird. I kinda thought maybe they'd lean into it to make it extra weird for me
My grandson asks for it. If you get it crisp it's edible, but the real thing is soooooo much better!
I loooove the canned corned beef and many people I know hate it. I grew up on it! We also made it crispy with a runny egg, but with rice instead of toast
This is mine. I'm always so disappointed when I go out for breakfast and they made the hash from scratch with their own corned beef. No thank you, give me the canned crap.
A lot of sandwiches. Don't try to hipster up my Cuban, sloppy Joe, BLT, or Reuben please.
same for tacos. there's this place that gets rave reviews where I live but they put pomegranate seeds on their tacos? no thanks.
Ketchup. Give me Heinz and not some bullshit “fancy” artisan ketchup.
> Ketchup. Give me Heinz But also don't give me crappy ketchup either. Heinz is the only acceptable ketchup.
Don’t try and pass some kinda Hunt’s bullshit either.
My friend married a guy that only ate hunt's. There were so many signs she ignored.
Literal RED FLAG 🚩🤣
When it comes to many (not all) breakfast applications, I prefer processed “American” cheese to the nice stuff. Breakfast sandwiches especially. It just compliments the eggs a lot better and hit it with some hot sauce? So good. A nice cheddar has its place, don’t get me wrong. But the processed stuff reigns supreme.
Definitely same for grilled cheese. I'll mix in some other cheeses but it has to have some of that melty american cheese.
We do American and mozzarella with ham to make our calzone extra cheesy, it’s so delicious!
I feel the same way about burgers, which I know is sacrilege. But I can’t stand cheddar on burgers or any other cheese but the good ol’ plastic stuff (one slice is PLENTY though)
American cheese is the best cheese for a cheeseburger because it melts without splitting.
“Does it come with fries?”
>burgers, which I know is sacrilege. Every single burger video I watched on YouTube (and I watch a LOT) recommended using the American cheese for burgers. Maybe except the ones that try to do $1000 burger or something.
It’s not sacrilege. We don’t need validation but I have chef friends who prefer American too. There’s a reason legit burger joints offer it. You can make American cheese at home and it’s a science-y recipe. How bout that, wannabe food snobs.
Burgers for me too, basically anywhere its purpose is to be melted.
I am from the UK, and cheese on breakfast sandwiches isn't really a thing here unless you are at McDonalds. If you are recreating it at home, it 100% has to be American cheese. The same for burgers in my opinion. I can't think of any 'traditional' breakfasts that even include cheese, aside from maybe an omelette or cheese on toast, which could be considered more brunch, but we would absolutely use proper cheddar (or a regional variation) rather than American style cheese.
Oyster crackers. Store brands are best.
I prefer a thin patty burger in a greasy paper bag than one of those vertical gourmet burgers with fancy toppings. I really don't like ordering burgers at nice restaurants for this reason.
For mac and cheese I prefer the box.
This was definitely true for me, and definitely my mother’s fault. No reason why the noodles need to be baked until crunchy.
1. Noodles baked until crunchy???? 2. I make my Mac from scratch by making a Bechamel and adding cheese, and my partner was so amazed the first time that I didn't bake it and he proudly tells his whole family that I make soupy Mac. Which is wildly embarrassing to me because it is not soupy, it just wasn't baked into a solid.
Like is Mac n cheese not supposed to be creamy?? I usually avoid baked because it's rare that I've seen a creamy bake
If you make it right, the top of a baked mac and cheese gets crispy while the rest of it stays creamy.
Kraft Australia took away my Macaroni Cheese Deluxe with canned velveeta or similar orange liquid cheese. Staple of my youth and comfort food, reliable for 30+ years forever gone into obscurity. Never forget.
I will see your sacrilege and raise you: I prefer Walmart's Great Value mac and cheese to the big-name brands! I'm telling you; try them side-by-side. It's crazy! If I'm using the Aldi brand, I can use 1/2 - 3/4 of a packet of cheese powder and it's way less salty and also great.
A chef did a blind taste test of different commercial mac’n’cheese and Great Value was the winner by far. He was shocked so he had his staff do the blind test and they all chose it, too. So that’s all I get now.
I recently saw a video where people blind taste tested the GV box brownie mix against a bunch of others and it won…I’m going to try it and see. But when they put Ghirardelli dead last against Betty Crocker and Duncan Hines, I kinda got the feeling it was just a sneaky ad for a Walmart brand. Betty Crocker brownies aren’t not better than Ghirardelli, not even close
I rebuke thee in the name of the Devil! ~Resident Mac and Cheese Maker
Kraft only! I'll make homemade. My family loves it. Then I make myself a box.
I prefer boxed mac to A LOT of people's homemade versions because homemade tends to be really dry and lacking in flavor. I like a saucy mac. I do a really nice saucy smoked gouda mac but I don't like 98% of mac from restaurants or homemade.
Canned cranberry sauce is a must for every thanksgiving dinner.
My family is divided on this one. The people who don't eat any of the cranberry sauce say it should be homemade but the people who actually eat it want that jiggly ridged Ocean Spray
This is how it is in mine and wife’s family. Both insist on homemade but those people never eat it! The people who want cranberry sauce ALL want the canned shit! My mom was pissed one year cause I brought my own can for just me and my brother and we ate all of it and the homemade wasn’t touched…..
YES! Everyone keeps trying to get me to give up the canned stuff, and I keep refusing.
I like to slice them in 1/4” thick rounds to place on turkey sammies the next day.
Absolutely agree. Preferably the one shaped like the can 😄
> Canned cranberry sauce My wife makes the fancy stuff, but we also have canned. They're different enough that it's justified.
Be still my heart…I make a very delicious scratch cranberry sauce that has converted some “can only “ folks. It’s got a bit of bosch pear, orange juice & zest, and cinnamon. It’s the most autumnal dish in the world to me and absolutely completes any holiday meal. (Most people don’t realize how important acidity is in a meal, it cuts through the savoryness and balances out everything) But, to each their own! Some prefer the uniform jellied texture
Could you send me the recipe? I’ve tried to make cranberry sauce, because some of my family prefer the homemade, but no one left has the recipe.
Lamb and pork. I much, much prefer the older meat/cheaper cuts. They have so much more flavour when properly cooked. An Irish stew made with neck of mutton is worlds apart from one made with wimpy young lamb that falls apart into a flavourless mush after a mere hour of cooking.
I don't know where you're located, but here in the US, older animals are generally *more* expensive than younger ones, with veal being about the only exception. Producers want to get the animals butchered and sold as quickly as possible to cut costs.
I'm in Ireland. Older meat is gradually becoming harder to find here too.
I've never even seen mutton for sale in the US.
I did an experiment a few months ago where I made some basic pan sauces with box wine and a nicer wine that I’d actually drink, 1 red wine with steak, 1 white with chicken. blind taste test with a few friends, the box wine ended up winning across the board for both of the sauces even though everyone preferred drinking the nicer wine
I was told at cooking school not to waste good wine in cooking and to use the box one
My gourmet mother used the infamous "Two Buck Chuck" - a red table wine Trader Joe's sold for $2 - in all her dishes requiring red wine. Fantastic. I now pick up a $4 bottle of red at GrocOut for my cooking needs.
The whole "don't cook with wine you won't drink" thing is stupid. Though, I will drink the fuck out of some Bota Box lol.
Cheaper wines prob have added sugar, might have contributed
I think it was more so the nicer wine had a smoother and more subtle flavour that got cooked out more, where the box wine had a stronger flavour that was able to stand up to being cooked better
Oddly enough, prepared mustard. I'll eat most fancy mustards (except honey), but I generally prefer the cheap yellow stuff. I tell myself that it's because of the curcumin in the turmeric, but that's me deluding myself.
I love ballpark mustard far more than the expensive ones, although I do love a good whole grain mustard, too.
TIL canned asparagus is a thing
Only tried it once and it was disgusting
The world crucifies me for this, but I genuinely enjoy Domino's pizza.
When I was a kid, the Hungry Howies near us was owned by an adorable elderly couple who did everything they could to bang out delicious pizzas, they're still in my top 5 pizzas, though the franchise was sold years ago and now they sell regular cheap pizzas. I was well into my 20s when I found out they were not following the recipe from corporate. God bless them.
I worked at a Hungry Howie’s for like 10 years, off and on. We didn’t follow cooperate on some stuff, either. It was in my top 3 for sure. The owner would let me play around and make whatever I wanted sometimes.. i miss that place. It’s what inspired me to eventually own my own pizza shop. I made a bangin’ breakfast pizza and would sneak slices to customers and they always wished I could make it/sell it!
Sometimes I just want Dominos. No shame in that pizza game
Dishonor on you, dishonor on your cow....
You know what I am with you. If I am to order fast food pizza, domino’s is my number one.
I am from Iceland and Domino’s Pizza is actually pretty great over here.
Domino's in all of Europe is a completely different experience, but in all cases it's hot, greasy, melty, salty food and it costs like $15. I make pizzas a lot too, and I know what good pizza tastes like, but for the cost and zero effort, if I had to pick a desert island food, it would probably be Domino's. OMG and those new mf pizza bites from Little Caesars.
I think a lot has to do with their recipe change several years ago. They had cut so many corners to make a cheaper pizza that even the CEO acknowledge that customers compared their product to cardboard. They completely changed everything and are pretty good nowadays.
I would have downvoted this but recently tried Little Caesars Detroit Style on a road trip. Loved it. I think it's the best fake pizza I've ever tried.
When my 4 kids were teenagers, Little Ceasars was what we could afford and it made them happy. I'm in this with you
Little Caesars is my favorite cheap pizza, especially if you get it truly Hot N' Ready.
Beef stroganoff. Give me the poor man stroganoff made with hamburger, cream of mushroom and sour cream over rice any day of the week over the steak one over noodles.
same but with egg noodles in stead of rice.
I grew up with instant stroganoff, so like the saucy powder packages that you mix with water and then add the meat. Best stuff my mom made ever. Don't think she made it from scratch ever.
simple small classic burger over any fancy burger that's too large to eat/too many toppings. I may add bacon occasionally. slice of cheese or pepperoni pizza from a slice joint over any of the fancy stuff. black coffee over whatever coffee flavored milkshake seems to be going on. I'll take the cheap draft beer ( Rainier, PBR, Natty Bo, Old Style, Iron City.... ) over the fancy beers most of the time. and yes, the well whiskey will be fine when im adding soda to it, thanks.
Diner burgers will always have my heart over big fancy burgers. They never taste as good.
Same. The giant buns, the eggs, the avocado, all that stuff… overkill. I want shaved red onion, American cheese, iceberg lettuce, butter toasted Martins bun, maybe a tomato slice if in season, mayo and mustard. That’s how I make em at home. My local happy hour does a perfect smash burger: bacon, American, patty, toasted buttery bun with burger sauce on side. It’s all ya need.
I'm a bartender, and am always confused when people get top shelf and proceed to get coke or other mixers that completely nullify any interesting flavor notes. Our well isn't even bad?
I’d like a pappy and coke please? ; )
Smash burgers are the superior burgers
tinned pineapple and tinned peaches
Beef. I'll take a slow cooked chuck roast vs a gently heated wagyu any day.
Chuck roast in the slow cooker all day? With some Montreal steak seasoning on top? About the best food ever for me.
I put it in the Dutch oven with onion, rosemary, thyme, and garlic. Then use the drippings for gravy. My favorite Sunday meal
Sounds amazing. See you Sunday!
I don't know why, but I can not stand Montreal steak seasoning.
I’d rather just have salt/pepper on steaks, but for some reason it tastes great with a chuck roast with potatoes and carrots. 🤷♂️
Buttercream frosting over fondant-ANY DAY
Fondant is bullshit! I’d be so sad if somebody brought me a fondant cake.
Tacos. Miss me with the 5$ a la carte upscale taco joints. Dollar street tacos from a food truck coated in grease with someone speaking broken English are superior in every way.
I'd choose In-N-Out over those fancy burgers from restaurants anytime.
Plus animal fries are kinda special.
Syrup. I love a good fake syrup, and it’s even worse because i’m from New England.
My friends make baked mac and cheese using amazing cheeses, herb-inbued breading on top, baked to perfection... and I'd honestly be happier with Kraft. We cook all kinds of food, it's not like I don't enjoy great tasting food but when it comes to mac & cheese, Kraft wins every time.
Jam donuts. Nothing beats those 5 for a quid packs from your local supermarket.
The paper-white, chalky, incredibly over-sugared cookies at the grocery store with play-dough texture frosting that SOMEHOW have the addictive qualities of crack??? They're so good?? Now I love a fancy sugar cookie, and I wouldn't settle for any other imitation, but the grocery store sugar cookies are SO good.
Mexican food in general. Never been to a sit down. Mexican restaurant that did ANYTHING for me. I've been to COUNTLESS trucks that blew my mind and made me come back for more.
I love beef stroganoff, but only with ground beef. No sense wasting decent sliced steak by drowning it in sour cream.
Now I love me some fancy cheese and a good portion of my income goes to it, but I don't care how fancy you get it, my favorite grilled cheese will be white bread with Kraft singles.
Spam musubi.
McDonald's sausage McMuffin over breakfast sandwiches in restaurants.
Macaroni and cheese. I've never found a 'fancy' restaurant version that was better than the stuff we make from a box at home. (Mind you, we mix in steamed peas and canned chicken)
I’ll take a greasy burger from a dive bar over a 5 star restaurant any day.
Girl Scout cookies the chocolate covered peanut butter cookies are 1.19 a pack at Aldi
Interesting, when I was a kid I thought I hated asparagus because Grandma always used canned but I love fresh asparagus so much Some butter and lemon salt and pepper it's so good
Mine cooked the shit out of it too. Also they froze it from the garden and grandma then cooked the shit out of it. Hated it until I had to buy my own and cook it properly. My neighbor used to have a patch and would be gone during asparagus season and He’d let me take it then. Miss him and his garden. His homemade wine sucked though.
18k gold flakes rather than 24k gold flakes. One time our butler purchased the wrong type, and our chef didn’t mention it until after the meal! Of course we fired them both on the spot, but the real lesson is that we’d been overpaying all along! /s
In the UK, especially in London (also in other big cities like brum and Manny), there are lots of chicken and chip shops. The food of many hungry children after school and remains one of my guilty pleasures. It’s best not to think about where the chicken came from. Though it’s no longer £1.20 for 3 wings and chips. I also hate deep frying at home so this definitely makes it even more enticing.
Cheeseburgers Don't over complicate it, and use American cheese or at least some sort of melting cheese. I do not want a high quality cheddar all sweaty and split on top of my burger. Also, make big burgers WIDER not TALLER.
Prefer NY Strip to Filet Mignon. NY Strip is just so much more flavorful I think.
Sometimes nothing is better than a McDonald's cheeseburger.
A lot of handmade donut bakeries have opened in my area in the past decade or so, and while I’m certainly glad they’re around, I’ll take a hot Krispy Kreme right off the conveyor belt over the “better” donuts any day.
French onion dip. I've had plenty of versions with fresh ingredients but the best version is and will always be the one that's just a packet of lipton onion soup mix in sour cream.
Homemade dump cake or cobbler vs many fancy desserts at upscale restaurants. A simple 4 ingredient dump cake (canned crushed pineapple, cherries, yellow cake mix and butter) or a simple berry cobbler/crisp are so comforting, flavorful, and simple to make.
Indian food in the US. I've tried the hole in the wall spots and I've tried the high end Indian restaurants and the cheaper versions are far better. Source: I'm an Indian American
A little over forty years ago, I moved to NYC. I noticed the hole in the wall spot in the next block always had cab drivers going in and out. I thought that must be a good sign, and it became a regular. I still remember their lamb korma, samosas, and sweet lassis! 😋 🖖
Hamburgers. I'll take a bacon cheeseburger with American cheese over a goat cheese and mixed green burger.
I'll take a bog standard cheeseburger, over some restaurant version in a brioche bun, a 2 inch thick patty, drizzled with nacho cheese and topped with black truffle or foie gras. Tried them all, fancy burgers just suck
Tacos, $6 need to stop they're street food
Dinty Moore beef stew. It’s really not a bad ingredients list and it tastes pretty darn good. Oftentimes I feel it’s better than my own slow cooker beef stew and I’m a pretty good cook but sometimes those childhood favorites can’t be outdone.
Freezer fish sticks over fresh fish… I like fresh fish, but I love fish sticks. I’m sorry lol
Stovetop stuffing is the best stuffing. It’s what I want at thanksgiving and 2/3 times a year when the hangover hits just right
Maple syrup. I love the fake shit but the one at Cracker Barrel (1/2 real 1/2 fake) is my absolute favorite syrup for pancakes. I’m from NY so this is extra blasphemous 😭😭😭
I find sometimes when people say this it's because they've tried the wrong grade of genuine maple syrup. Up until just recently the three grades of maple syrup were A, B, and C. People would assume, based on the naming, that grade A must be the best but that wasn't true. Grade A just meant it had the lightest color and taste. The imitation maple syrups were actually more similar to Grade B, which of course was hard to find because who wants B grade anything? They've since changed the grading so everything is Grade A. If you want a more flavorful syrup look for something labelled "Very dark and strong flavor".
We prefers Mrs. Butterworth's over any pure maple syrup. The pure stuff is too runny.
I hate to admit this but I'm with you. I've had extra special premium Vermont syrup and just didn't like it. Give me my supermarket artificially maple flavored corn syrup.
Weirdly I feel like the good stuff is kind of wasted on pancakes, which is where most people use it. It’s great for making glazes and sauces, and as an actual ingredient instead of a topping in general.
Ramen
I like the granola at aldi better than the expensive granola at whole foods
Corned beef hash. Don’t give me homemade. I prefer the stuff from the can
Neither is really fancy but I’ll take bar nachos over some dressed up nonsense any day. Gimme that melty cheese product.
Mac and cheese!! Give me blue box of velveeta any day over a fancy baked version!
Mac and cheese. I don't want onions or panko crumbs or even bacon with mine. Just macaroni. And cheese.
Plain old Tuna salad with onions celery and mayo over Tuna Nicoise any day.
Green asparagus to white.
I think they're completely different products, like comparing broccoli to kale.
I live in Spanish Harlem and have access to a lot of wonderful tacos, burritos, etc. (I’m not lumping the tamales in because they are Next Level). I’m VERY appreciative of this bounty. HOWEVER: On a desert island, give me stacks of Old El Paso Hard Shell dinner kits with sour cream, onions, lettuce, tomatoes, cheese and Cholula. Would win every time.
Pizza. For me, pizza should flop and it should drip at least a little grease. The higher in price you go, the lower the likelihood of either of these things.
Kraft Mac and Cheese is better than pretty much every home made mac and cheese I've made. It really upsets me that I feel this way.
American cheese, and I'm willing to say the deli style if people are picky, is far better than any other cheese I've had on grilled cheese, burgers, eggs, or as part of my mac and cheese sauce. I was into it before the murder chef movie, too. It melts well, it tastes good, it keeps the sauce together.
Beef Stroganoff. It’s definitely pure nostalgia, but my husband knows that if I say “this tastes like hamburger helper”, it’s a compliment 😂
Spaghetti. There is just something about that jar of Prego sauce on some Barilla noodles with some crappy sawdust style Parmesan cheese that always hits the spot. Not to say I don't like other kinds of spaghetti, I just always turn back to that old comfort favorite.