Wells Family Fun Zone!

I love to eat and cook with fruits and vegetables. That being said, I hate paying for them. I mean, really??

To help keep them in our (Aaron and I) diet I purchase the cheap brand, generally Wal-Mart brand. Most of the time I don’t have a problem with generic brand. (I purchase generic everything.) It’s cheaper and it usually tastes the same; however, I have come across a few things that, once filthy rich, I will never purchase again.

Frozen or canned veggies – “How can they ruin vegetables?” was once my thought on generic veggies. Well, I found out how they can be ruined. With corn it’s that part of the husk is still attached at the bottom of the piece of corn making it hard and crunchy. Green beans have strings attached and carrots have brown spots. Last night I put two cups of frozen generic veggies in my vegetable soup and upon eating one bowl of soup found two weird, hard, stringy pieces of carrot/green bean. Umm… gross. I mean, I don’t even know what it was. lol

Canned fruit – This is about the same as the vegetables thing… it’s how they process the food that ruins it. My mandarin oranges always have pieces of the rind still on them. Sometimes it’s not too noticeable, but sometimes there’s so much you have to spit it out.

Oatmeal – I can’t explain it. It’s just gross.

Other than that I haven’t ran into any real problems. Once (out of hundreds) I got a bad bag of cereal. We purchased the Frosted Mini Wheats generic and they were slightly burnt and there were very few that were actually frosted. I’d say everything else is fair game. I actually like the cheaper than Wal-Mart brand generic macaroni and cheese.

I should also say that I prefer many of the fresh veggies to frozen or canned veggies, but Wally World has some of the grossest produce ever. It’s usually squishy or chalk full of holes. (And goodness only knows who else has touched it! lol) So with all that in mind, I’ve also decided that once we’re rich I will start shopping more at Hy-Vee. I’ve always enjoyed their selection and the look of their produce. Plus, my dad works at Hy-Vee Headquarters and just loves the company. When asked, he always gives a glowing review. 🙂

So are there any generics you won’t eat? Or perhaps you’re like my mom who won’t touch a food that isn’t name brand. Any store preference? I also like the produce at Super Targets, come to think of it…