there is a danger, however, in buying things i haven't had in my kitchen for years, and that is that they won't measure up to my memory. for example, one time i bought some campbell's tomato soup and was so excited to eat it. i had the taste in my mouth that i remembered from when i was a kid the whole time it was heating up on the stove. and then we sat down to eat it, with lovely grilled cheese sandwiches. i even had plans for the leftover soup. and then i took my first bite, and it did not taste like i remembered. i checked the can and it was some low sodium abomination. ugh! what a disappointing dinner. but get this--i went back to the soup aisle to rectify this horrifying mistake the next time i went to the store and i couldn't find any original tomato soup. what? the whole world is on a low-sodium diet now?
my latest weak moment in the grocery store was a jello no-bake cheesecake. i bought it because we had talked about baking a cheesecake (like with cream cheese and an oven and everything) and it was on my mind and i remembered making and loving the jello ones when i was a teenager. so i bought it. and then it sat in my cupboard while i tried to resist making it, allowing buyers' remorse to set in, like when i give in and buy treats and then don't give them to the kids for a while because i feel dumb for bringing them home in the first place. anyway, i finally made it and we ate some today. and it tasted good! i enjoyed it. but i wouldn't call it cheesecake. it was the first cheesecake-like dessert i had in my life i think, and so my tastebuds have had a journey going from jello no-bake to cheesecake factory to homemade cheesecake and then trying no-bake again. and the jello no-bake is not cheesecake. it's not. it's more like a...whipped jello...something. like a custard with a lot of air beaten into it. and pie filling on top. very tasty, as i said. but a cheesecake is an entirely different thing.
i will admit to being a snob in the past. and maybe i will be again once i'm done incubating this baby. for now, i am of the opinion that everything has its place. i also live in organic-everything-or-we-will-assume-you-don't-love-your-children-or-indeed-your-own-body-or-future land, so maybe my return to more processed food is something of a backlash against that. i'm not saying i have stopped buying fresh fruits or vegetables or cooking altogether. in fact, we went to the farmers' market today and cooked the eggplant and corn we bought there for dinner tonight. (i also made this sauce with farfalle pasta--did you know "farfalle" means "butterfly'? way prettier than a dumb bowtie--and everyone ate some. it was really good.) but i do think that the occasional canned soup and grilled cheese dinner is perfectly acceptable, and so is a hamburger helper now and again. so there. :)
i must add here as a post script that i have managed to find campbell's tomato soup that made no mention of health on its label, and it was very much as i remembered it. exactly what i wanted at the time.
