blue artichoke: Better than Homemade

Recently I wrote about using Jiffy corn muffin mix; try as I might, I can’t seem to find a homemade cornbread recipe that can rival the Jiffy mix. For the most part, I’m a DIY girl in the kitchen. I make that shit from scratch! Homemade is usually better, but it is often inconvenient and messy and why bother when you can pick up a decent-tasting prepackaged mix or ready-made, right? Though I don’t use them often, most cake mixes are pretty good and brownie mixes are hit-or-miss. It’s been a long time since I have bought a bakery dessert, but I’ve had some surprisingly awesome bakery cakes (pies are never that good). I don’t even try to compete with ready-made biscuits, though. Frozen or canned, manufactured biscuits are awesome and much better (and faster) than I could make from scratch.

What other shortcuts do I like? Here’s a list!

Vacuum-packed gnocchi is pretty good for quick meals.

GC likes pudding cups. I think they’re nasty.

Take-and-bake baguettes and rolls.

GC likes Lean Pockets; I tasted one and it was pretty good.

Totino’s party pizzas and pizza rolls, though it’s been a long time since I’ve had either.

Morningstar Farms breaded veggie nuggets.

Frozen cheese ravioli and pierogies (I tried to make pierogies once – a lot of effort and it still wasn’t as good as the frozen ones).

What else? I can’t think of anything else right now!
What are your favorite shortcut mixes and prepared foods?

Comments

Totino's party pizzas? Were you broke that year of college? Like, really, really, really broke? They cost a dollar and taste of cardboard. I had one, once, and never again.

I've discovered ghee, which is SUCH a time saver in a lot of Greek recipes. Clarifying my own butter took a lot of time and was very wasteful -- and I never could get it totally clean. The ghee, though, already done for me! Yes, it's just clarified butter, going by it's Indian name.

Posted by: Red Momo | July 13, 2007 07:35 AM

Yes, Totino's. They were an after-college discovery. My college years were spent eating cereal at d-hall and bagels at the Pier. Mmmmm.... I actually like the flavor of the party pizzas, particularly the cardboard crust, b/c it's crunchy and flaky.

If I cooked a lot of Indian food, I'd buy ghee too. As it is, I rarely need clarified butter.

Posted by: Blue Artichoke | July 13, 2007 08:05 AM

I recently discovered Alexia brand frozen potatoes and onion rings. I particularly like the rosemary and olive oil potato wedges, the parmesan potato wedges and the onion rings are better than any other frozen ones I've tried. So far, that's the limit of what I've found at our local store, but, I understand they have a pretty extensive line of gourmet convenience foods.

Posted by: Chartreuse BLT | July 13, 2007 05:53 PM