Cost, chemicals, and convenience are the main concerns about food. Food costs are high because of expensive processing, packaging, advertising, spoilage, and pilferage. Harmful food additives are used for food processing. Some occur naturally; others get into food accidentally. Wise shopping and home made food reduces the amount of additives consumed. Home made convenience foods save money and are easy to prepare. Little equipment is needed for home made convenience food; a blender should be the most basic tool. Suggestions and techniques are given for saving food and energy costs. Recipes are included for breads, breakfast foods, yogurt, cheese, lunches, salads, dinners, snacks, beverages, soups, and pet foods. A discussion of natural additives includes suggestions for safe additives, additives to avoid or cut down on, and places to shop for suggested ingredients.

Abstract: The impact of convenience products on national food sales and expenditures is examined, and convenience foods and their fresh or homemade counterparts are compared for costs, yield, composition, and eating quality. Convenience foods represent about 50% of foods purchased for home consumption, and 58% of the 166 convenience products studied had a higher cost per serving than their homemade counterpart. However, the convenience foods used less fuel and time to prepare at home, and their eating quality did not differ significantly from homemade. Among the 166 foods examined were frozen pizza, chicken chow mein, canned green peas, brownie mix, instant coffee and ready-to-serve apple pie. Fifty-three foods were evaluated by a trained taste panel, and costs were based on retail food prices in Philadelphia, Milwaukee, San Francisco-Oakland and New Orleans.

It has become popular to blame the American obesity epidemic and many other health-related problems on processed food. Many of these criticisms are valid for some processed-food items, but many statements are overgeneralizations that unfairly target a wide range products that contribute to our health and well-being. In addition, many of the proposed dangers allegedly posed by eating processed food are exaggerations based on highly selective views of experimental studies. We crave simple answers to our questions about food, but the science behind the proclamations of food pundits is not nearly as clear as they would have you believe. This book presents a more nuanced view of the benefits and limitations of food processing and exposes some of the tricks both Big Food and its critics use to manipulate us to adopt their point of view. Food is a source of enjoyment, a part of our cultural heritage, a vital ingredient in maintaining health, and an expression of personal choice. We need to make those choices based on credible information and not be beguiled by the sophisticated marketing tools of Big Food nor the ideological appeals and gut feelings of self-appointed food gurus who have little or no background in nutrition.

The various activities associated with the provision of food for feeding of the family traditionally have been functions of the home. One of the major enterprises of the homemaker in past years was to plan, produce or purchase, preserve, and prepares food daily for the family. The role of the homemaker today has changed from one of producer to one of purchaser. Hence, at least weekly, the selection of food at the market place involves not only the best use of her time but wise expenditure of her food budget. The market is changing so rapidly that each year hundreds of new items are added to the grocery shelves. Lay-outs in stores, new packaging and prepackaging, added self-service, methods of check-out, increased size of stores, and the addition of non-food items have all had a tremendous effect upon the homemaker and her food budget. The increase in the availability of food with built-in conveniences presents the homemaker with decisions to be made that were unheard of one generation ago. Never before has the homemaker had such a great array of convenience, variety, nutrition, and glamour to choose from. Today's consumer has a three-way choice and she may use one or all of the three ways as she desires. She may serve home-prepared foods if her time permits, or supplement part of her home-prepared meals with a few mixes, or rely entirely on the convenience foods if her time is limited. The many new and wonderful forms of foods that are available have greatly lightened the physical labor of the homemaker, but they have increased the mental work. The homemaker is confronted with many decisions regarding food value, money value, and time management. Is it wiser to spend her money for these so-called convenient foods which are ready to serve or partially prepared so that more of her time is freed for other family duties? Each individual home-maker has to answer this question for herself and her family. Studies on differences in cost and nutritive value of certain convenience foods have not kept pace with the rapid increase in the number and kind of these convenience foods. A recent study giving average prices which was representative for the United States has been reported by Shays and Durham, 1963. Additional information on what is available in Utah grocery stores and on the effect of built-in convenience on cost is needed. The purpose of this study was to determine the purchaser, cost and nutritive value of specific convenience foods. The study includes a survey of two super markets and a neighborhood grocery store in the Logan, Utah, area to check on the convenience foods purchased.