Cross these items off your
grocery store list—whether they’re rip-offs, fakes, drastically
unhealthy, or just plan gross, here are the 27 foods you should never
buy again.
1- Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
A few shavings of nice cheese on top of
pasta or vegetables can take a simple dish from good to great—but you
don’t have to fork out
$22 a pound for
the famous stuff. Instead, look for varieties like Pecorino Romano and
SarVecchio, which offer the same flavor at half the price.
2- Smoked and Cured Meats
From fancy charcuterie to “dime a dog”
night, pass on cured meats in any form—they’ve been linked to cancer,
disease, high blood pressure, and migraines. Plus they’re packed with
artery-clogging grease: regulations allow up to 50% (by weight) of fresh
pork sausage to be fat.
3- “Blueberry” items
Ahh, blueberries…now in everything from
your breakfast cereal to muffins, granola bars, and sauces—or are they?
Turns out that most of the
blueberry-flavored items on
grocery store shelves don’t feature a single actually berry, just
artificial blueberry flavor. Buy your own berries and add them to plain
cereal for a real health boost.
4- Multi-grain bread
This is junk food masquerading in a
healthy disguise. Check the ingredient list to make sure whole wheat is
the first, and main, ingredient—otherwise, you’re just getting a few
grains mixed into regular white bread. Better yet, forgo the bread and
enjoy straight-up barley, brown rice, quinoa, or steel-cut oats.
5- Reduced fat peanut butter
When companies take out the fat, they
have to add something back in to make the food taste delicious. In this
case, it’s lots of extra sugar—and who wants that? Instead, spread
regular peanut butter on your sandwich for more of the good fats and
protein without fake sweetness.
6- Bottled tea
Brew your iced tea at home and you’ll save both big bucks and your waistline—bottled teas can have more
grams of sugar than a soda or slice of pie.
7- Tomato-based pasta sauces
A jar of spaghetti sauce typically runs
$2 to $6. The equivalent amount of canned tomatoes is often under $1.
Our suggestion: Make your own sauces from canned crushed tomatoes or
fresh tomatoes — particularly in the summer, when they are plentiful,
tasty, and cheap. The easiest method is to put crushed tomatoes (canned
or fresh) into a skillet, stir in some wine or wine vinegar, a little
sugar, your favorite herbs, and whatever chopped vegetables you like in
your sauce — peppers, onions, mushrooms, even carrots — and let simmer
for an hour. Adjust the flavorings and serve. Even easier: Coat fresh
tomatoes and the top of a cooking sheet with olive oil and roast the
tomatoes for 20 to 30 minutes at 425˚F before making your stovetop
sauce.
8- Swordfish
Large bottom-feeder fish such as tuna,
shark, king mackerel, tilefish, and especially swordfish are high in
mercury. Choose smaller fish, like flounder, catfish, sardines, and
salmon instead.
9- Energy drinks
Stick to a cup of coffee for your
afternoon boost. Seemingly harmless caffeinated beverages are often
sugar bombs—and the FDA has received
numerous reports linking brands like 5 Hour Energy and Monster Energy to heart attacks, convulsion, and even death.
10- Gluten-free baked goods
If you aren’t diagnosed with celiac
disease or a gluten intolerance, keep in mind that gluten-free doesn’t
necessarily mean healthy—and gluten-free baked goods like bread,
cookies, and crackers often are packed with more refined flours,
artificial ingredients, and sugar than traditional baked goods. Plus,
they can cost up to twice as much as you’d normally spend.
11- Flavored non-dairy milks
Vanilla-eggnog-caramel soy milk doesn’t win you any points in the
health department—and
it definitely won’t help your grocery receipt bottom line. If you
prefer non-dairy milks for personal dietary reasons, buy unsweetened
versions. And if you’re just trying to eat healthfully, skim milk should
be just fine.
12- Foods made of WOOD
Take a look at the ingredient list for
your high-fiber cereal or snack bar, and you’ll probably see an
ingredient called “cellulose.” Turns out that cellulose is a code word
for “wood pulp.” Food manufacturers use it to extend their products and
add fiber, so it looks like you’re getting more food. But really you’re
just left with a
mouthful of wood shavings.
13- White rice
Skip the refined grains and go for whole:
a 17% higher risk of diabetes is associated with eating five or more
servings of white rice per week, compared to eating white rice less than
once a month.
14- ‘Gourmet’ frozen vegetables
Sure, you can buy an 8-ounce packet of
peas in an herbed butter sauce, but why do so when you can make your
own? Just cook the peas, add a pat of butter and sprinkle on some herbs
that you already have on hand. The same thing goes for carrots with dill
sauce and other gourmet veggies.
15- Microwave sandwiches
When you buy a pre-made sandwich, you’re
really just paying for its elaborate packaging — plus a whole lot of
salt, fat, and unnecessary additives. For the average cost of one of
these babies ($2.50 to $3.00 per sandwich), you could make a bigger,
better, and more nutritious version yourself.
16- Premium frozen fruit bars
At nearly $2 per bar, frozen ‘all fruit’
or ‘fruit and juice’ bars may not be rich in calories, but they are
certainly rich in price. Make your own at home — and get the flavors you
want. To make four pops, just throw 2 cups cut-up fruit, 1 tablespoon
sugar, and 1 teaspoon lemon or lime juice into a blender. Cover and
blend until smooth. You might wish to add 1 to 2 tablespoons of water so
the final mix is a thick slush. Pour into 4-ounce pop molds or paper
cups, insert sticks, and freeze until solid.
17- Boxed rice ‘entree’ or side-dish mixes
These consist basically of rice, salt,
and spices — yet they’re priced way beyond the ingredients sold
individually. Yes, there are a few flavorings included, but they’re
probably ones you have in your pantry already. Buy a bag of rice,
measure out what you need, add your own herbs and other seasonings, and
cook the rice according to package directions.
18- Energy or protein bars
These calorie-laden bars are usually
stacked at the checkout counter because they depend on impulse buyers
who grab them, thinking they are more wholesome than a candy bar.
Unfortunately, they can have very high fat and sugar contents and are
often as caloric as a regular candy bar. They’re also two to three times
more expensive than a candy bar. If you need a boost, a vitamin-rich
piece of fruit, a yogurt, or a small handful of nuts is more satiating
and less expensive.
19- Spice mixes
Spice mixes like grill
seasoning and rib rubs might seem like a good buy because they contain a
lot of spices that you would have to buy individually. Check the label
first: We predict the first ingredient you will see on the package is
salt, followed by the vague ‘herbs and spices.’ Look in your own pantry,
and you’ll probably be surprised to discover just how many herbs you
already have on hand, and you can improvise as much as you want.
20- Powdered iced tea mixes or prepared flavored iced tea
Powdered and gourmet iced teas are really
a rip-off! It’s much cheaper to make your own iced tea from actual
(inexpensive) tea bags and keep a jug in the fridge. Plus, many mixes
and preparations are loaded with high fructose corn syrup and other
sugars, along with artificial flavors. To make 32 ounces of iced tea, it
usually takes 8 bags of black tea or 10 bags of herbal, green, or white
tea. If you like your tea sweet but want to keep calories down, skip
the sugar and add fruit juice instead.
21- Bottled water
Bottled water is a bad investment for so
many reasons. It’s expensive compared to what’s coming out of the tap,
its cost to the environment is high (it takes a lot of fossil fuel to
produce and ship all those bottles), and it’s not even better for your
health than the stuff running down your drain.
Even taking into account the cost of
filters, water from home is still much cheaper than bottled water, which
can run up to $1 to $3 a pop.
If you have well water and it really does
not taste good (even with help from a filter), or if you have a baby at
home who is bottle-fed and needs to drink safe water, buy jugs of
distilled or ‘nursery’ water at big discount stores. They usually cost
between 79 cents and 99 cents for 1 gallon (as opposed to $1.50 for 8
ounces of ‘designer’ water). And you can reuse the jugs to store
homemade iced tea, flavored waters, or, when their tops are cut off, all
sorts of household odds and ends.
22- Salad kits
Washed and bagged greens can be a
time-saver, but they can cost three times as much as buying the same
amount of a head of lettuce. Even more expensive are ‘salad kits,’ where
you get some greens, a small bag of dressing, and a small bag of
croutons. Skip these altogether. Make your own croutons by toasting
cut-up stale bread you would otherwise toss, and try mixing your own
salad dressing.
23- Individual servings of anything
The recent trend to package small
quantities into 100-calorie snack packs is a way for food-makers to get
more money from unsuspecting consumers. The price ‘per unit’ cost of
these items is significantly more than if you had just bought one big
box of cheese crackers or bag of chips. This is exactly what you should
do. Buy the big box and then parcel out single servings and store them
in small, reusable storage bags.
24- Trail mix
We checked unit prices of those small
bags of trail mix hanging in the candy aisle not that long ago and were
shocked to find that they cost about $10 a pound! Make your own for
much, much less with a 1-pound can of dry roasted peanuts, 1 cup of
raisins, and a handful of almonds, dried fruit, and candy coated
chocolate. The best part about making your own? You only include the
things you like. Keep the mixture in a plastic or glass container with a
tight lid for up to 3 weeks.
25- ‘Snack’ or ‘lunch’ packs
These ‘all-inclusive’ food trays might
seem reasonably priced (from $2.50 to $4.00), but you’re actually paying
for the highly designed label, wrapper, and specially molded tray. They
only contain a few crackers and small pieces of cheese and lunch-meat.
The actual edible ingredients are worth just pennies and are filled with
salt.
26- Gourmet ice cream
It’s painful to watch someone actually
pay $6 for a gallon of designer brand ice cream. Don’t bother. There’s
usually at least one brand or other on sale, and you can easily dress up
store brands with your own additives like chunky bits of chocolate or
crushed cookie. If you do like the premium brands, wait for that 3-week
sales cycle to kick in and stock up when your favorite flavor is
discounted.
27- Pre-formed meat patties
Frozen burgers, beef or otherwise, are
more expensive than buying the ground meat in bulk and making patties
yourself. We timed it — it takes less than 10 seconds to form a flat
circle and throw it on the grill. Also, there’s some evidence that
pre-formed meat patties might contain more e. coli than regular ground
meat. In fact, most of the recent beef recalls have involved pre-made
frozen beef patties.
