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Monday, June 28, 2010

Now With 20% More Real Chicken Parts!

Overheard at the lunch table today: Yeah, it’s like the generic equivalent of the Li’l Debbie Snack Cake.

Wait a minute. The generic equivalent, you say?!

That made me laugh out loud; or, as the kids are saying these days, I LOLed.

That’s right. I’m hip to the lingo.

The generic thing made me laugh, as there’s nothing quite so generic as a Li’l Debbie Snack Cake.

Cockroaches, gravity, and Li’l Debbie Snack Cakes are what will still be around come the end of the world.

I’m not a big fan of the black-and-white or yellow-and-black generic-label foods (depending upon where you shop) now available. Not only do they occupy precious grocery-aisle space, but they encourage a certain kind of blandness. I’ve actually heard serious conversations wherein someone claims that, say, eating generic instant mashed potatoes isn’t that bad. Isn’t that bad?! Compared to what? The real instant mashed potatoes? Or not eating at all?

Look, I’ve been known to rush dinner. I had oatmeal and toast one night just last week. A little milk, a little brown sugar. What the heck. Simple and filling. I’ve even been known to cook with Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom Soup. My pork-chops-with-mushroom-gravy-and-mashed-potatoes (real) is the stuff of (personal) legend. But instant mashed potatoes? Generic instant mashed potatoes?! Unless you’re crawling on your belly, post-apocalypse, through the Australian desert with a dog, Mad-Max style, I think we can do better.

Join me tomorrow on “Pearl, Why You Little” while I get indignant about something else inconsequential!

20 comments:

Draea Lael (Rose) said...

There are some generics that really are as good as the brand names, but they are few and far between and I never by the cheater generics! I am super picky about the food I eat and feed to my kids, nothing anywhere close to space food/MREs tyvm!!! Props to the peeps that HAVE to eat that, but nooooooo thanks!
Real food is the only way to do it.

Cal's Canadian Cave of Coolness said...

The only generic I get are generic fruit loops. You get twice for the price and somewhere there are government regulations that have set the bar pretty high for the fruit to loop ratio.

cfoxes33 said...

Have you tried the frozen mashed potatoes? My SIL says I eat them when I am at her house for the holidays. I don't believe her.

Simply Suthern said...

I love the Little Debbie cakes. You think they will last post apocalyse? Thank goodness. It won't be as I bad as they predict then will it? If I wanted to eat something that is almost as good as the origonal I would just cook crap myself. That will be world ending.

Is there any other way to cook than with Campbells Cream Of ______??

Notes From ABroad said...

I am proud to say I have never had a Little Debbie Cake or anything else.
For some reason, I never ate grocery store cookies and cakes. It might have had something to do with a family of bakers who spoiled anything less than home made for me at an early age.

Now as to the mashed potatoes.. as a girl from the South, there is nothing else that compares to Real Mashed Potatoes and again, I have never tasted instant. But ... my favorite dinners when there might be some left over potatoes in the house ?
Fried eggs, runny yolks, served over the heated up/fried potatoes, regardless of their being mashed or fried or roasted.
Toast is ok too ..

I no longer know what to do with Campbells cream of Soups ..I just found a can in the foreign foods section here, what do I do with them ?? lol

SparkleFarkel said...

Bees and generic food *shudders* are why I fear the black and yellow color combination in any form. Just like on Roseanne, we'd save back regular packaging from products so we could make the switch and store the generic crap in them, whenever we had to resort to buying it. I still use this trick on my family. And I've heard that when they're in a pinch, some contractors substitute instant mash potatoes for insulation. Even the generic kind.

Douglas said...

I didn't think it could happen but I am almost offended by your dissing of generic labels. I happen to like that stuff. In fact, I have been buying "store brand" (now generally referred to as "generic") since, well, somewhere around the Stone Age. At first, it was due to my financial situation. Which was basically abject poverty. I soon developed a preference for the extra salt and odd chemicals used to make paper mulch taste like whatever it is supposed to be imitating. This may have something to do with my early childhood with a mother who fed us powdered milk, instant mashed potatoes*, margarine (the cheapest brand... meaning it was basically lard), and other fine foods.

Humph!

*creamy smooth, much different than the lumpy version my mother made.

Bossy Betty said...

Wow. First of all, I think you should go with the suggestion of the comment before me. You could be SOMEBODY!!!!

Secondly, I suspected you were a high-faultin' gal and now I know it after reading this post.

K A B L O O E Y said...

OK, I buy plenty of generics and will keep doing it until someone complains. Usually the husband-surrogate. He needs extra soft, expensive TP, apparently. Sigh. Cheerios aren't as good generic. But instant mashed potatoes, brand-name or otherwise, aren't food. Nor instant eggs. Blechh. I have some standards.

Notes From ABroad said...

Spammers should only eat spam til they expire.
With instant mashed potatoes lol

Jon said...

Oatmeal is terribly good for you - highest protien grain is your oats. Benefits the heart too.

And if the toast were wholemeal, with the milk, I'd call that pretty damned balanced.

Jen said...

I will buy some generics such as the cereal in the bags by Malt-o-meal but I don't think they qualify because they aren't store brands and in some cases they are better than the ones they are trying to imitate, plus you get tons more for the same price. Except for the rice crispy ones, those are horrible.

Target's store brand isn't that bad either. Cub and Rainbow on the other hand have pretty lame store brands.

And I always thought Lil Debbie's were the generic of Hostess.

Anonymous said...

You know, the other day I was thinking about bees and just as I sat down...

Hey - Wait a minute!!!

Is this an instant post?

It smells and tastes like an 'add water only' instant post.

I can't believe it...Why I oughta....
=]

Anonymous said...

I have to say though, in defense of Little Debbie, she is my bitch once a month when Auntie Flo comes to town. Suddenly my hormones go all spazzy and demand Little Debbie Swiss Cakes come to visit. The rest of the month, I couldn't care less about Debbie and her whore cakey ways. :)

Sarah said...

I don't buy cakes, but I don't mind generic stuff at all. They are not bad if you give them a chance. Come on. You can do it.

anon said...

Instant mashed potatoes? Who would eat that? Thats just wrong. I make a really mean mashed potato dish myself, but I use potatoes to make it. I know, I'm so old fashioned.

Cheeseboy said...

I teach kids in school and I consider myself hip and I have no idea what the heck they are saying most of the time.

Cloudia said...

lol


Aloha from Waikiki

Comfort Spiral

Indigo Roth said...

It's okay, I won't buy them either. They're white and blue over here. They make the cupboard look poor. And even though it's true, I don't like to think of myself like that. Blue and white affects my upward mobility. A pox on it.

Tempo said...

Best one I overheard was a husband and wife discussing the purchase of a drill for $10.00 in the two dollar store...
He said "Yeah, but is it any good?"
I felt very much like stating the bleedin obvious..