A Brief Discussion On Processed Food Down Under

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A Brief Discussion On Processed Food Down Under

Each time I’ve tried to buy frozen chicken tenders or frozen fish stick I’ve come home only to read on the box that the cooking instructions are actually that. Cooking instructions. Not thawing - but cooking. Why? Because all the frozen food meats down here are raw! Can you imagine? No throwing some chicken nuggets into the microwave. Those bad boys have to be totally cooked or you’ll be serving up some E-coli Nuggets.

It’s been exasperating since, if I’m going to go through the effort of cooking something, it might as well be real fresh meat. As a result, our freezer is full of opened but not used frozen raw things. What is convenient or useful about frozen raw meat? And don’t get me started on the frozen pizzas.

So yesterday I was at the grocery store and a lady was handing out samples of what looked like hot dogs. I was suspicious since all the various hot dogs we’ve tried down here have been . . .gnarly, wrong, wrong non-hotdog tasting things. But at the sample stand yesterday I was actually impressed. It tasted like a real ballpark frank.

To be sure, I asked the lady if she had prepared it in any special way. By this I meant, had she fried it in a spicy oil? Or had she boiled it with some spices? I was trying to ascertain whether the good flavor was actually the hot dog, or rather something she did TO the hot dog. I didn’t want to get home with another package of mushy meat sticks.

She looked at me with a big smile. “Well that’s just it - you don’t have to prepare it in any special way at all hey! You don’t even have to cook them if you don’t want to. The meat is already cooked!! You can eat these right out of the package if you want and they still taste the same.”
I smiled, and I couldn’t resist. “You mean the meat isn’t raw? It’s already cooked? It’s safe to eat just as is?”
She beamed. “Yeah hey! You don’t have to do a thing except heat it up or just eat it cold.”
I nodded my approval of this wonderful technology and then just slowly let my gaze wander over to the frozen food aisle where I held it on the chicken tenders for just a moment or two.

I don’t think anyone caught my hint. So I returned to reality and bought a package of her pre-cooked hot dogs right there on the spot. What can I say, she sold me. And they were really good last night, though, we chose to heat ours up rather than just eat them cold.

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Comments

[Bellybum]

Your Blogs
Hello to you all. I just want to say that i am really enjoying your blogs as they are written in such a way as to be both amusing and true to life. I would also add how envious i am of you as i love Sydney and long to go back. Till the next blog.... Tim, England

[travelingbee]

Food, glorious food!
Hey Es. So sorry to hear of the food woes there! I am, however, wondering if perhaps they carry some of the same items that I used to pick up in the UK (as the countries seem to be quite similar in certain ways). If so, there was a sort of meat-substitute I really liked which I know sounds gross, but it was actually quite good and didn't need anything more than to be heated up. I'm totally blanking on the name right now though. I'll think about it and let you know if I can remember it. Also, if you're looking for additional read-to-eat items, there were these INCREDIBLE yoghurts made by a company called Muller (with the little double dot over the 'u'). Loved 'em - and they were a nice quick easy snack. Look for them - my favorites were something called "Muller Crumble Corners". Bless them!

[Cbo]

Laughing SO hard!
Hey there - am laughing SO HARD at this - b/c I know your dislike of raw meat and tendencies towards boiling it. If the raw stuff has oven directions that's nearly as easy - just start it up a bit earlier. Oh wait - this is your summer - right? Nevermind then, b/c the oven would make things hot. Maybe you can cook them in a frying pan?

[anonymous]

you I guess age is no excuse