Packaged Mixes

Do you use any?
 
Beside the olives last week at the garage sale, I was also given 6 packages of...
 

 
I prepared it exactly as instructed and had it for dinner.
 
 
 
I liked it!  (Sharon did not)
 
I'd buy this again.
 
Do you like and use any packaged food preparations?  The just add meat type?  Or any others...
 
JB sent me a package of pastalaya fixings awhile back and I loved it.  Couldn't find it anywhere in Louisiana and I looked!
 
Any Rice-a-roni fans out there?
 
 

Nope...

I always keep some of that stuff in the pantry for lazy days or days when I am simply out of creativity and/or time when making dinner. I am not under the impression that anything like Rice-a-Roni, Pasta-Roni, Lipton/Knorr noodles, or Zatarain's is healthy, authentic, or even all that tasty (with the exception of Zatarain's, they're very tasty, especially when you add stuff to it)...but it certainly fills a niche in my cooking repertoire and I love them for it.

That is sort of what I was thinking.  Tonight's dinner was a nice change from the norm.

I keep zatarains in the cupboard right now. I love adding smoked turkey and andouille to it and yummm
 
I keep rice a roni there too for a quick meal, adding chicken or sausage
 
Sorry Marlene, but I live too close to Skyline and goldstar to buy the mixes.  I do get them for my dad who lived in FL and missed them.

I use the "Just add water" kind like:
Stovetop Stuffing
Success Minute Rice
Uncle Ben's Wild Rice
Pioneer Sausage Gravy Mix ( Sausage added)
Bear Creek Soup Mixes
Things I don't use:
Hamburger Helper
Rice-A-Roni

I've used a couple of the Bear Creek Soup Mixes.  If I remember right, the tortilla soup and the chili are both good.
 
I have the wild rice in the cupboard and it might be what's for dinner tomorrow.

We love rice-a-roni. Period.I make the beef with the addition of browned ground beef and corn. I make the chicken with added breast meat and green beans.

We always have a packet of El Paso Taco seasoning in the pantry.

I make rice a roni sometimes but i add soy sauce, etc. Stuffing I arely use stove top, and even then i saute onions and celery for it and use chicken broth (or even turkey stock)
 

I looked for Rice a Roni fried rice mix the other week at Publix. It seemed like it was the only flavor they didn't have. Hope they haven't stopped making it.
 

I always have a couple of packages of Zatarain's jambalaya and red beans and rice on hand. I add andouille when I fix them. I also keep a couple of packages of Wick Fowler's and Carroll Shelby's chili mixes. I'll brown up some cubed round steak for the chili.

Carroll Shelby's chili mix is the best, in my opinion. It a must when I make chili.

ann peeples


Carroll Shelby's chili mix is the best, in my opinion. It a must when I make chili.

I use that as well though I usually add more cayenne to it.

Me, too, and cumin.

ces1948


I looked for Rice a Roni fried rice mix the other week at Publix. It seemed like it was the only flavor they didn't have. Hope they haven't stopped making it.

I think they still make it, hope so its one of our favs.  If not we have 5 boxes left for the rest of eternity ;)

They still make it:
http://www.ricearoni.com/Products/Rice-A-Roni/Classic_Favorites/Fried_Rice
 
 I just bought some in the last few weeks at both Stop & Shop and ShopRite in the NYC Metro area when it was on sale for a buck a box. The customer service number off the box is 800-421-2444.

I'll use Lipton onion soup mix when making a roast beef (makes for really good gravy), and once in a while a chili mix, but other than that, I really don't keep much of anything like that in the house.
I find it's just as easy to saute some fresh green beans in olive oil as it is to make a packaged pasta side dish, so I don't get those either. Well, I do like to keep a couple boxes of mac and cheese lying around, just in case.

Kraft Macaroni and Cheese!  Funny, I didn't even consider that.  Love that stuff and I usually have a couple of boxes in the pantry.
 
 

mar52


Kraft Macaroni and Cheese!  Funny, I didn't even consider that.  Love that stuff and I usually have a couple of boxes in the pantry.

One of my weaknesses is boxed mac and cheese topped with chili or a meat/tomato  sauce, so I also keep a couple boxes for when I make either of those. I like Kraft, but I usually get Wegmans store brand, which is as good to me.

From the "Did You Know" Department:

A commercial version of Kraft Mac & Cheese is manufactured for restaurant distribution that is a frozen, fully prepared product which is designed to be heated in a microwave. The product can be found at Burger King & Applebee's.

Kraft Mac & Cheese was launched during the Great Depression for 19 cents a box. Sales last year were $802 Million, up 8%. (Up 25% over the last 4 years.) Does this mean we're in a Depression????

Foodbme
 

Kraft Mac & Cheese was launched during the Great Depression for 19 cents a box. Sales last year were $802 Million, up 8%. (Up 25% over the last 4 years.) Does this mean we're in a Depression????

I think it must! Especially since I can buy it right now for less than a dollar more than that, and it quite regularly goes on sale 2/$1.

I like to use Chili-O as a starter for making chili.  After that, I add my own ingredients to taste.
Kraft Mac and Cheese is good too.
I like the Bear Creek Vegetarian Chili mix and some of the soups are good.  We try to keep some on hand for easy meals.
I use either Martha White or Jiffy corn bread mix. 

I was in my 30s before I learned that I'd grown up eating macaroni and cheese. I'd never heard of macaroni and cheese, but that's because my mother always served something called Kraft Dinner.

Betty Crocker Gluten free cake mixes. About the only way to get a good gluten free cake. Course, several ingredients are added to the mix.

If I'm not up to making chili from scratch (about an hour and a half prep, then 6 hours in the slow cooker), I use McCormicks' Tex-Mex chili mix, adding some cumin, Mexican Oregano (really a species of thyme) and a teaspoon or two of masa harina. About 30 minutes form frozen ground beef to dinner, which is fine by me.

I use Wyck Fowler's 2 Alarm Chili mix, and Zatarain's Red beans and rice.

Zatarains rices are about the only packaged mix we use, although we find even the low salt versions are quit salty so we cut them about half with regular rice.