There seems to be no end to the ever increasing number of canned, frozen, dehydrated, pre-cooked and other convenience foods. But what gets me is that this stuff, which we buy to save time and effort, though seldom money, now comes with a flood of suggestions on how to use it with scores of other ingredients. These have little to do with convenience. All those dehydrated-soup cocktail dips, canned-soup gourmet casseroles, instant-potato soufflés and tarted-up desserts made from cake mixes, canned fruit, gelatin and artificial cream fill me with astonishment, apathy and wrath. Astonishment that the manufacturers are naive enough to admit that their products have to be gussied up to be palatable, apathy at the caliber of the suggestions concocted by desperate home economists and food editors, and wrath at the amount of patience, skill, expense and cooking enthusiasm heeded to carry out the suggestions. These, I think, would be far better applied to making good fresh food.
However, some convenience foods are really convenient, and it is wise to have them in one’s cupboard as substitutes for a homemade dish. To make a good impression, it is equally wise not to serve them always straight out of the container. I am thinking of the canned pâtés which take time to make from scratch, and which are most handy when something a little fancy is needed at very short notice.
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