Foods We Ate

[C of heartbreak]

freddy is not an mspaint poseur

[RavingLunatic]

YOu know what I've been eating a ton of lately? Generic-brand pop-tarts. I've been eating 6-10 of these suckers a day. I figure I'm getting 35-40% of my calories from pop-tarts. I'd like to eat more healthily, but I can't eat fruits or veggies or much fiber because of my stomach problems. That also means no whole grains or beans or many nuts and the like. And other stuff, which may not be healthy but at least isn't unhealthy, like rice cakes, are quite expensive. So for now it's pop-tarts and pudding cups and candy for at least 60% of my calories.

[slow west vultures]

RL have you ever considered going to a nutritional medicine doctor?  i went to see a doctor down in tucson who ended up being more nutritional medicine focused.  i haven't instituted all his changes, like completely giving up gluten, but i think that's an important avenue to health that gets overlooked.  he's a regular m.d. he just decided to go the route of nutritional medicine.  fruits and veggies are really that rough on your stomach?  if you want something really smooth on your digestion for breakfast i reccommend rice puffs.  i've cut out breakfast cereal and tried to pick up some alternatives at whole foods, and they're probably the most likely replacement for wheate or gluten that i would eat at breakfast. 

[RavingLunatic]

I went to a nutritionist once, but it was a pretty cursory appointment and wasn't anything I couldn't've figured out myself really. And yeah, rice-based foods are really where it's at for my kind of stomach problems. I probably should grab some rice chex next time I'm at the grocery. Rice cereal is much cheaper than rice cakes, even if it doesn't taste as good.

[slow west vultures]

well a nutritionist would be different from a nutritional medicine doctor.  i'm not sure how many nutritional medicine doctors there are though.  i'm just thinking from the brief things i read while i was in that doctors office, a lot of sugar can disrupt the balance of bacteria that grows in your gut.  but hey if pop tarts work, i'm not the person lecturing you to give them up.  i would just look for plain rice puffs.  they probably have them in the bottom aisle that are just cereals in bags.  throw some sugar on there, and its as good as any name brand cereal to me. 

[Anne the Man]

Greg, I will be sending you no less than...SEVEN varieties of NZ junk food. Is it possible to post soft drinks?

[jebreject]

holy crap

how do i get in on this

[Greg Nog]

I don't know about NZ's postal system, but here in the US, the rules are:

Containers of liquid with only friction‑top closures are generally not acceptable; screw caps, soldering, clips, or other means must be used for closure. Glass and other breakable containers of liquid with a capacity of more than 4 fluid ounces must be cushioned, with material sufficient to absorb all leakage in case of breakage, inside a sealed, waterproof container. Containers of liquid with a capacity of more than 32 fluid ounces are acceptable for mailing if cushioned as above and packaged within another sealed, waterproof container such as a can or plastic bag. The outer shipping container must be strong enough to protect the contents and must be marked to show the liquid nature of the contents. Steel pails and drums with carrying handles and positive closures, such as locking rings or recessed spouts under screw‑cap closures, may be accepted without additional packing.

So I assume a can or plastic bottle of soda should be just fine.  I'm excited about this exchange!  I'm trying to figure out which US things are unlikely to have made it over to your area by way of cultural imperialism.

[G.C.R]

Anne, I'm keen to play, i just thought of cookie time's, because I just had a cookie time, and I mean, Its just a cookie with big lumps of chocolate in, but I really haven't really had other cookies like them, there is something so grossly overindulgent about them. hey, if we're sending fizzy drinks, (or"soda" as Greg so quaintly calls 'em), make sure they get some L&P.

[Wally]

holy crap

how do i get in on this

[Greg Nog]

I found some choice snackfoods last night, by the way.  Not only the big nationwide things, but also a few regional specialties.  I'll try to finish up my little spree this evening, and send it tomorrow.

[elpollodiablo]

What about Ditto's?

[Greg Nog]

What's Ditto's?

[elpollodiablo]

They're like... Sort of like an awful (but delicious!) sugar-glazed corn-based snack. Like Corn Pops, but more toothsome and decadent. They've got this like crispiness that's really savory. Sort of hard to describe.

[Anne the Man]

holy crap

how do i get in on this

Next payday (about a week away) I'll post you some similar stuff Dom. Then next one I'll do you a package jeb (only doing Dom first cos you've already had Tim Tams!) Anyone else who wants to get in on it may have to apply to other Kiwis/whoevers, I'm not made of moneyz!

[Thermofusion]

I'll third (or fourth) the need for a LPTJ Junk Food Exchange Initiative.  Kinda like the Berlin Airlift, if the Berlin Airlift could give you diabetes.

We have some bizarre regional packaged goods down in the South (you've never eaten anything quite like Uncle Al's Stage Planks) so I'd happily round up some of these up for a nutritionist's nightmare package.

[jebreject]

Anne you are my man.

[jebreject]

Can I send everyone root beer or something? If only cheese curds would survive the flight ...

[Thermofusion]

Yeah I'm desperate to try cheese curds.  And, unfortunately, any southern-oriented regional foodstuffs package is wholly incomplete without pimento cheese, which, along with grits and fried okra, makes up that Holy Trinity Of Southern Culinary Esoterica guaranteed to make a yankee's forehead pop out in beads of nervous sweat above an eyebrow raised in a 50/50 mixture of fear and curiosity.

I did try fry sauce (the Utah delight) thanks to someone on this board...this was way back in the day but I eventually made my way through the whole jug (yes, I ordered a jug) with the help of some friends.  Good stuff which vaguely reminded me of really mild Alabama-style BBQ sauce (which is mayo-based and thus completely bizarre to me).

[Andrew_TSKS]

You know, grits are awesome, but they actually managed to sneak into some areas of Yankeeland under the name "hominy". Or at least, so I hear.

[Thermofusion]

Hominy and grits are two different things, bro.  Grits are finer-ground and prepared differently while hominy is thicker and more stew-y.

[Andrew_TSKS]

I see. I did not know that.

[Wally]

holy crap

how do i get in on this

Next payday (about a week away) I'll post you some similar stuff Dom. Then next one I'll do you a package jeb (only doing Dom first cos you've already had Tim Tams!) Anyone else who wants to get in on it may have to apply to other Kiwis/whoevers, I'm not made of moneyz!

Woohoo! I've no idea what I can send back in return, something will occur to me I'm sure.

[coldforge]

I never understood the air of exoticism about grits. They are so incredibly bland—which is not to say that they're bad, just that there's not a lot to unadulterated grits in the first place—that I can't imagine anybody getting grossed out by them.

[davy]

Hominy and grits are two different things, bro.  Grits are finer-ground and prepared differently while hominy is thicker and more stew-y.

oh man, my family ate a lot of hominy when i was growing up, but i NEVER come in contact with it anymore. grits are an entirely different story. i have a bowl of cheese grits and veggie sausage a couple times a week--one of my favorite breakfasts.

hominy looks like this (we always ate the golden variety):



cooked grits look like this:



the brand i buy (bob's red mill) is called by the traditional name--polenta--and is bright yellow.