rice toothpick they dissolve and made of rice I had a friend come back from asia she gave me and my mother bragging about it so we tried wierd but tasted pretty good and to me strange is a straw made of sugar grains and toosie roll straws geez all tasty straws so little time.

no no its an aerosol can Pillsbury I think it  tall blue can ... its with the frosting  called

cupcake frosting .

 powdered  peanut butter that's pretty far out there/

Hot dogs sold with the bun included in cellphane packages. You just take it out of the package and throw it in the microwave. Gross!!

Deli Creations - lunchables for adults. My friends didn't like that comment too much, since they eat them. 

Jill

True confessions- things I have bought- We like Bagel-fuls, a frozen bagel stick with cream cheese and cherries in. I have bought uncrustables, for ds when he had football practice, apparently they are dorky enough to be cool, somehow.  I love the taste and the fun of that decorator frosting with tips, I will buy those once in a while.  I have bought frozen waffles, frozen french toast sticks, and cookie dough from the refrigerator.  I have bought crescent rolls, biscuits, cinnamon rolls, if you put bread in a tube that is ready in 12 minutes, I guess I will buy it occasionally.  

I have bought prepared guacamole from the refrigerator, prepared egg and potato salad, and prepared pizza.  I buy frozen pizza, frozen cheese bread, and frozen Texas toast.  I have bought TGIF spinach dip in the freezer, peorgies, and a white three layer frozen cake that is delicious. 

The strangest thing I every got was once at a food shelf, apparently for a restaurant, I got a bag of three dozen peeled, hard boiled eggs.  We made potato salad and deviled eggs with them.

My favorite prepared food purchases, at Christmastime, are divinity and lefse.  

I have seen so many strange things for sell lately.  Indiv. wrapped potatoes for baking, peanut butter by the slice, indiv. pkts of peanut butter and some of honey.  I have seen pancake mix in a spray can along with icing in a spray can.  Brownies made up a frozen so all you do is tear of the plastic and pop them in the oven.  All the dif.  kinds of slice fruit or veg. with dif.. types of dips.  You hardly have to cut up or cook anything any more.  The grocery stores sell chopped onions, carrots, green and red peppers, green onions and chopped and/or sliced potatoes and squash.  You just look in the veggie section counters and there they are all cut up for you.  You can even get soups in a plastic bowl.  You go home place all the chopped meat and veggies in a pan or crockpot and turn them on and you have home made soup (LOL) for only $8.99 for 4 servings, if you go over to the frozen food section you can get 6 corn muffins and a whole chocolate iced cake to go with your soup for $9 more dollars and you have a whole home (cooked) meal for just $18 for 4 servings.  Don't forget to add a few extra dollars for snacks.  My family could eat 2 servings of everyting and still want more.  The soup sold at our stores makes 4 - 3/4 cup servings not enough for 2 hungry men.  I could make the soup, the muffins and the brownies for less than 5 dollars tonight, just from planned overs and pantry supplies. 

This week for halloween our store has 12 cup cakes for sale with 12 plastic decorations and a spray on icing for $12.99. 

 I will add a postive for the individual wrapped potatoes. My Mom is 85 and will buy one of the potatoes. A bag of potatoes would last her forever. She cant use her hands very well so even washing a potato is hard for her. She really enjoys these. It is something that she can cook for herself with no help.  She also cant lift a pan out of the oven so a baked potato in the oven could cause an injury. Babs

Latenightleader, lots of those things you buy aren't that strange.   Yes making and freezing homemade pancakes, cakes etc is more cost effective most of the time but at least it is food to a certain point lol. preservatives withstanding.

Same with prepacked cut veggies, premade soups and bakery items.  pricey but food.    guilty about bakery items especially iga discount bakery stuff.  just got 6dz orange sugar cookies with orange sprinkles for two kids parties for $5 on sale at safeway. the price was right for convenience!

As babs says there is a use for different predone items.   but I would think someone would go for frozen pancakes versus pancakes in a can! 

I think as in all things moderation...if your kids or hubby/wife are shocked to see you really cook or don't know potatoes come the ground then you may have a bit of a convenience food problem!

 I will say I combine a lot of convenience/home cooking.  Tonight, for example, someone at work gave me about 20 tomatoes,so I used tomaotes I canned myself, the fresh tomatoes, leeks, onions and garlic from our CSA box, pasta from the store, and then had my 10 y dd kitchen helper make a pan of brownies from a box, with homemade purple frosting. So, most of our meals are a combination of fresh, pantry, and convenience foods.

Something weird I saw at the store- spray paint to decorate cakes. Actually, I bought one of these once, also, to decorate a cake as an ocean, with graham cracker crumbs for the beach, teddy grahams to swim in it, and lounge on the "beach."  It was a cute cake, we had a beach theme.

What else have I bought? Individual "sticks" of coffee and creamer for work and school. My girls like to bring handi snacks to school for snack, they are little breadsticks with a little square of very orange cheese dip to dip the little dry breadsticks in, and they are surprisingly good. Also fruit snacks, the girls love these. One other convenience food I like is little tiny wheels of cheese for snacks on the run, you peel a strip and the tiny gouda cheese opens up out of it's tiny wax shell. 

Martha, excellent price on cookies!

 I've seen ads for powdered peanut butter which claims to be almost no-calorie. Pb without the fat?

Thank Tracy! I love Safeways prices for cookies!  they are smart always having sales on holiday baking.     I do the same thing Tracy combo of pantry/convenience and fresh.   has been more one pot type of meals lately but I figure the fruit the kids are making up for the lack of veggies some days.

Last time I was at Michaels, they have a big section on cake decorating now. air brush paint, the spray can, decorative tools for the fondant etc. I guess with the cake shows like cake boss they are getting to be popular. 

Honestly I love convenience foods for the kids.  when I am busy they can get a juice box instead spilling a jug of juice.   the little wheels of cheese are way too expensive here so cheese sticks it is!   I stock up on granola bars, fruit snacks and things like that so I can throw them in a bag and go.  the kids want to eat no matter where so it helps. or I take a box of granola bars to a playdate so don't have to worry about who has what. The kids like the handi snacks once in a while. I have some from dollar sales but they only eat them once in a while. more into fruit snacks, granola crunchers, granola bars and things like that.

The Asian stores have had the mixed coffee/creamer/sugar packs for years. they are handy. now there is tea and a few others things like that.  I normally don't use sugar in coffee but for workplaces where it was easier to have hot water and instant pack of coffee/creamer I bought them.