A dear friend and I decided to pick up a few items at the store. As we’re walking down the aisle, she mentions that she needs to buy sour cream. The first comment out of my mouth was, buy “Daisy Light” (as I know she always buys the light version of those things). Of course, she asked why? What better time for a KitchenNut lesson to ensue!! As we trudged down the aisles, I began picking up products and showing the labels to her, reading them carefully and comparing. The red flags are any products with corn syrup, hydrogenated fats, and basically any words you can’t pronounce.
As we began with butter (she wanted to get “spreadable butter,” something easier to spread on toast), I grabbed the Land o’ Lakes Spreadable Butter with Canola Oil, my personal favorite. My friend suggested the LOL Butter Light. When I compared the labels with her, look what we found!
Butter
- LOL Spreadable Butter with Canola Oil :: Sweet Cream, Canola Oil, Salt, Vitamin A, Palimate.
- LOL Light Butter with Canola Oil :: Water*, Butter (Cream, Salt), Canola Oil*, Buttermilk*, Food Starch – Modified*, Tapioca Maltodextrin*, Contains less than 2% of Salt, Vegetable Mono And Diglycerides*, Lactic Acid*, Natural Flavor*, Potassium Sorbate* (Preservative), Sodium Benzoate* (Preservative), Xanthan Gum*, Vitamin A Palmitate*, Beta Carotene* (Color). *Ingredients Not Found In Butter.
Sour Cream
- Daisy Light :: Grade A Cultured Cream, Skim Milk, Vitamin A Palmitate
- Store brand :: sorry, I didn’t have the strength to copy it down. It was well over twelve ingredients with lots of words I had never heard – until we moved on to other culprits in the grocery store.
Ketchup
As I shove down this aisle, my friend knows what I’m up to announces, “Don’t bother! They all have corn syrup!”
- Hunts :: Tomatoes – corn syrup –
- Heinz :: Tomatoes – corn syrup –
- Frank’s :: Tomatoes – corn syrup –
- Heinz Organic :: Tomatoes – real sugar – (no corn syrup to be found!!)
We continued on with an eye on labels and learned many, many things. First, brand name really means nothing, in the end. Sometimes the off-brand has better ingredients in it, other times the brand-name will take all. In the end, it’s a balance of what is important to you. But, I can only suggest to take a little time and do some research. If you’re heart is into it, notify the companies and give them a heart-felt thank you for omitting corn syrup (such as Heinz), or let a company know that you choose to no longer purchase their product because of the ingredients. Happy label sleuthing!
More details: You Get What You Pay For
It really is amazing the long list of ingredients in most pre-packaged foods. I always look for sugar versus corn syrup in ingredients too. I’ll have to try the Daisy Light sour cream. I love sour cream but have not found a light version I like. I usually go for organic dairy wherever I can.
You know, the Heinz Ketchup is really good!! It has such a nice, subtle sweetness to it. My husband, who is from Central America, loves it!! It reminds him so much of his “home-country” ketchup. I do recommend it if you are a ketchup-lover. And, I am a big fan of Daisy!! Good stuff!