..to think that essential Waitrose was a rubbish idea?

[WhatFreshHellIsThis]

DP bought essential Waitrose fish fingers the other day when we normally buy a branded one. I wasn't too bothered, although they're cod and we normally buy haddock to avoid the whole cod overfishing thing.

Looked at the ingredients to see how much salt they had (DS2 is eight months and doing BLW) and the ingredients shocked me a bit.

To compare, the branded one's ingredients are:

Haddock fillet, Wheat Flour, Water, Paprika, Salt, Yeast, Turmeric, Potato Starch, Salt, Vegetable Oil.

essential Waitrose:
cod fillet, wheat flour, palm oil, water, salt, yeast, turmeric, paprika and curcumin, emulsifier mono- and diacetyl tartaric acid esters of mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids

Has anyone found an essential Waitrose product that wasn't a bit crap yet? And what is all that mono and diacetyl crap, what purpose can it possibly serve in something simple like a fish finger?

And isn't palm oil a really bad thing to use at the moment?

OR am I just a nutter who reads packets too closely?

Mayonnaise

Essentials fillet steak always makes me

How about the Essentials rosemary and sea salt focaccia?!! I LOVE the idea that, for some households, this is classed as an essential!! It is delicious though. I love Waitrose - the people in their are very kind and generally know their stuff really well.

There's no real difference between Waitrose's budget range and any other supermarket's budget range.

They all have levels of 'naiceness' in the tiers of their own brand ranges, don't they?

So comparing like for like would surely mean Waitrose Essentials to Tesco Everyday Value. Or Birds Eye to Findus to compare brands.

We rofl at the "essential" things like creme brulee and asparagus. :o It just makes me think of an incredibly posh woman shrieking "But DAAHHHLING, we MUST have creme brulee, it's simply essential!"

Plato would so shop in Waitrose. In fact I think I've seen him in ours.

I have fish fingers in the freezer for that point in the month where the cupboards are empty and payday is in a couple of days.

As for the things they see as essential I have seen brioche, yum yums and profitarolles.

I got a food bank bag from Waitrose at Christmas, it had a type of pasta in it that is basically penne with with a name I have never heard of, and certainly cannot pronounce.

So disappointed this is a zombie thread, cos I saw Getorf had posted and thought she was back.

Baby Led Weaning The most irritating phrase on MN

The Waitrose essential jams are really nice.

The vegetable oil probably IS palm oil.

I was intrigued by baby led weaning derxa until I realised it means give baby some food . I did baby led weaning many moons ago, but called it "supper" or "breakfast".

Arf at the reboot, just for someone to fume at Waitrose IN CAPS!!

Marmellatax what befell you in Waitrose, to make you go on a searching and posting crusade?

Exactly what fish fingers were you looking at, waitrose essentials ones here don't have those ingredients, match what it says here:

www.waitrose.com/shop/ProductView-10317--37332-essential+Waitrose+10+cod+fillet+fish+fingers

Has 64% cod against 58% on Birds Eye or Youngs fish fingers, and doesn't have any E472 (not that it would particularly matter) or palm oil.

Well they might have 6 years ago, when the OP started this thread Fred...

Hmm, yeah Hound... Well at least it's now on record that waitrose essential fish fingers are much changed... Should we start a campaign to bring back the old recipe?

I was intrigued by baby led weaning derxa until I realised it means give baby some food reni Where did it come from? Does it mean where you give a baby a plate of food and the baby tips it upside down on its head. Any way my babies are 24 and 26 now so I've forgotten the horror of it.
I know it's a zombie thread but Waitrose 'essential' steak is fabulous.

That's the idea, derxa, the method that's best done with a cat or dog under the table or at least a King sized sheet. As opposed to spoon feeding or not feeding at all.

There are books about baby led weaning.
(Chapter 1: Give her food. Chapter 2: Don't make her eat it Chapter 3: She will eat it or not. Chapter 4: Don't spoon it in either. The End)

Some times its a false economy buying fruits and veg based on supermarket brand - I say this because my mum worked at a fruit and veg packing factory that had contracts to pack the food from all major supermarkets. ALl the fruit came in on pallets and was sorted following quality criteria set by supermarkets. For example grapes - she said Waitrose expect better quality checks and want grapes that have no bruises/blemishes whereas say Tescos would have a slightly lower quality check (note this is not a literal example but gives you an idea).

The same grapes etc. get packaged up and different prices put on. They go to the supermarket then as they reach the sell by date the spare stock is sent back to the factory, de-packaged and back through quality check again....so moudly grapes taken off the stalk and rest of bunch goes back through. They are repackaged and new dates put on it and back to supermarket and cycle goes over and over.

That is why you cannot rely on the sell by date on fruit and veg because its pot luck if you are getting grapes etc. that were just delivered or those that are alot older. Hence why when you buy fruit one time it may not last 2 days but next time you buy the same fruit it could last an entire week or two.

So for grapes my mum taught me only buy them if the stalks are green or as green as possible as they will last longer.

we will be starting with low salicylate foods singly – pears, swede, sweet potato, etc. A snippet from a BLW website.

Basically have them on your lap or in their own chair and put some of your food in front of them. NEVER in a bowl, they'll wear it as a hat, fact. Baby led? In so far as baby will lead like a dictator anyway in the early months.

I think the strangest thing is what is considered and marketed as Essential!

This made me chuckle, some of the oddest items from the Essential range here:

www.buzzfeed.com/robinedds/times-waitrose-went-way-way-too-far#.fcEl2DjgKn

Creme brûlée has to be my favourite essential item!

I do like waitrose but the one that gets me is the 3 for 2 on veg. I find myself randomly matching up vegetables so that I have 3/6 etc within the offer, instead of buying the loose veg I actually need, which would probs be cheaper!

I am 33.2 miles from the nearest Waitrose.

sobs noisily