Ok so by now most of you know that there is a dedicated recipe section for you all to upload your favourite recipes...

[Carmenere]

Well I am kind of in charge of keeping it tidy and have a few questions about it for you all.

How do you feel about recipes that include packet sauces/soups? I don't mean a jar of ragu but recipes that include mushroom soup or a pasta n sauce type thing or a sugar-free angels delight?

Whilst we are all time poor and every one needs a few shortcuts, I am just not too sure about the wisdom of recommending these types of preservative-filled convenience foods a part of the ingredients of a recipe.

Am I being elitist? Should I just get over it?
I feel that these foods, whilst they might be handy are nutritionally devoid of any goodness and not really a great help to busy mums trying to feed their families.

The section is here btw for any who haven't seen it yet. It is huge, it has over 2000 recipes on it and it is really easy to search.

I'd be a bit at recipes like that, tbh. however, it might be hard to know where to draw the line. For example i think it's fine to use tin of cooked chick peas as an ingredient but not a can of soup.

Yes but a tin of chickpeas is an ingredient whereas a tin of soup is processed

True.

Personally then, i'd avoid processed food for recipes.

i use the occasional jar of sauce if i need to

and will have a tin of soup if there is nothing in my freezer or i am having a lazy day

i would not eat angel delight sugar free or not so i guess i would ignore those recipes

hmmm, it is tricky to know where to draw the line.

From the can of soup example, it would really depend on how the soup was being used - if it is used in a jar-of-ragu type way, with other stuff being done to make it a meal, then that's one thing, but if used in a chuck-over-some-pasta and there you go, instant meal, then it doesn't really count as a recipe, imo

No I am not condemning anyone for actually eating a tin of soup, that is not what I meant at all. I mean using it as an easy pasta sauce or whatever when it is almost as easy and definitely healthier to use a tin of tomatoes and some cream. Do you know what I mean?

A tin of soup will still ahve nutritional worth though, it's lot copmpletely empty of any goodness. I'd say if someone chose to use a tin of condensed campbells mushroom soup instead of a bog standard white sauce made from scratch in a pasta bake then that's not such a bad thing is it?

Canning is just a form of preserving, processed doesn't always = bad.

Where would you draw the line? To ma a jar of ragu is in the same league as a tin of soup really. Both are processed and bottled.

I think you will have to consider each recipe individually. What about things like triffle that are pretty much constructed out of 'processed' foods? I'd say that's worse nutritionally than a pasta bale that happens to have a tin of soup in it.

The thing is, the recipe section isn't just a collection of 'healthy' recipes or meals is it? It's just a place for people to share recipes that have worked well, regardless of how 'healthy' or not it is.

We all have a choice whether or not to actually use the recipe after all.

Well, a tin of mushroom soup will give a pasta bake a completely differnet taste to one using a tin of tomatoes and some cream won't it! Ditto a tin of chicken soup.

(disclaimer: a hate pasta bake so wouldn't make it anyway )

oh i see what you mean

well, i think shortcuts and other tips are really handy

agree with silverfrog too though, a recipe should be a bit more complex than @open tin, pour on pasta, serve'

(did you get my email by the way sf?)

Actually salt content would be one of my main concerns and of course I know that canning is just a form of food preservation and I also know that the section is not just for healthy recipes.
I just wonder what constitutes a recipe I suppose

lol ok sf! no rush. Couriers are proving a pain though

I think you probably are being a bit elitist Carmenere. I have 2 standard super quick recipes in my mental recipe book that both use a tin of campbell's chicken soup.

I don't feed these dishes to my DC (too much salt in the soup), but if I have a group of ladies coming round for lunch [ponce emoticon] then they are really quick to make and delicious to eat.

I think that mners should be able to share their best loved recipes and the reader choose if they want to make them or not.

If it involves some sort of cooking, or combining of ingredients to make something new, then I'd class it as a recipe!

It is a minefield Carmenere, I wouldn't want to have your job!

'I think that mners should be able to share their best loved recipes and the reader choose if they want to make them or not.'

I think that sums it up nicely!

Ok so Campells soups seem to be a popular and useful short-cut so I will concede that they are valid.

What next then?

Is it necessary to have a recipe to tell you to open two packets and mix them together though?

lol at x-post! I will pin him down this w/e, as tis a pain (he has changed some setting on computer, web based mail acces no longer available. I do wish he wouldn't fiddle about...

On the recipe front, i would also point out that sometimes the very quick, tin of soup, tin of tuna, some rice etc recipes are just what people need, not just from a time point of view but from a mix of flavours angle.

Ah well maybe we should have a lazy quick and easy section or search option.

Glad you like it fearlessfreak, I think it is brilliant and it just gets better every day as more folks add to it.

No and I may be a food snob but my dd gets pasta with jarred sun dried tomato pesto at least once a week. I am all for convenience, I just have trouble with poison processed foods

Carmerene it may be useful to have a recipe like that if someone's never thought of doing that themselves though!

I red nappyaddict's post about jellyfluff, would never have thought of mixing jelly and condensed milk before (still not sure I would) but could be useful for someone needing something to do with their kids maybe? )

I don't know. I guess what I mean is we can't have someone moderating and filtering what is deemed as a good recipe from what is deemed crap, MN is about sharing, people will only follow the recipe if it appeals to them anyway.

Maybe a section for non-recipe recipes would be good? Like the open packet mix with other packet scenarios. You could put them all there and never look in that section

lol at 'sun-dried tomato pesto'. You're not poncey at all!

processed doesn't = bad food though, as I keep saying. Cheese is processed. Tinned tomatoes are technically processed. As is fancy sun-dried tomato pesto for that matter.

Some processed food is crap poison though, I agree. And I hate to think of kids living off a diet of nutritionally poor food.