Are we all so desperate that we have to rely on frozen processed food to feed our kids and ourselves? There are many products I can (and most likely will) speak on for being unhealthy snack options, but today I’m focusing on the ever popular frozen pizza rolls/bites. Mainly, Bagel Bites (H.J. Heinz) and Totino’s (General Mills).
Have you seen the Totino’s commercial with a mom on the phone with her hungry kids? I first saw it about a year and a half ago, but I’m sure there’s still something similar playing now.
The kids are looking for something in the freezer and are saying there’s nothing to eat, but of course Totino’s is right in front of their face. Apparently her kids are too dumb to see the bright yellow packaging until she tell them the exact location. Then they are all happy and the kids go off to make their food-like substance pizza rolls.
Here is the nutrition info for their basic cheese party pizza…
….and that’s the one with the least ingredients!
The seemingly most popular pepperoni pizza rolls look even worse….
….and you know being little bites that it’s easy to go over the standard serving size.
Bagel Bites are the lesser of evils here, but still have no place being called real food. They even pit themselves against Totino’s in an ad trying to make us (the consumer) feel like the are the better (and only) option. No thanks to either.
And really? Are they assuming we’re stupid and only eating cheese? NO! Here are the rest of Bagel Bites’ ingredients:
“Bleached Wheat Flour, Water, Mozzarella Cheese (Milk, Cultures, Salt, Enzymes)Tomato Puree (Tomato Paste, Water)Pepperoni (Pork, Beef, Salt, Spices, Water, Dextrose, Seasonings [Oleoresin of Paprika, Natural Spice Extractives, BHA, BHT, Citric Acid]Lactic Acid Starter Culture, Sodium Nitrate)2% or Less of: High Fructose Corn Syrup, Modified Cornstarch, Salt, Soybean Oil, Yeast, Whey Protein Concentrate (Milk)Nonfat Milk, Flavor Enhancer (Potassium Chloride, Ammonium Chloride, Yeast Extract, Maltodextrin [Corn]Lactic Acid, Citric Acid, Calcium Lactate, Natural Flavor)Methylcellulose, Citric Acid, Red Pepper, Natural Flavor, Dough Conditioner (Ascorbic Acid)Enzymes.”
Unfortunately, I am guilty of having these years ago and sure, they tasted good. But, I was also fat and out of shape. Now I make plenty of delicious snacks that taste great and offer wholesome nutrition I feel good about.
Right now we’re just starting to get Avery into eating solids through baby-led weaning, but soon she’ll be helping daddy cook in the kitchen and I can’t wait to teach her the benefits of real food. I will show her the frozen non-food “food” when we shop and explain how and why they are not a good food option.
Some, okay, a lot of people might call me anal when it comes to food, but why shouldn’t I be? You don’t know what you’re getting when someone is preparing food for you and I’m not okay with that. I am more at peace when I make everything myself and know exactly what goes into my meals.
The few times I do go out, it is rare to actually get what I order via special request. I don’t get why, because it’s usually asking to do less than the original menu item. If I get a salad, I ask for no dressing, cheese, croutons, and oils on the side. Sometimes that salad arrives with a seemingly extra amount of each!
I could make a full post over this (maybe I will), but for now my message is that I will not succumb to feeding our beautiful girl any processed junk. I realize many parents face time constraints, but obtaining healthier options is not that difficult.
This is why I’m working to start Avery on healthy veggies now and trying to put off the sweeter foods like bananas and other fruits. I will definitely share the joys of sweet fruits, but it’s veggies first. My mode of thinking is that she will grow up only knowing these nutritious foods and not craving something she can just throw in the microwave and mindless munch on while watching TV.
There will be more of these posts as Avery grows and I hope I am able to help parents strive to offer better, nutritious food for their little ones and themselves! I am already nervous about how I can keep her from having anything containing the worst ingredients in processed food when at a friend’s home or at school, but luckily, I have some time.
Back to the pizza rolls/bites; you can quickly make your own that can be frozen or cooked as needed with simple ingredients. Here are a few easy and healthy recipes to try with whole grain tortillas:
Another Easy Pizza Roll for the Road
What do you think about these types of foods?
Any tips on how to keep your little ones eating healthy when you aren’t with them?
Am I crazy?
Oh man, those frozen pizzas and bites are SO bad!!! O_O
I know! It’s scary to read the ingredients on most frozen/packaged foods and know so many people are eating these! I used to love eating these things all the time because they were easy and tasty, but now I can’t stand thinking of them. I guess ignorance is bliss, in a way, but I’m happy to be fully aware when it comes to health!
You do realize most of these ingredients are just stuff you’d already add to make something like this right? Just because you don’t understand something doesn’t mean it’s bad and even then most of the stuff you’re probably looking at being bad is if you’ll read 2% or less meaning it’s barely even there. For example methylcellulose is a thickener in food. Honestly the worst thing in it is the high fructose corn syrup and that’s in most American food because of stupid ideas that fat in food makes you fat when it’s sugar content which if you look at these is pretty low.
Thank you for taking the time to read and respond. I understand the minute amount of some of the ingredients, but I also would never use some of the first ingredients to cook anything really. And imitation cheese doesn’t sound like anything most people add. I do agree that sugar is the bigger culprit than fat, but the fats added come from highly processed vegetable oils which pose a host of health problems us.
Same, I first looked at the nutrition label and thought thats not bad besides high salt. (I have low sodium all the time so its not a problem for me personally). Looked at the ingredients and they didn’t seem so extreme either bc I cook with a lot of the things myself. Are the bold things what he’s mad about? Because you kind of need salt to make pepperoni. Some of these “bad” ingredients are what our ancestors have been using for centuries. Another thing is that not everything is bad in small amounts. Like oils are technically bad but you actually need a little bit of them for health.
Thank you for reading and for leaving your thoughts. No, sodium is not a major concern for me either, although it may be for some, it’s the low quality, highly processed ingredients I’m more concerned about. Things like flavor enhancers and natural flavors that don’t really describe what they contain are not ingredients normally found in the typical household kitchen. And I agree there can be some healthy fats in the form of oils, but by no means are the essential. We don’t need oils for our health, it’s better to get fats from the unprocessed forms like whole avocado, nuts and seeds, olives, etc. Soybean oil is cheap and exposed to high heat which damages any of the healthy fats which ends up doing more harm in our bodies. Basically, most foods found frozen and packaged is not going to be good for anyone, especially growing kids that need quality food to create new tissue for the constantly growing bodies.