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I'm really truly a from scratch kind of girl. Crafts, construction, cooking, whatever. I rarely use jarred or canned or packet mixes.

I think my recent time-poorness has lead me down this path of foodie indifference. I found some good packet mixes for main meals. I found some nice jarred sauces. I thought *maybe* I could trade in a little of my love of basic ingredients for a smidgeon of convenience.

Not so.

I'm going to a fish club meeting tonight (Sydney Splendens Society - 3rd meeting, all going well so far!) and I thought I'd whip up some cupcakes. I also had to whip up some cultures and bag some fish and work on a website, so I thought "aha! packet mix". I remember that being super easy as a kid. I couldn't recall why I stopped using them.

I remember now. Is "artificial" a flavour? Even the batter tastes like chemical! It looks like something you'd render a house in. Every time I open the oven I'm sure I'm permanently preserving my lungs! I'm absolutely appalled at the insencerity of these cakes. Baking is supposed to be good and wholesome and REAL. This is like... none of that. I don't even want to eat the things in case they taste like they smell/look/seem. I even added extra bits to the mixes, a spoonful of real vanilla bean seeds to the butter cake and a tablespoon of crushed Cadbury Flake to the chocolate cake. Alas, I think it was a waste of perfectly good additives.

I'm going to show up to meet people that have never tasted my baking before and they are all going to think I can't cook and that they are only worth fake baking for :-(

More annoying is that I could easily have made something from scratch. I had the ingredients, I have the skills, I could have done it. In fact, given that I now have to ice these toxic gems with something super-splendid to cover the flavour, and I was not planning on icing at all, it would have been faster to do it from scratch too.

*grumble* Never again.



Does any foodie have a decent packet mix that I could try at a less critical time? I'm a bit burnt by this, but maybe there is a nice brand or boutiquey mix that will change my mind?

What is your worst pre-prepared or packet mix disaster? Make me feel less foolish, please!


For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

Uggg sounds like a nightmare


I just havent had luck baking in this country. My cornbread comes out wrong, biscuits (not cookie biscuits, dinner ones) come out flat, nothing works for me. I think I have to blame my lack of knowledge of convection ovens though, never used the convection setting as a kid, and since moving here all the ovens have been strictly convection.


Horrid thought though it might be, but maybe they wont even know the difference and you can of course wow them another time?


I just hope none of the bagged fish ended up in the mix .

Ps, what'd you use so I know never EVER to be tempted to try?


^_^

How do you even make cornbread here? You can't get corn meal, can you?

I can't work convection, and I have issue with mandatory fan forced. I like my ovens accurate and ye olde fashioned, otherwise I have to muck around with recipes and I end up with battle scones and burnt raw potatoes.

I'm hoping the icing will cover it. Of course, the richness and flavour of the icing might well point out the lousiness of the cake, but *shrug* I'll dazzle them with worm cultures

I think I went wrong with my choice of brand. I went el cheapo.

Attached Image:

Some iced disasters

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

And to make matters worse, my new cake storer doesn't seal properly, and doesn't fit all the cakes in it So it has some, and the rest are in my beaten up lamington tray.

Attached Image:

Cakes resting on my freebie Delicious. tea towel

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

Hey Babel...

They liked them. Enough to comment.

Ah well, not complaining, but for my piece of mind, next time I'm passing on the packet

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

Hah yeah, I learned my lesson with B&G, I think when we came to visit you bought the big bottle of their 'spring water' UGGGG
Those el chepo packets are good so long as you're willing to add your own coco powder, flour, baking soda, baking powder, sugar, salt, milk, eggs, butter, and of course 'artificial'

eh *shrug* the icing is usually the only part I eat anyway.... oh, with a few exceptions. Cake tends to be too dry for me *shrug*

You do of course have me tempted to buy some packets to find out which one tastes the best. My usual issue with them is the same issue I have with self rising flour, it just tends to taste salty


Yes I can make cornbread, there's an organic food chain "near" us called Mrs. Flannerys that sells black beans, and cornmeal....though I'm trying to wean myself off the black beans cause of their carbon miles.

Guess with our next house we better hope the appliances need replacing, adam wants gas stove, and I want a 500C oven

worm cultures



^_^

Was thinking last night, about how when I was a kid we used to go away for vacation every winter. And my mother used to always mix up the dry ingredients for pancakes or waffles or biscuits and take that with us (rather then just buy bisquick)

Figured the same might work for those times when time is just a tad tight and you want a tasty cake ready.

Found this after a really quick google search.


^_^

So, are you both from Australia?

I don't know that I've ever had issues with store bought brands or packaged mixes. It's a moot point now because I can never really have sugar again, so everything sweet I have now is storebought (because they provide sugar free choices), lol. But I do remember that I used to like B**^y Cr^**^r, and now there's other brands that include Hershey's chocolate, etc.

I am not a baker or even a cook really, but I used to make really awesome brownies from "scratch" (OK, I had a recipe I used that I'd modify a bit). I would just add milk chocolate chips instead of semi-sweet, and golden raisins, and make sure to extra sift the flour, and then mix it all together, bake, and then sprinkle with powdered sugar. If I brought them to anybody's house for a gathering or something, the brownies would never last until dessert, lol.

I'm a half baked foodie! I use mixes usually during the week. There's not enough time in the day, for prep for the good stuff. On my days off, I really do my thing! There are a few mixes I've tried that are horrid. But there are a limited few that really do a good thing. My kids hate that I don't indulge in baking more, but my waist can't take any more expanding.

I now have an electric oven with the convection option. I can cook traditional or convection a the press of a button. And yet, I would still rather have a gas oven. But alas, this house lacks the proper hook-ups. I'd have to pay a plumber a mint and possibly sell a leg.

TTFN --->Ta-Ta-For-Now
Kelly ;o}

I'm Australian by birth, Babel moved out here a few years ago from... *thinks* somewhere starting with W in the US *puffs up at ability to remember important details*

I've discovered muffin mixes. I suck at muffins, so I'm going to give them a go and see if it improves things

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

Got a few good recipes for zucchini muffins you could try! They turn out good every time....course I'd be baking them more if my zucchini plants would start putting out male flowers

Not sure why it always takes me 2 hours to prep muffins (no excessive plundering pillaging and pirating has nothing to do with it ) I think the mini muffin tin is my downfall, takes too long to grease and fill.


^_^

Paper cases and teaspoons? Or mini silicon moulds?


For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

How much experience have you had with the silicone molds? I'm so tempted to buy a few, but chicken out every time. I just think they will collapse or melt or just make a mess. But they come in such darling shapes! They're not cheap either! Which helps me say no to buying them. *sighs with indecisiveness*

TTFN --->Ta-Ta-For-Now
Kelly ;o}

I haven't tried them for exactly the same reason! I bought a few sets on special (hearts, stars and circles) but I had no idea how to use them. Apparently you just place them on a flat sheet, but I'm worried about where it touches the metal.

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

Cool! I was in Australia - Sydney (for one day) - back in November. I went on a cruise to the Pacific Isles. I had a blast. I really want to go back to Australia for a land trip one day. Probably to do research to help me with a story I'm trying to write (that I put on the back burner for now).

Um, why are you worried about touching the metal?

The silicone works fine.

You do still have to grease it though, but you don't use nearly as much. And to get them out you just have to tap them on their bottoms and they go flying. Of course half the time I have to remind myself not to go and grab stuff out of the oven without oven mits (have some silicone ones as well) since I'm so used to the silicone muffin tin, no, Pan that I have being cool to the touch moments it's out of the oven.

I have one metal mini muffin one and one 6 hole silicone one. My zucchini muffin recipe is big enough that I have to use both trays. I should look for more tins. I like the metal tray (I just use butter no paper liners) it just takes so long to do all 24!

I don't always use a metal tray under the silicone tray, the only reason to use one is because I don't have one of the new fancy reinforced silicone trays. The tray gets a little floppy when you fill it.


I was noticing in the woolworths circular that they do sell betty crocker cake mixes here in oz. My mom has a habit of buying a bunch of them when they're on sale (then never really uses them ). They're alright but nothing overly special or tasty.

^_^

WOW you guys still have Woolworths! They pulled out here a long, long, long, *dare I say it* long time ago. It may not be the same company, but the name takes me back.

I'm not thrilled with Be**y C^^^^^r. I prefer Dun@@n H***s. I'm in your mom's club. I tend to by a trunk load of cake mixes too. But my kids won't let me forget about them. I usually do a quick "Dump Cake" after being pestered for days on end.

TTFN --->Ta-Ta-For-Now
Kelly ;o}

Woolworths? Wow, I know the name, but I don't think I've ever seen one. I think that was before my time.

I remember a department store named I. Magnin or Magnum or something like that, but that store went out of business a long time ago too.

I guess I don't mind packet cake mixes so much. They're easy (easier to me than doing it from scratch), and yeah, they're not as good as home made, but in a pinch it works.

Ya not entirely sure it's the same company as Woolworths was in the US.... it's purely a grocery store here, and no famous soda counter. I think I remember a woolworths when I was growing up, but I could be confusing it with Mongomery weirds, remember them .


^_^

Um, why are you worried about touching the metal?

You know, I don't know Somehow my head thinks that'll be hotter than the air and might go past the safe temp for the silicone, leaving me with melty silicone and serious fumes. Probably silly, but I didn't want to think about melty stuff and fumes and things - safer to check

I made blueberry muffins today. Betty Crocker is a winner! Far less artificial than the B&G. They are not too shabby. I find them a little sweet and processed for muffins, but maybe that was just the mix I chose. I'll try a slightly more savoury type next time. I made 11 at about midday, there are 5 left.

White Wings mixes are on sale this week so I'll be trying those next. I'll break out the silicone moulds and give them a go too Mine are individual cases rather than a tray, so I think I'm stuck with the cookie sheet underneath.

Circular? *thinks* Is that a catalogue or something else? I haven't heard it before

I LOVE Vinnies and Salvos for bakeware. The new stuff isn't too exxy, but it is quite flimsy and ordinary in comparison to older stuff. Some of the cake tins and trays you can find 2nd hand are pretty cool I'm still on the hunt for madeliene tins. They seem scarce as hens teeth, even new!

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett