Up to 15 % solution added ... a rant

I was asked to make a pan of chicken tetrazzini for a high school drama club late rehearsal. Unable to get to my freezer "locker" where I store our supply of local farm raised meat I went to the grocery store. There was not a single package of any type of chicken that did not have the dreaded label. I started looking at the other meats, ditto. I was surprised. I normally do not go to the chain grocery stores so I spent some time surveying the products in general.
I had no idea how much of what is on the shelf is "convenience" - already marinated/seasoned/stuffed/ready to heat and eat - from fruit to meat to vegetable to dairy. Not only were the prices outrageous but the additives frightening and the time savings in many instances negligible. I felt like I was in a time warp and all the more committed to patronizing the local farmers.
It was not too long ago that few of these items existed. Now it's an exponential increase. These products hold no curiosity for me and I refuse to submit to the Cliff Notes of cooking.
There, it's off my chest but I feel terribly sad nonetheless.

Cristina, I hear you loud and clear about that added solution. Basically it is salt water and if one just does a small amount of math it comes out like this. A 4 lb roast that costs 7.99 per pound and has up to 10% solution (if it says up to then it contains that much IMO) then one is buying 3.6 pounds of meat and .4 pounds of salt water. so the price was $3.20 for the salt water. Then the end result is that the darn stuff will not brown properly, and does not even remotely taste like the fresh meat is supposed to taste like. Chicken breasts, known the world over as the most tasteless meat in the world, just got worse with this solutions stuff.

Sad to say, you're probably going to have a lot of ranting to do in the future, because the grocery industry is planning on focusing more and more on the MRE (meals ready to eat) category.

It's a big money maker for them, and all the forecasts indicate that it's growing quickly. More and more Americans want the ease of already prepared meals, and they are perfectly willing to pick them up at their local grocery store.

The 'share of cart' used to be trifling....but now the MRE segment is taking more and more space in that cart, and there's less and less of the separate ingredients being purchased.

And along with that comes the steps necessary to make sure the food is able to survive the preparation. And more important, that the product is capable of returning a major profit! So things like added water/salt content are almost a given for many of these pre-packaged foods. As are the added preservatives.

The industry is betting that most people either won't realize there is a difference (i.e., they can't tell), or they don't care because they'd rather sacrifice quality for convenience.

And I think that's a pretty safe bet.

I forgot to check for this when buying some pork loin at Costco a while back. The meat was nowwhere near as good as the loins without it. Now I look a lot closer.

Not only do I not like the taste this imparts to the meat, I have had some turkey with this added that left me feeling queasey. Now I make sure my turkeys are fresh, and unprocessed.

Thanks for your take on the subject Hoke, and I agree with every word of it. As to MRE's I think that everyone who puts one in their shopping cart should have to also do a months bivouac (ala the US Army). as to added solution to packaged meat, I also agree, but I fervently hope that "Fresh" meat will always be available, without reverting to buying that (IMO and IMO only) "Organic" label which to me is just a way to charge more. As nearly every one here already knows, my ceramic grill is capable of turning an oh-hum piece of meat into a gourmet roast, I don't want to test it with a chunk that is 10-15% salt water.

"(IMO and IMO only) "Organic" label which to me is just a way to charge more. "

Well, Bob, I can't totally agree with that. Let's just say there's "organic".....and then there's organic. And the two are different.

I think my attitude might be because I live in the North Bay area, and specifically in Sonoma, and I'm influence by the availability of true organic, and locally grown at that.

Now charging more, that's another issue you and I can always agree on.

Hoke, I could get on board with the "organic" label if somehow there were hard and fast rules as to what has to be done to be so labeled. But right now it is a lot like the Glen Ellen "proprietors reserve" chardonnay.

Hoke, I could get on board with the "organic" label if somehow there were hard and fast rules as to what has to be done to be so labeled. But right now it is a lot like the Glen Ellen "proprietors reserve" chardonnay.

Can't argue with that, Bob.

Since our beloved politicians got into it by passing all sorts of confusing rules and standards (ably assisted by big company donors suggesting how those rules should be confusingly written to benefit them), organic has been a headscratcher.

My SOP is still the same though: buy local or from the little guys as much as possible, and read the fine print with a very skeptical eye when it's the megaproducer that's marketing to you.

Here in New England, it seems that only pork is generally treated to that dreaded "x% solution added". Beef and poultry have so far been left unscathed.

Southern New Hampshire, where I live, has three big supermarket chains: Hannaford, Shaw's, and Market Basket. Both Hannaford and Shaw's have gone for the "Always Tender" (tm) or "Guaranteed Tender" (tm) saline-injected pork products from the big meat packers. In my home town of Merrimack, Shaw's is the only supermarket in town, unless I want to drive about 15 miles. Nonetheless, I told the manager of the local Shaw's that, although I like the store, I wouldn't be shopping there again unless and until they started stocking real pork again. I object to (1) my meat being salted--I'll do that myself if I want to, thank you very much--and (2) paying for 15% water instead of pure meat. I once bought some of this adulterated pork by mistake, and it doesn't cook or taste like normal pork.

So I shop only at Market Basket now, and I made sure that the head of their meat department knows why.

-Paul W.