Convenience is the most prized asset of a harried housewife. Marketing companies know this and they will make things very, very convenient. But to what detriment? Your wallet? Absolutely. The earth? You bet ‘cha. Taste? Yep. So when is convenience really convenient?
I am a spice and herb addict. I buy chopped fresh garlic in food service quantities. Why? Because I really love the taste of garlic, but I hate the smell of it on my fingers and it’s dirt cheap and best of all, convenient. I also like the convenience of having fresh herbs in my freezer. I will pop basil, parsley and cilantro in the freezer if I’ve used all I’m going to use at the moment because the remainder would spoil. The freezer stops the spoilage but creates another problem.
Do you remember in science when you were looking at onion skin under the microscope? It looks similar to an orange segment but flat. Well, imagine that the leaves of all these fresh herbs are orange segments and when we freeze the segment, all the little follicles (which are actually just single cells filled with juice) burst because of the water expanding as it freezes. So when the orange segment defrosts it is just a mushy, unappealing globule. The same thing happens to the herbs.
Why do I mention this? Well for convenience, of course! Because all the properties of the fresh herb are still there, except the crisp, fresh appearance, you can have fresh herbs anytime you need them. For any recipe that you need a fresh herb that will become incorporated into the dish you can use frozen herbs. This just opened up a whole new world of availability. You can have summer herbs in the winter! And you’re not spending your money on little things like fresh herbs every week, which can cost up to $3.00 per pack.
The second most convenient thing available to the home cooks…rotisserie chickens. These little golden, juicy, beauties are such a timesaver. They are piping hot and at $5.99 a pop ($4.99 at Costco), they are a steal too. You can’t buy a whole chicken for that. Chances are, you like chicken. Americans on average eat over 84 pounds of chicken per person each year. It is so versatile.
