What is a useless food?

Ummmm
Popcorn?

Saltines

Flaming Hot Cheetos

Black licorice

Peanut butter cookies.

In the US- Fast food and convenience foods such as prepackaged snacks. There’s very little food value.

corn flakes.

@Dutchess You haven’t tried my peanut butter cookies. :)

Velveeta.

Caramel Corn.

NOOOO @jonsblond!!! It’s ok with jelly and in nobakes….but as a cookie? NO!

Crawdads are pretty useless.

^I’ll convert you! You are missing out.

Hot Pockets
Candy Corn
Fruit Cake

Um. NO!

Chipped beef. WTH is chipped beef anyway?

Iceberg lettuce

Celery. Takes more energy to digest than what you get from it.

bacon

Ok you all just named most of my favorite foods. Black licorice, crawdads, bacon, celery, peanut butter cookies and chipped beef.

I’ll say biscuits and gravy are worthless.

All dessert. Only thing that matters is nutrients from meat, fish, legumes, vegetables etc.

I notice no one mentioned chocolate. It must be too loved to make the list even though it has zero use in your body. But here’s one for you…has anyone ever tried chocolate covered bacon? It is delicious!!! And doubly bad for you.

^^^^you’re insane my friend!

Chocolate does too have a use! It’s essential for Valentine’s Day, romance in general, hot cocoa on cold winter nights, and is just plain comforting.

Sugar is a basic nutrient.

@Dutchess_III I had that exact same thought about the person that first introduced me to it. But I tried it and was wickedly surprised. Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it!

Chocolate is full of heart-healthy antioxidants. It’s the refined sugar in chocolate that is bad.

Chocolate is good for your body and brain and emotions.

https://universityhealthnews.com/daily/memory/2-chocolate-benefits-for-your-brain-improves-memory-and-mood/

I’ll add margarine. That stuff is pure poison. Pure.

I was going to say alcohol, but it has psychological value when taken in moderate amounts.

Margarine is pure oil. Nasty

How about Crisco . . . . large amount of trans fats ! !

@Blackwater_Park Only dark chocolate really has any level of antioxidants. And dark chocolate has less sugar than milk chocolate. But let’s be honest, it really isn’t great for you. But you are spot on and get a GA for margarine.

@seawulf575 Well we are going to disagree here. I love dark chocolate and don’t like shitty American milk chocolate. Dark chocolate is good for you. The science is clear on this.

Dark chocolate for me too!
Also Crisco for making banana bread.

@Dutchess_III you sound like you have my mom’s recipe.

The one I have for banana bread is from 1941.

Do spices count? If so, I vote for most paprika that you buy in American grocery stores.

Real paprika is lovely.

I’m also meh about parsley.

Or as my 9yo would say:
Parsley is mid. No cap.

The soy sauce packets and fortune cookies that most Chinese eateries will try to add to my take out..

I’ve developed a habit of specifying, “No soy sauce packets and no fortune cookies” when I place an order.

@Brian1946 Soy sauce packets and fortune cookies were gold in college. Now I pass on them too. :P

That plastic we call American cheese.

^^ omg you reminded me of Velveeta! What the hell is that anyway??

Velveeta – - “Government Cheese” doesn’t need refrigeration until opened, great for trout fishing on treble hooks though ! !

I don’t understand how processed cheese even qualifies as a cheese product. It does have milk in it, but it tastes like plastic and there are so many chemicals in it. It’s disgusting. Legally, it cannot be called cheese, but I have met many people who think it actually is. I have learned that when I’m ordering something in a restaurant or from a deli that has cheese in it, I must be very specific- even to asking about the ingredients in what they call cheese, or I’ll get the processed crap anyway.

@raum

“Now I pass on them too.”

Because I was able to put Frye’s out of business, you’d think that our combined boycott would be enough to DISCOurage such superfluous practices!

What is an example of not processed cheese @snowberry?

@Dutchess_III

Here are the ingredients for genuine cheese.

Milk
Starter culture
Coagulant
Salt

https://www.tillamook.com/faq/cheese/what-are-the-ingredients-in-your-cheddar-cheese

Here’s the ingredients list for Velveeta.

Ingredients
Nutritional info
Other names Pasteurized Recipe Cheese Product

Kraft Foods lists Velveeta’s ingredients as: milk, water, whey, milk protein concentrate, milkfat, whey protein concentrate, sodium phosphate, and 2% or less of salt, calcium phosphate, lactic acid, sorbic acid, sodium citrate, sodium alginate, enzymes, apocarotenal, annatto, and cheese culture.

I found the history of Velveeta to be fascinating. When it started, it contained real cheese. Before 1980 it was still mostly real cheese, but that’s all changed. Now it’s far from real.

“In 2002, the FDA issued a warning letter to Kraft that Velveeta was being sold with packaging that falsely described it as a “pasteurized process cheese spread”. The product listed milk protein concentrate (MPC) in its ingredients, which meant it no longer fit any of the FDA’s cheese-related definitions. Velveeta is now sold in the US as a “pasteurized prepared cheese product”, a term not defined by the FDA.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velveeta

Still the best cheese for nachos

One more ingredient: Orange cheese such as orange cheddar has anatto in it to give it the color.

Anatto coloring comes from the anatto seed. It’s not an artificial coloring.

American cheese is disrespectful to the term “American.” It’s an abomination.

Let’s rename it Un-american cheese!

It still has nutrients value.

Right. So does Captain Crunch and Snickers candy bars. lolol

Yes they do.

@Dutchess Queso Blanco is the best for nachos. :)

No clue how to make queso.

^^ A can of Rotel and Velveeta, better yet, chop up fresh ingredients. But Rotel is the quick and easy version. I tried the Queso Blanco once and thought it inedible.

I actually find a mix of real cheddar and queso blanco or monterey jack to be best for nachos. Queso cheese dip which I think @smudges is referring to is different. On the other hand, my mother made mac and cheese with Velveeta and it was great. And my recipe has American cheese and it is great.

My mom’s mac and cheese, which I still make, uses Colby Longhorn I think it’s a type of cheddar. She layers macaroni, slices of cheese, dots of butter and lastly a drizzle of canned milk, salt and pepper in a deep glass dish. Most mac and cheese has way too much milk for my taste. It’s often soft and mushy. Mine retains the firmness of the macaroni.

You’re right, @janbb. What I’m talking about is a hot (temp-wise) dip. Cheddar and monterey jack sounds good for nachos. mmmmm now I want some!

@smudges I like a crispy mac and cheese too!

@janbb Me three. I like a baked mac and cheese that’s less creamy and more like something that holds together.

^^ mmmm…the crispy crust is heavenly!

^^ We three should have a ac and cheese fest!

My husband makes Rotel/ Velveeta for corn chips. Yummy. Sometimes it’s all we have for dinner.

mac and cheese is just shitty alfredo. make a some real food instead.

^^ The way I make it, it is real food – real cheese, macaroni (pasta), real butter, and milk, that’s all. I don’t know what you’re making or have seen made.

@Dutchess_III Yesss! I love it! I usually add some chopped tomatoes.

@ragingloli As smudges says, homemade mac and cheese is real food. Although one of my kids grew up on orange Kraft’s crap.

Orange Kraft crap is goooood!

^^ My son sure agrees! lol

Try making Mac and Cheese in muffin tins, for crispy !

Mmmm. Velveta is good in Raman noodles too!

<sigh> now I have to buy muffin tins. ;\