Ever Vigilant

It's always curious and sorta irksome to discover the ingredients in certain foods. So many simple items contains way too many ingredients. Things you would never expect to be there and really don't have any business being there in the first place.

Foods that should be vegan, but aren't.

Breadcrumbs. Most brands contain milk. I've found store brands often do not. Not only that, but the store brands tend to have very few and very wholesome ingredients. Even if you're not vegan, simpler and less ingredients is usually better.

Microwave popcorn. Also contains milk. At least most premium brands that I've scouted. What the heck milk is doing in popcorn I'm not sure. It's not like they use real butter. And even if they did, it's in the low fat variety as well. Again the store brand trumps them all with a distinct lack of extraneous ingredients and a nice short, simple list. Unfortunately the store brand 'lite' often isn't very light, with around 6 grams of fat per serving.

Rice a Roni fried rice flavor. Okay. This one truly is a puzzler. I've eaten thousands of pints of fried rice from Chinese take out and I guarantee not one of them contained milk So why does the Rice a Roni brand?

Bread and rolls. English muffins contain milk. Many premade breads do as well.

Potato chips. A lot of potato chip flavors contain milk or milk based ingredients. Be sure to scan labels carefully when opting for potato chips other than plain.

Mashed potato flakes. Many brands contain milk. You're probably thinking, I have to add the milk myself and I can just add almond or soy milk. But a lot of varieties and brands already contain milk as an ingredient.   Easier and cheaper just to buy a bag of potatoes and make them roasted. They taste better. Are better for you and have just one ingredient. Potato. Well, and maybe a little pesticide, but there's only so much we can do. And don't think for one second that organic potatoes are pesticide free. Cause they aren't.

Veggie burgers. Obviously they are vegetarian. It's their stock and trade, but most veggie burgers contain eggs. Why so many contain eggs is a mystery to me. It's just lazy and irresponsible. The binding ability of the egg is not required for such a starchy product. The soy already provides complete protein. The B12 is missing, but they don't even list that on the package, so they can't be too concerned.

As with the superfluous milk in many products, I suspect the eggs in veggie burgers are also a conspiracy. Big companies and the dairy industry are definitely in cahoots. The milk and egg companies and the big food companies are obviously conspiring to add milk and egg to as many consumer food products as possible. The milk and egg industry would never survive by just selling to the general public directly. They need the giant food makers to use their products are ingredients. Otherwise the whole industry would collapse.

Foods that should be vegetarian, but aren't.

Vegetable soup. The vast majority, and I do mean majority, as in most, are not vegetarian in the least. So Read your labels. Most so called vegetable soups begin with chicken stock as a base. Buyer beware.

Flavored rice mixes. The ones with chicken or beef in the name are obvious. But plenty of others have animal ingredients as well. Knorr dirty rice flavor has chicken fat in it. Viggo yellow rice has powdered chicken. Knorr Mexican style has chicken something or other. in it. A lot of flavored rice mixes are packed with dead animals even though they sound safe by the name. Again, caveat emptor.

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