People Are Sharing All Of The "Cheap," "Fake," Or "Processed" Foods That Taste So Much Better Than The Expensive Version
"You can give me a bougie grilled cheese sandwich with fancy ingredients like Brie and sliced apples, but I want it stuffed with Kraft singles and dipped in ketchup."
Let's face it, everyone loves ~fancy~ things, but when it comes to food...particularly comfort food, sometimes the cheaper the better. Redditor u/burgher89 asked, "What’s an ingredient you prefer the cheaper/fake/processed version of rather than the real deal?" Here's what people said.
1. "Hot sauce. I have many in my home collection, but my favorite is the cheap supermarket Louisiana style. Trappey's Louisiana hot sauce."
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2. "Better Than Bouillon over homemade or fancy store-bought broth/stock. The vast majority of the time I’m too lazy to make my own broth, and when a recipe calls for it it, Better Than Bouillion tastes better than anything else. You just dissolve it in warm water and voilà."
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3. Peanut butter. I've tried all the fancy, organic nut butters out there and I can tell you with certainty: Nothing satisfies a peanut butter craving like a $3 jar of Jif creamy PB.
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4. "American-style processed cheese is perfect in some situations. Say you're making a cheese sauce for macaroni. You can use whatever bougie cheese you want for 80% of it, but you have to add a little of the processed garbage singles to get that velvety texture. And nothing beats the simplicity and creaminess of fake American cheese on a grilled cheese sandwich."
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5. "Campbell's tomato soup. Fancier versions of tomato soup taste like marinara sauce to me, but there's nothing quite like Campbell's creamy tomato."
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6. "Nacho cheese sauce. I could go through this stuff so quickly. I love it on everything — eggs, chili, quesadillas, cheesesteak, even broccoli."
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7. "Shake 'n' Bake bread crumb coating for pork chops. I've made my own pork cutlets from scratch, and it's just not the same. It never tastes like that boxed stuff."
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8. "Popcorn 'butter.' I know it's not real butter, but that movie theater butter flavor just hits different."
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9. "Boxed mac 'n' cheese. Whether it be Kraft or Annie's, I love them all. And while gourmet mac 'n' cheese is totally delicious, there's something unparalleled about the boxed stuff. It's my ultimate comfort food meal."
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10. "You can give me a bougie grilled cheese sandwich with fancy ingredients like Brie and sliced apples, but really I just my grilled cheese stuffed with Kraft singles and dipped in ketchup."
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11. "Campbell’s cream of mushroom soup. The fancier kinds taste better, but they're often disappointing. Campbell’s scratches a very specific itch that the other stuff doesn't. It probably has to do with the nostalgia of it."
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12. "Mustard. I'll admit that I do appreciate fancy mustard too from time to time, but give me that sour French’s Yellow any day."
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13. "Frozen toaster waffles are better than homemade, IMO. Call it the nostalgia, the crunch, or the preservatives, but damn that stuff hits the spot every time."
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14. "That fake Parmesan that comes in the green bottle is horrible...except for when it’s on pizza. I cannot get myself to enjoy real Parmesan on pizza. It just doesn’t work. It has to be the fake stuff."
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15. "Corned beef hash out of a can. I like the fancy restaurant version, but nothing beats the canned stuff with a fried egg and lots of pepper."
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16. "Canned tuna. I love most fresh fish, and fresh tuna steak is all well and good, but I know it's strange, but I will always choose the canned stuff."
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17. "Heinz ketchup. Nothing homemade or store-bought ever comes close. I've tried 'healthy' organic ketchup, but it isn't the same."
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18. "Ramen seasoning packets, the kind loaded with delicious MSG. No offense to homemade chicken soup, but every now and then you just need that extremely salty, heavily seasoned broth."
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19. "Imitation crab, the kind used in California rolls. It's far cheaper and, IMO, tastier than real crab most of the time (plus way less work to eat)."
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20. "McDonald’s french fries. I'd pick them over the fanciest french fries on the planet. To me, the McDonald’s version tastes exactly how french fries are supposed to taste."
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21. "Cheap drug store milk chocolate. There's a time and a place for fancy chocolate, but I almost always prefer the fake stuff — you know, the $1 bag of little chocolates wrapped in colorful foil."
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22. "Pancake syrup...the fake maple syrup. The authentic, expensive kind is so thin that it just soaks right into your waffles or pancakes."
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23. "I'll take a cheap Burger King Whopper burger over a gourmet restaurant burger any day. The sophisticated restaurant kind are always too tall and overstuffed."
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24. "Boxed stuffing beats homemade stuffing every single time, no question."
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25. "Ramen. I've ordered ramen at restaurants, and a fancy bowl just doesn't scratch the same itch as a cheap bowl of Nongshim noodles from the grocery store."
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What's your favorite "junky" or "cheap" food that you prefer over the fancier version? Tell us in the comments!
Note: Responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.