Products that frustrate

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August 8, 2010 43 Comments

I am all about saving time when it comes to preparing a meal at the end of the day, so many of us work hard, come home, and simply want to prepare a good tasting meal for ourselves an our family. I hate products that take advantage of our hard work, and our hard earned money.
spice kit

Products that frustrate

I have seen these spice packs sitting in the grocery stores that I go to for a couple of months now. The first time I saw this product, I shook my head. The advantage of buying this particular spice kit is it has a recipe on the package, and about 2 teaspoons of spices, it costs under three dollars. So I thought to myself, how much do the spices really cost in here, and what if I wanted to season something differently? Does this company think that I can’t put together a simple recipe, and I need to purchase their overpriced product to help me make dinner.

I know that spice companies are out there to make a profit, I fully understand that, I have a couple of spice merchants that I really like to shop at, but I am offended if you want to charge me 3 dollars for barely any spices, and then give me your recipe, and I have no other options. I work very hard for the money that I earn. It is important to me to get the best value for my dollar when I shop. Sure, I buy a few convience products, I try to stay away from these products as much as possible because I want to stretch my food dollars as much as I can.

What I found most offensive about this particular product it that it assumes that we can’t cook. I personally believe if you eat, you should learn some cooking skills, we aren’t all going to be five star chefs, but you know what, we all can put together a simple meal and stay away from products that take advantage of us. Now, I know that this company most likely feels this product will aide you in making dinner, but I bet that most of us have many of these spices in our cabinet only, and with a quick search on the internet, we can find all sorts of recipes that we would like to try. If I can urge you to do one thing, don’t buy products like these, you can cook delicious meals in your own kitchen, with items you already have in your cabinet.

http://www.facebook.com/sam.russell.37266 Sam Russell

What I use those for is if I’m trying a new recipe or one that has a number of spices or herbs I don’t normally have on hand. If it doesn’t work out, it saves me having a jar of something I may not use again. I think some other people have said similar things lower in the comments. I wouldn’t depend on them, but it’s a nice way to begin with something unfamiliar.
blueambria

I totally agree with the author. I bought one of these spice packs once and my husband hated the end product. Considering it was supposed to be a recipe I make often, it was a waste of money. The only reason I bought it was because I assumed it would be better than what I made.
Mia Tsosie

The only one I have ever tried is the chicken thighs and red potatoes and my family loves it. Now I just buy the larger bottles of spices and make it often, if it hadnot been for those little packs I would be out one heck of an awesome meal that even my pickiest eater loves, so I say thank you McCormick’s
http://twitter.com/KMS811 KMS81

I bought 5 of these for $5. That didn’t seem expensive to me and was a better option than to take my expensive spice jars to a friends house for our girls nights in where we all take turns cooking. I also was able to leave a recipe for what I made with the hostess which was very nice. We girls had some awesome tasting meals that we probably wouldn’t have tried if it weren’t for these packets. Also now my friend owns all the spices that I own because of her having recipes that she loves that she uses them with and we are always trying new and different meals at our girls nights. Of course the new rule is “Whatever you bring to make has to be something you or the other girls have never tried before” All brought on by some cheap spice packets that I found for a dollar each.
HeadChef

I have to disagree with the author as well. I am a private chef and a caterer, so I can cook. In my area of the country these little packets only cost a little over $1…often times going on sell for 5 for $5 or the like. It is a marketing ploy, yes. It is McCormick’s way of getting you to buy their full size products. And I must say it’s a good sales gimmick!! The recipes on the back are not always easy…so I don’t think they are assuming you can’t cook…a novice cook would have some difficulty with some of them…but all of the ones I’ve tried have been pretty doggone good. As other readers have said…it can help introduce some unfamiliar spices…although most of them are tried and true kitchen staples. BUT…it can give a fresh aspect to those tried and true basics as well!!
Timandamandamay

While I agree that the product is expensive, I recently bought one for a Salmon recipe. Salmon isn’t normally in my repertoire of dinners and 3 of the 5 spices, I don’t normally keep in my pantry. So, I bought it to see IF I liked it! Now that I know I like it, I bought the normal size containers of the spices. Although expensive, it wasn’t expensive as eating out. It gave me a recipe for Salmon and allowed me to try it before spending $15 on spices that I don’t use other than for this recipe.
ClosetChef

I disagree with the author. I’ve been cooking for years and do NOT keep all herbs and spices in my cupboard. I have used these “Recipe Inspirations” packets when I need something they have and I don’t. Why buy a $4 botlle of an herb or spice that one seldom uses when these have just the amounts I’ve needed for the moment. I have always used all the remaining packs for other meals, as necessary.
- http://www.copykat.com Stephanie
  
  Isn’t it wonderful that we don’t have to agree
Jan

I receptivity disagree. I am a good cook and enjoy trying new things, Somehow along the way, I have not had a lot of experiences with and don’t know what many spices & herbs taste like. When I see a new recipe with an unfamiliar spice, I hesitate to try it and end up with a “big” bottle of a spice/herb I don’t care for. These packets give me the chance to try before committing to another jar on my spice rack. If I like their recipe, great and I will commit to that bottle of new spice/herbs. Or, I may say hmmmm, next time I will add this, subtract this and/or tweak that. And, of course, I may say no that spice isn’t for me. I do not think think this is a good way to buy the spices/herbs you use on a regular bases but a great way to try something new.
- Mike
  
  I agree….. EXCEPT if you look at most of these packages the spices are the most basic things out there (oregano, dried onion, garlic powder, thyme, etc). These are staple spices/herbs. Once you have those in your home, three dollars can they buy the unusual item you want to try.
  - Timandamandamay
    
    I do not keep dried onion, garlic powder or thyme in my pantry! I don’t care for dried onion, I like garlic salt, and I only use thyme on lamb chops. And now that I am a stay at home mom, I haven’t purchased thyme since we moved and had to re-stock our pantry (we moved from overseas, my husband is military, and we were not allowed to pack our spices).
Maria Maese

It reminds me of when my daughter told her home ec teacher that using a cake mix was against her religion.
Heather Ratcliff

Not trying to defend these spices, but some of us can’t cook! And trying something like this in small portions seems like a good idea to me in case I mess it up! Then I’m not stuck with a full size bottle of spices I will never use again. Plus I have a co-worker who just moved out on her own for the first time, and it seemed like a nice house warming gift to give with a cookbook.
ayla

i think you just like to bitch.
- http://www.copykat.com Stephanie
  
  I would disagree. I think some products make little sense to me. But I appreciate your comment!
Judy

When I saw McCormick I thought only of their Peppercorn Garlic Marinade as I buy all that is on the grocers shelf.

Try it for your Steaks or just pour the dry package on your roast and bake. It’s the best….
NO I would not buy the packaged spices mentioned…unless they came with Peppercorn Garlic Marinade….You’ll be glad you tried it…
http://Copykat Lauren W

I saw these packets…thought similarly, and proceeded to write down on the back of my shopping list the 6 types of spices that were used in the recipe along with my own visually acquired approximation about the amounts …went home and made a dinner that was out of my norm. The only value that this, and products like this, have is to get me and others like me out of a cooking rut! A bit of inspiration to try something different.
Fredericka

I figure about 75 cents for the spices & $2.75 for the packaging, which will go to the landfills. I suggest that if someone really likes the whole thing, they should measure each spice, make a note & eventually add those spices to their rack. Then they have the recipe as well. I did this years ago with a famous chili mix. Haven’t bought one of the “kits” since.
VegasDude

It’s not that the idea is so bad, it’s the total ripoff by the company producing them…. Sell them for 50 cents, and yes, not too bad, if you dont have a collection of spices at home.. like a college student, and I agree, they would be great for vacations with mini kitchens, and camping trips…..
http://DelishyTown.tumblr.com Betty

I agree! When I saw those at the store I shook my head and tsk’d.
Kitty

I used this product for a product test, and I must say I wasn’t impressed at all. It would have tasted worse had I used all the dried thyme in the one I was sent. I would not even waste my money on this. Those college kids would be better off buying some spices at a dollar store. Had this not been free no way I would have bought it.
- http://www.copykat.com Stephanie
  
  A lot of people liked this product for a variety of reasons. Personally for me, I would urge people to run to the dollar store for spices before purchasing these, but that is my opinion only
http://Website(optional) Jen-

I bet they’d sell like hotcakes in our area. We have a couple colleges and universities here and these poor students don’t know a thing about cooking or eating for that matter. A home cooked meal for them (even with $3 spices) is cheaper than their hotwings, pizza, mexican food adventures in restaurants. Plus it introduces them to things and is far healthier. It’s a demographic thing.
http://www.colieskitchen.com Nicole Sherman

I really appreciate this post. A few days ago, my husband and I had a conversation about this very product. He thought it was the greatest idea, and I thought it was the worst. His belief was WOW it is all in one you just add your meat and you are done. My thought was WOW! How much are they charging? Seriously? You want me to pay close to $3 for a few spices and a recipe. I agree spices are expensive, but recipes are free online, plus once you buy the spices, you can make the recipe many many times without buying them over again. It really is a costly expense to the consumer, and a moneymaker for the manufacture. No thank you!
Nicole

I actually bought the fajita one because for some reason my seasoning never turns out the way I want it, so I wanted to see if I’d like this version and we did. Now that I’ve done it once and have the recipe card, I’ve started tweaking it a bit, but if you’re looking to try new recipes and don’t know what spices go well together, these are a good starting point. For $3, why sweat it?
Ron

I saw these products for the first time this past weekend. I am not a chef but I love to cook and try different recipes for my wife. I completely disagree with this because it doesn’t let you play with your spices and make it your own.
Nick

My wife had cooked exactly three meals in her lifetime before I bought her a set of these spice packets. She has now doubled her life experience in a few weeks time so they do work for a certain demographic. If they can get her to cook, I’d pay ten times the price.
Annie

I can see how this particular product wouldn’t appeal to you. But I can also see a multitude of people that it would appeal to. Honestly, it isn’t people like you and I that the company is marketing to. It’s market are young inexperienced cookers who need help. My brother, for instance, has a spice rack that contains salt, pepper and cayenne powder. that’s it. this kit would be a great way for him to experiment with herbs and spices without shelling out alot of money (because quite frankly it’s very expensive to fill up a spice rack. Especially if you need to buy 3 or 4 spices at once to just try to make one new recipe) to buy full bottles, that he would probably never use up before it went stale. So i agree with some of the other posters, i think this is a great product for the people out there who need it. And hopefully it’ll introduce a lot of newbies to the joy of cooking. People who might otherwise have been too intimidated to try, and spent their whole lives either eating out, or buying frozen prepackaged meals. I say, Bravo to McCormick’s for this idea (even if it was just a marketing scam)
- http://www.copykat.com Stephanie
  
  I appreciate the different points of view. My thoughts on the spices, was simply, a trip to the dollar store, with say 5 or 10 dollars, and you could widen out your spice collection. I understand my theory on this fell short people who wanted things for a vacation, perhaps cooking in someone’s home and not wanting to take over their whole spice collection, someone wanting to try something new out, or even someone not wanting to spend a lot of money, but wanted to try to cook at home as they were an experienced cook. Having worked in finance, I have to stop myself from looking at the average cost of use. On this basis I thought the product was overpriced, and price gouging, and then my thought was is that even a good recipe, and you know that most likely doesn’t matter.
  I literally grew up cooking, I was cooking when I was so young I pulled a chair up to the stove, was this wise of my Mother? Who knows. My Mom’s only condition was you cook it, you have to eat it. So I have been cooking for a long time, so unfortunately I look at things from that perspective, rather than from someone who doesn’t cook as much. Oh, let me say, I have made some horrible dishes over the years. One on a really unfortunate night, I was trying to impress my the man who would become my fiancee, well I made chicken marsala, and I used sweet marsala. He knew I had the website and all, and we sat down, we had some wine, and dug into our way too sweet dessert style marsala. Not a nice moment. He tried to be polite, I know later he was thinking, and this is how she cooks . The meal ended with a brief cooking demonstration, lots more wine, and I think we ended up eating something else, the chicken marsala was really, really bad!
  Again great points, when I saw the package, I thought, a trip to the dollar store would cure 80% of what’s in here, is the recipe going to be good, lots of free recipes out there, and it was price gouging.
  
  Hmmmm, so I have my next photo ready for products that frustrate. I wonder what you will think of the next product that frustrates!
http://www.snaub.com terry

I saw these at Walmart tonight. There are a couple good reasons for these. If you don’t know your spices and want to find out what you like, you can try a wide variety for less than one regular bottle. Good for camping trips or vacations. Or if you’re single and don’t cook much, you don’t need to buy 10 bottles that you’ll hardly use and throw out a year later. Love your site btw.
Myles

I died a little inside when I saw this. Same goes for pre-shreded/crumbled cheese.
http://Website(optional) candace

i also saw these a couple months ago. i know how to cook and bake i love to! but americans these days are lazy and will buy this for sure! thats why they sell frozen dinners and pizzas! lol i think its good for a person that wants to learn how to cook.
Lisa

These are $1.99 in our grocery store.

I’m a culinary arts student, so obviously, I love to cook and don’t really need a product like this. But since my roommate and I have both moved to attend school and are living among mountains of unpacked boxes, a few of these were great to tide us over until we unearthed the “spices and oils” box.

The way I figure: Anything that encourages people to prepare and eat real, whole foods at home instead of regularly eating overpriced (and often unhealthy) restaurant meals is actually a good thing. One person’s frustration is another person’s godsend.
Tomica

I always get pulled in with gimmicks. I’ve actually got quite a few of these. I bought them about a month ago, but I’ve yet to even use them.

My husband did warn me though that it was a waste of money. I should have listened.
Kay

When we travel we stay at motels with a convenience kitchen. I bought these because they make it much easier. I don’t need to measure… all I need to do is pick up the meat (and whatever else the recipe card calls for)and something to drink at the market and I have saved a great deal off the $30+ it would cost me for two in a restaurant.
Edward

My sister that is 36 years old is so inept in the kitchen she could not boil water with a 5 Alarm Fire in front of her.
While I myself found this product laughable, I bought one package along with the meat measured out exactly for her to attempt to make a home meal and not kill anyone.
Long story short, they all ate at Burger King that night.
I guess the moral of this story is some people just cannot cook and never will be able to.

I think there is hope for people, you just need to start out easy
Michelle

Has anyone considered that these might be perfect for college students, such as my daughter, who have moved into an apartment for the first time and don’t have a vast collection of spices?

Don’t be so quick to assume that everyone is exactly as you are. I have no idea why this product would frustrate people – if you don’t need it, then don’t buy it.

I haven’t seen these on my supermarket shelf yet, but I am putting it on my grocery list and will buy a few to send to my daughter at college. If she likes the results, then she can go out and buy the individual spices, knowing that they will be used. An opportunity to give spices a test run before purchasing? I think it’s a great idea!

You bring up a good point, I didn’t mean to come off, as I know best. I simply hate products like this, I think in a sense they take advantage of those of us that are on tight budgets. I lump this into premade gallon jugs of iced tea, and prepared mashed potatoes. I didn’t see anything notable in those spice mixes, I saw what could be purchased in the dollar bin of a dollar store. I am personally more concerned about the value my dollar brings with respect to anything I purchase. I had never considered that these prepackaged spice blends may be a good jumping off point to someone who doesn’t cook often, or someone who is learning to cook. ~Stephanie
Paul Corsa

Gee, it could come in handy on a night you aren’t opening tubs of Country Crock Mashed Potatoes and Stuffing and a Jar of Heinz Gravy.

Paul, you have a great sense of humor! ~stephanie
Cam

I saw them a month or so ago in our local grocery and had a good laugh. They didn’t last long. The last I saw of them, they were in the mark down baskets as discontinued items.

I use a lot of spices and buy many of them but, I also grow a lot that I dry and freeze for winter use. I’ll pass on the 6 pre-measured spices for $3.
Christine

We don’t have this product in Canada and I wouldn’t buy it either for the simple reason that I know how to cook,but it doesn’t insult me to see such a product. There are actually people who don’t know how to cook and I think these are the consumers that this company is targeting.
coypcat recipe

I haven’t come across that product yet, but I see from you picture that it’s from Mc Cormick. I was wondering if it’s supposed to be pre-measured already? Probably to get the right amount needed for the specified recipe at the back. I reckon that if you wanted to make a copycat recipe as good as its original version you really need to nail those measurements (specially when you’re not blessed with cooking skills, lol!) Anyway, I agree though, that 3 dollars is quite ridiculous.
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http://frantasticfood.com Fran

I think I saw that once in my supermarket, but I walked right past it. I walk past most of the herbs and spices because I’d rather get them from Pensy’s or fresh.

I wonder how many people buy this stuff? Ridiculous.

The only bright spot is that the amounts are so small that if you don’t normally use these items you wouldn’t run the risk of them getting stale from purchasing a whole jar and it would be better than buying the dish frozen, I suppose.