What’s Up With Great Value?

If you’re a Monday menu plan regular, hang in there. The menu is a-comin’! I wanted to take a moment to address a food-related issue on the blog real quick.

A few months ago, I did a few posts for Great Value doughs (1, 2, 3, 4). I was excited about this opportunity for a few reasons, mainly because it seemed like a great opportunity to talk about imperfect products that I actually use and also to burst any bubbles that I am Perfect Little Mrs Susy Homemaker Who Makes Everything From Scratch!

Here’s what I mean. When I make a breakfast casserole or a pie, crescent rolls and pre-made pie crusts are just so much easier than making my own. (Easier to me – some of you beg to differ.) If I have to make my own, sometimes I just scrap the whole project and make a less impressive dish, simply because I don’t have the time or energy to do it all from scratch. And sometimes that’s okay. But when I am hosting an event (which I love to do!), I can’t just scrap baking plans. I truly take no shame in using such doughs when in a time crunch. If I cheat something, I don’t want it to be family time.

I wondered how y’all would respond to my confession though. I was truly shocked and relieved to find that many of you were (I’ll use the word again, because you all did!) “relieved” to see me using Great Value products and to know that you can be health-conscious and not always make things from scratch!

I had a little tension with this though. Since my family is passionate about healthy, natural eating, I feel I have an obligation to not to lead you all astray.

I actually made the decision to take myself out of the campaign halfway through though. Here’s why:

1. What I thought was just for bread doughs (my own false assumption) actually ended up being for cinnamon roll dough, cookie dough, etc, and I just wasn’t comfortable promoting products I don’t use on a regular basis, especially ones that are easy to make from scratch, such as cookies. And I spoke truthfully about all of this in my posts. (Nothing but honesty here!)
2. Also, I’m glad to promote occasional use of a product that will make your life easier and provide less stress (crescent rolls, pie crusts), but I am not comfortable promoting unhealthy products for everyday use, which is a road I felt one could easily go down with cinnamon rolls and cookies.
3. This one ties into #2, but it urks me enough that it gets its own number. GMO’s. I was sorely disappointed by the results of November’s election in California in regards to GMO labeling. This is basically giving the death label to a product. (See more about GMO’s here.) In the fall, it looked like this law would pass, forcing all companies to label their products which contain GMO’s. Then big name companies poured lots of money into advertising, using scare tactics into making the public think they’d have to pay hundreds more each month for food if this bill passed. Now, I’ve showed you in the past that it is possible to eat pure nutritious foods on a budget, so this really urked me. If you choose to eat GMO’s, there is no judgment here. But my conscience just could not endorse companies that had been so deceptive in their campaigning. It was truly a personal decision for me, one that tugged at my conscience.

I know you many of you struggle with this same tension, and it’s been a joy to hear from you. I really just wanted to clarify my desire with the campaign and why I dropped out. I’ve said many times that eating healthy is a journey. I’m not sure you ever “arrive.” I am thankful to be on this journey with each of you! I hope we can continue learning from each other.