Today's Freebies - So. Much. SUGAR!

These are the freebies we got with our Coles grocery order today. Why is that the free stuff never includes a nice slab or salmon, or a wheel of parmesan? Never any free fresh food (unless it's because they screwed up the order). Always this processed stuff.

Even the canned salmon is loaded with "extras". It's only 50% salmon, and then the rest is water, canola oil, onion, sugar, sweet chilli seasoning, minced chilli, dried red capsicum (bell pepper), minced garlic, chilli powder, crushed chilli, and paprika. On the bright side, at least it's all normal-sounding stuff and not a bunch of foot-long chemical-sounding names and numbers.

Let's see, what else is in this stuff?

The Garlic & Herb Marinade includes: water, sugar, lemon juice (from concentrate), garlic, thickener (modified cornstarch), salt, onion, golden syrup, acetic acid, oregano, rosemary, and thyme.

The Tuscan Meatballs Recipe Base includes: tomatoes (from paste), salt, garlic onion, balsamic vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, sugar, rosemary, herbs, mustard powder, natural color (paprika oleoresin), citric acid, and pepper.

The green cordial (a sweet, concentrated syrup that you dilute to make a cool-aid type drink) is: sugar, water, citric acid, flavor, preservatives (sodium benzoate, sodium metasulphite), and colors (tetrazine, brilliant blue FCF).

And the Low-Carb Lemon Solo is: carbonated water, reconstituted lemon juice, food acids (330, 331), flavors, sweeteners (951, 950), and preservative (211). Checking the Food Additive Code Breaker, I find out that 330 is citric acid, 331 is sodium citrate, 951 is aspartame, 950 is acesulphane potassium, and 211 is sodium benzoate.

See, this is what I think is one of the big problems with processed foods. The salmon has sugar and sweet chilli seasoning. The Marinade has sugar and golden syrup. The meatball stuff has sugar. If you eat a lot of processed stuff, you end up getting all this "invisible" sugar. More and more and more and more sugar (or, more likely, High Fructose Corn Syrup in the U.S.) and is it a wonder that so many people are slowly but steadily packing on extra pounds?

Of course when you wake up one day and suddenly realize that you're too damned fat and you want to do something about it, there's LOW CARB Solo to help you lose weight.

Hmmm...on another interesting note, I've just discovered that both Solo and Cottee's are owned by Schweppes Australia, which is in turn owned by Asahi Breweries. While Masterfoods is owned by Mars (as in Mars bars) Inc. This is the thing that gets me about the huge multinational conglomerates; whether you're eating their candy bars and drinking their beer, or eating their tuscan meatballs and drinking their diet soda, they're getting your money. I say fuck 'em.

Of course, the shit was free, so sooner or later I'll eat it. Except for that lime cordial. I ain't touching that crap. But the kids love it.