Soup Made with Coffee Pods and Other Ridiculous Single-Serve Foods

If there’s anything worse than packaged, processed food, it’s single-serving packaged, processed food. In a fast culture, we’ve come to crave products that maximize our time, so it’s no surprise that items like coffee pods are taking over kitchens around the country.

But it’s not just coffee pods. There are plenty of single-serve items out there that are marketed to help make cooking and eating easier for you.

Let’s get one thing straight: cracking open a single-serve anything might seem like an easy eating option, but at the end of the day, there’s nothing better than real food. If you want nature’s single-serve, go for an apple. Because you don’t want any of these items making their way into your daily diet.

1. Campbell’s Fresh Brewed Soup K-Cup

As if regular coffee pods weren’t bad enough, Campbell’s and Keurig (the maker of the popular K-Cup coffee pods) partnered up to bring you soup pods, “designed to meet a growing consumer snacking need.” Yes, a snacking “need.” What exactly is that need? Soup in a jiffy, apparently. To make your soup, you pop in the coffee pod with dehydrated broth into your Keurig machine, and once that has brewed, open up another packet that contains your noodles and toss those in. Not to mention that you’re injecting hot water through a flimsy plastic cup. Mmm mmm… no, thank you.

2. Saladshots Chocolate Chip Dressing Pouches Oh, you wanted a single-serve chocolate chip dressing? You can get that thanks to Saladshots, makers of pouches of odd flavors of salad dressing (think: chocolate chip and PB&J). Granted, they’re all natural, and they claim that the packaging is eco-friendly, but let’s get one thing straight: anything that comes in a single-serve option is inherently not eco-friendly. Want salad dressing on the go? Mix up a little oil and vinegar with some herbs and pop it in a glass jar before you head out the door.

3. Dippin’ Stix

Why take the time to slice fruit and vegetables when you can pay someone to do it for you? Dippin’ Stix has a variety of fruit or vegetables and dip combinations – because we all know how hard it is to cut celery and serve it with a spoonful of peanut butter for dipping – but the one that takes the cake has to be Pickles and Bacon Ranch Dressing. And you know what one of their selling points is? That they have the “longest shelf life in the industry.” Personally I don’t want my sliced veggies with a long shelf life, but that’s just me.

4. Mug Cake Mix

If you’ve spent 2 minutes on Pinterest in the last year, you’ve seen a mug cake. And if you thought the internet was over these single-serve cakes, think again. In fact, now you don’t even need to make your own, there’s a mix for that. Yup, it’s the Dr. Oetker Chocolate Mug Cake Mix which you can track down at World Market, whip together in seconds and bake in your microwave. Can we just bring back the regular cake, please?

5. Smoothie Pouches for Breakfast on the Go

You know what’s amazing about a good smoothie? You get a healthy, nutrient packed breakfast that only takes a few minutes to make. Gather ingredients, put in blender, turn on blender, drink. But when you can’t even find that time, there are smoothies in a pouch, thanks to Sprout Foods, which just launched its new Sprout Rise line of organic smoothies for breakfast on-the-go. The smoothies are “are organic, shelf-stable smoothies chock-full of protein and fiber and made from real fruit and vegetable purees.” Nothing says a tasty breakfast like “shelf-stable.” Gather up some fresh fruit and make your smoothie yourself, even if you’re pressed for time. 

Related on Organic Authority

5 Signs Single-Serve Processed Foods are Destroying Food Culture in America

Even the Green Version of Coffee Pods is Awful

You Know What’s Dumb? A Disposable ‘French Press’ Coffee Maker

Image: Randy

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