Betrayed by Bouillon
 

Yesterday, I was thirsty in a way only diet soda would cure.

So I had some bouillon instead.

This morning, I still wanted (diet) soda, AND it's cold. (I live in FL, which means I avoid running the heater even when it's 35, because I know it won't last.) So I had some more bouillon. And then another, a while later.

Wandering into the kitchen to fix my 3rd or 4th of the day (I've lost count) I idly looked at the ingredients.

The first is salt. The next THREE were variations on sugar.

:eek: (Sugar, corn syrup, and then some kind of modified corn product, I don't even remember.)

Dangit, bouillon is supposed to be safe.... a way to replenish salts. (That's what the soda craving was about.)

So now I'm annoyed. This was Winn Dixie store brand that one of us had apparently picked up a while back... It's only coming out to 1g/cube, but there's no excuse for it being there at all.

Looks like I'm going to be going back and taking my magnifying glass to read labels!

Getting bouillon with the correct ingredients is a challenge. Always read the ingredients whether you find it in your pantry or on a store shelf. Amazing how many things have sugar because it just tastes better, and you'll drink much more of it. Seems like a food marketing strategy, eh?

That it does.

I KNOW this bouillon pre-dates my recommitment to LC. I honestly can't think when/why it was purchased, but was clearly bought casually.

I'm just so disgusted right now I could spit.

Totally understand your frustration!!!!! THere should not be sugar in anything IMHO. Unfortunately it is hidden everywhere as we all know.... yet we still fall into a pit here and there. At least the damage is not as bad as a soda , so good for you to make a better choice!!

re: bouillon - i can't get past the msg.

:)

I tried one brand which was vegetarian because it had no MSG or sugar and it turned out tasting like green grass, it was pretty bad....

That little bit won't hurt. There is even sugar (glycogen) in liver, but I enjoy it anyway for the nutrition. Bouillon, a cup or two, SPAM, soy sauce or even a few BBQ pork skins help me get enough salt without licking a cattle block :)

Progress, not perfection. I view boullion as better than diet soda, so still a win.

If you shop at Walmart, there's a Sam's Choice organic beef or chicken bone broth. They come in the quart-sized long shelf life cartons along with other soups and broths like College Inn or Swanson. I keep a couple of those on hand. They're a much healthier choice than bouillon. I used to buy the Herb Ox cubes in the blue container, least gross ingredients of all of them but still gross to me.

I understand that many people don't want to go this route but I simply make my own bone broth. I've been doing it for years. That way I know exactly what the ingredients are.

contains yeast extract - aka msg.

Foods that Contain Yeast Extract

https://i.imgur.com/QjcFiSM.png?1

Hmm, just can't win. :(

Making your own is a win!

Easy ... I save all bones from my cooked meals in a large zip lock in the freezer. When the bag is full I dump it in my pressure cooker with misc. herbs, garlic, salt, peppercorns, various vegetable clippings that I may have saved as well (like the trimmings from asparagus, carrot stubs, cauliflower leaves etc), sometimes onion, whole ginger or tumeric and a couple dashes of vinegar. Really, whatever you have, but works just as well with only the bones. When you have a mix of poultry, pork and beef bones, the broth comes out a rich golden colour with a great all purpose flavour.
Cook for 3-4 hours. Strain and pour in ice cube trays. Freeze and bag.

My small dogs each get a cube a day as a supplement to their prey model raw diets, and I can pull out as much as I want for drinking, or flavouring soups or gravies.

And homemade broth is essentially free, made from bones & food scraps. I use my slow-cooker for 8-24 hrs.

Home-made bone broth (at least in MY house) is promptly made into soup and frozen. (Well, what's not eaten immediately is frozen.)

Did a google-search for "Sugar-free chicken bouillon", and found some ("Simple Girl") that comes in basically a salt-shaker, and has around 5 ingredients. (Sea salt, garlic powder, spices, onion powder, stevia leaf extract.) I ordered some. (Yes, I could probably mix something like that up myself, but I'm being lazy.)

For me, there's a world of difference between bone-broth and hot bouillon... one is a meal, one is a quick hot drink. Emphasis on quick.

Plus my family would divorce me if I didn't make soup from bone-broth. My son, especially, would call the UN over human rights violations. ("Yes... my mom boiled out a carcass and didn't make SOUP!!" "We'll have Child Protective Services right out there...")