I grew up eating frozen Chicken Pot Pie. As a child of a working mom in the 70s and 80s, Swanson Chicken Pot Pies were one of her go-to solutions for getting a meal on the table after a long day of work.
While I’m not exactly sure what was in those Swanson Chicken Pot Pies, my jaw dropped when I saw a recent advertisement by Marie Callender.
Marie Callender’s Chicken Pot Pie TV Commercial
Here’s a full script of Marie Callender’s Chicken Pot Pie advertisement:
What so wrong with this ad?
The line that really gets under my skin is:
“So she takes the time to prepare golden flaky crust made from scratch.”
Not only does this make it seem like Marie Callender is personally involved in the process (No, she’s not—she passed away many years ago), but it also implies a homemade, “scratch” recipe. If you take a look at its ingredient list—which, by the way, wasn’t available on the Marie Callender website as far as I can tell—you’ll find something that doesn’t resemble “scratch” cooking at all!
Does your kitchen stock some of these “scratch” ingredients? Mine doesn’t!:
- Carrageenan
- Soy Lecithin
- Maltodextrin
- Disodium Inosinate and Guanylate Polysorbate 60
- Xanthan Gum
- Methylcellulose
- Guar Gum
- Polysorbate 80
- Caramel color
- Interesterified Soybean Oil
And two particularly concerning types of ingredients in Marie Callender’s Chicken Pot Pie are:
- Highly processed fats like interesterified soybean oil. You’ll be seeing a whole lot more of this ingredient on packaged food labels since the FDA has banned partially hydrogenated oils (PHOs) as of the summer of 2018. But are interesterified oils any better? Unfortunately, not a whole lot of research has been fielded to answer this question. That said, some early studies indicate interesterified oils may be just as bad as PHOs.1
- Emulsifiers and thickeners of all different kinds are in Marie Callender’s chicken pot pie including carrageenan, soy lecithin, xantham gum, guar gum, and methylcellulose to name a few. What’s so wrong with these additives? Emulsifiers (such as lecithin) may start to receive increased scrutiny as recent studies have linked them to increased incidence of metabolic syndrome and inflammatory bowel diseases.
What Does “Made from Scratch” Really Mean?
So what does “made from scratch” really mean? When it comes to processed food, absolutely nothing. It’s just one more word marketers throw around to get you to eat their highly processed foods!
Sadly, although big food companies like ConAgra (who owns the Marie Callender grocery brand) say they’re all about transparency and cleaning up their products, there are still a lot of reasons to ditch processed foods.
Make REAL Scratch Chicken Pot Pie Instead!
Despite what Marie Callender/ConAgra says, scratch cooking is all about using real ingredients. That’s why you won’t find any of these crazy additives and chemicals in my homemade chicken pot pie. What will you find? Here’s the ingredient list:
Chicken Pot Pie Filling: chicken, chicken broth (water, chicken, onions, carrots, celery, and seasoning) carrots, peas, celery, onions, butter, milk, flour, salt, pepper, sage, and rosemary.
Whole Wheat Pie Crusts: whole wheat pastry flour, butter, water, vinegar, sugar/maple syrup, and salt.
Now that’s real food!
If you’re interested in the recipes, here you go!
Want to Ditch Your Processed Food Habit?
Interested in reducing the number of processed foods you eat? Then check out my FREE ebook, The Ultimate Clean Eating Guide!
Cheers!
Bruce
- Interestified Oil Concerns: Stearic acid-rich interesterified fat and trans-rich fat raise the LDL/HDL ratio and plasma glucose relative to palm olein in humans
4 Responses
UP until tonight, we have enjoyed these pies. Tonight my husband found a dead large black ant in his. So much for Maries pies ever again!
Thanks for your comment, Bex. If you have a chance you should try making my homemade chicken pot pie recipe. It’s absolutely delicious and made from real ingredients … and no ants!
Cheers!
Bruce
What has left me appalled about Marie Callenders Pot Pies as well as a lot of their Frozen entrees is the amounts of Saturated Fat grams in there food.. America needs to wake up and start counting the amount of Sat Fat grams in their ” Daily” intake if you’re taking in more than 10 a day that isn’t good 10 or less is a lot better My source for this information was My Brothers Cardiovascular surgeon after he under went a quadruple by-pass at 40. Food Companies are in the business of making money they could care less about your health America . Wake up!
I totally agree with you, Ralph. Thanks for your comment. Food companies just want the food to taste delicious and be cheap to manufacture. That’s why fats, refined sugars and starches, and salt are the unhealthy building blocks of processed foods. Cooking real, unprocessed foods and training your palate to enjoy them can truly unlock a healthier lifestyle.
Cheers!
Bruce