Maybe I'm a harsh critic, but I can't believe any canned soup would ever be considered remotely close to homemade.

I try to make everything homemade as much as possible but Amy's Organic products rock!!! Just tried the pizza the other day...

Rao's and Mario Batali's pasta sauces are pretty awesome and I have at least one of those on my pantry shelf at all timse. I also love prepared fondue as yes, its just *that* much easier and the ingredient list is basically the same as if I were to make it myelf. I'm not much of a canned soup person but when I am in the mood and/or, Progresso does the job nicely. I also dont underestimate the power of a frozen pizza from Trader Joes or some of their other frozen, prepared foods-microwaveable brown rice, pastry and phyllo dough and puff pastry. Those are ALWAYS in my freezer.

Off topic - but those commercials to the left of the screen are crazy annoying and so invasive if you accidentally hover your mouse for a second above one...
On topic - I second the Arrowhead Mill pancake mix.

Packaged brown gravy mix. There. I said it. I don't use it for brown gravy by itself, but as a way to thicken other dishes: my enchilada sauce, chili, beef stew, et cetera.

I wish The Kitchen would do a taste test for brown gravy mixes.

I make nearly everything from scratch because it's cheaper that way... but I dearly love Jiffy mix, and always have a couple of packages tucked away. Cornbread can become a quick topping for tamale pie or cornmeal pancakes, and a box of muffins can be ready in no time at all, something that is much appreciated on short winter mornings and surprise visits from friends.

Oh, and although I know how to make brownies from scratch, I much prefer boxed mix brownies. Weird, huh?

@A.Letarte, I can't resist the Jiffy mix! Every now and then it goes on sale for a crazy low price, like 3/$1. If you add corn and jalapeno, it's absolutely delicious.

I like Giada's pasta sauce. I almost always have a batch of Marcella Hazan's tomato sauce in the fridge, but for when I don't, or for when the sauce is just a component of something else, I really like Giada's. (I think it's the butter, ha.)

Rick Bayless's Frontera sauces are also pretty decent. Enchiladas are a quick dinner when I don't have to make the sauce. (And I almost never have tomatillos around for green sauce.)

Kirkland brand frozen cheese ravioli.

Pacific Natural Foods Organic Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato soup ... yikes it's good ... with a grilled cheese sandwich. And another vote for Jiffy mixes.

I completely agree. Not only do boxed mix brownies seem to taste better, they're a heck of a lot easier to make.

I really prefer prepared salsa--Texas Texas brand when I'm visiting TX, Emerald Valley hot salsa when stuck with Seattle options.

I have a really awesome recipe for homemade salsa, but if we're throwing a party, I'll just buy jars of the pre-made stuff. It tastes good enough and it lets me focus on making something else.

Same thing could possibly be said for brownies - I have a recipes that makes brownies that are as good, if not better than, boxed mix but it's such a pain in the butt. Sometimes I want chocolate and I want it now, not 30 minutes of prep + 30 minutes of cook time from now!

Frozen stuffed pastas. I make my own, generally, but it is time consuming! On a stressful night it's nice to be able to boil water, make a salad while the pasta cooks, and then toss it with some of summer's frozen pesto...

Trader Joes soups are awesome, as are most of their frozen meals. Plus, chopped leeks? Yes, please.

Brownies from a box are my favorite -- the Ghirardelli brand, specifically. They're also easy to spruce up a little with a cream cheese swirl or caramel. Yellow cake from a box FTW as well. No clue why, it just tastes like amazing.

Lowter, I love Pacific Natural Organic Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup too. We have it almost every weekend for lunch w/ grilled cheese.

Oh my goodness, y'all! Keep the tips coming -- I am planning on checking out a lot of these. ;-)

Here's an obvious one: canned tomatoes. Like, I like in the Maritimes (the real Eastern Canada, thankyouverymuchOntario), it's winter...why would I use crappy fresh tomatoes when I can just plop a can of San Marzanos from Costco into whatever I'm making? And yes, homemade stock is awesome, and I've done it, but having some sort of canned/boxed stock/bouillion (Better Than Bouillion, Oxo cubes, etc.) is a life-saver. I grew up on Oxo cubes, my mother's recipes wouldn't be the same without them. Canned curry pastes (Patak's for Indian, Thai Kitchen for Thai) - I can't buy fresh kaffir lime leaves here, and there isn't always lemongrass just hanging out at the grocery store. And am I the only person who's never organized enough to prep dried beans? I'm sure they taste better, but canned beans are a life-saver.

Oh, and Cheemo's potato, spinach, and feta perogies? Shut. Up. It's like spanakopita, but perogies. A super fast, super delicious meal.

LIVE. I *LIVE* in the Maritimes. Can you tell it's the end of a long work week?

I have no qualms using canned diced tomatoes, canned tomato sauce and its paste variant when need be as I've found, a couple or 3 tablespoons of the paste in something to brown a tad before adding liquid makes the flavors richer for some reason.

Found out that trick from the Smitten Kitchen in a recipe that used white beans and sausage as the main ingredients.

That is how I make spaghetti sauce, using canned tomatoes, sauce and paste. However, I now saute my mushrooms instead of using canned, and use dried onion flakes, and real garlic in it though instead of their powder forms and it betters the sauce, which is ground beef based.

When I run out of the roasted garlic tomato puree that I can myself every summer, I am not ashamed to buy grocery store canned tomatoes for tomato sauce or soup. I'd rather do that than purchase overpriced out-of-season tomatoes in the produce department. Of course it's not the same as homemade, but it's still good, and better than buying a jar of sauce.

I'm a "Brownies from a box" believer as well. I have no idea why they are so much better but they really are. And yes, the Ghirardelli brand, is amazing.

Canned beans, Jiffy corn muffin AND biscuit mixes, curry pastes...breadcrumbs (homemade crumbs have their place... but Panko is pretty awesome). McLawrey's chili seasoning mix. But that might be it...

But I don't think any boxed brownie mix can hold a candle to the Baker's "One Bowl Brownies" recipe from the inside of the Baker's Unsweetened Chocolate boxes. Takes 5 minutes to make, 40 to bake, and is damn tasty, and not oily like the boxed mixes.

I was given a Jiffy muffin box. I thought this can't work. I was wrong. I can now scrape up my own muffins, but there's always a Jiffy box in the larder. (conversely there are some really nasty tasting muffin mixes out there, natural flavor or otherwise)

+1 on canned beans and canned tomatoes.

Keeping homemade stock around is actually pretty convenient. Whenever I make stock, I just freeze it in containers of 2 or 4 cups and in ice cube trays-- btw, did you know an ice cube in a standard ice cube tray is almost exactly 1/8 cup (=2 tbsp)? Then it's easy to grab whatever amount I need. Plus, no need to thaw ahead of time-- just throw it in the pot/pan/oven and it melts.

Also, making stock is a great way to use up meat and veggie scraps.

Excuse me, roasted garlic tomato puree? What is this recipe and can you share it?? And is this something you use as your straight-up sauce, or as the base for sauces and soups?

Gallo risotto pronto - I particularly like the saffron and the mushroom ones. Betty Crocker chocolate chip cookie mix.

Curry pastes.

I ve got nothing against prepared food, I even prefere some stuff in boxes than home made. But box fondue is really horrible, can't eat it and the emmi fondue is terrible not as bad as the" Gerber" brand though. We've got lots of jokes about it here in Swizerland (Gerber in french means vomit)
Fondue is all about the cheese quality...otherwise I don't see the point. But well I guess it's the swiss talking...
Still I'm curiose about the chedar fondue recipe.

Definitely boxed cakes and brownies (another Ghiradelli fan here). Damn you delicious and fluffy modified starches! If I'm making a birthday cake or something special, I'll do the icing from scratch to make up for the diy-or-die guilt of making box cake. We always have Trader Joe's fresh stuffed pastas in the fridge or freezer for a yummy, quick weeknight meal. Also canned tomatoes and tomato puree. I cannot abide tomatoes out of season, but I gotta get that lycopene!

Lowter - I completely agree about the Pacific Natural Foods Organic Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato soup. So good. That is always in my pantry.

I make salsa a couple times a year and preserve it, but most of the time I use the store-bought stuff, especially if it's just for a party where people will be too drunk to care. :) I also use stock boxes and cubes, and jarred pasta sauce if it's not going to be the star of the dish.

I don't use baking mixes just because for me, the act of baking is the fun part. I don't have much of a sweet tooth so the process is the actual reward, rather than eating the results.