Do you have a favorite food that for whatever reason you keep kind of secret? Something that might be considered tacky or childish or maybe even a little bad for you? Read on for my secret food confession and then be brave and tell us yours in the comments!
OK. I'll make it easy on you and start with my own confession: every now and then I buy a box of Brown Sugar Cinnamon Pop-Tarts, which I love to eat straight from the packet with a cup of strong coffee. While I wouldn't say I keep them a secret, I did notice recently that when a friend stopped by for an afternoon cuppa, I pushed the box to the back of the cupboard and offered her some fancy gingersnaps instead.
I know someone who once a year (only once!) goes through the McDonald's drive-thru by himself and orders the whole shebang: Big Mac, large fries and a huge Coke. Another friend loves Cheetos but will only eat them when she's in a darkened movie theatre (only to reveal her tell-tale orange fingers when the lights go up!)
So why the secrecy? Sometimes, like in my case with the Pop-Tarts, our secret foods are from our childhood and while they hold the allure of nostalgia, they also seem a little childish. Other times, we know that they are bad for us, or that they'll be judged as tacky by our friends and colleagues. Or maybe we just like to keep it to ourselves, a little something that's our private indulgence.
What about you, dear readers? Is there a food you only indulge in behind closed doors? Something that you allow yourself only once and a great while? Tell us your secret food indulgences!
Related: Can You Guess the Mystery Ingredient in this Dish?
(Image: Pop-Tarts)
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Cheesey Puffs.
feta cheese and cinnamon bread sandwiches!
Marshmallow fluff. And oreos.
Spaghettio's!
peanutbutter, a spoon at a time...
I mainly cook healthy, organic & often vegetarian food but I still have a place in my heart for Kraft mac & cheese... Processed and devoid of nutrition but it's one of those things I love to have a couple times a year.
any sort of bad-for-you fruit snack....fruit roll ups, gushers, fruit by the foot.
peanut butter on oreos.
caramel popcorn from Target.
When my husband is out of town (once or twice a year), I like to buy kraft mac and cheese and spaghetti o's. I don't buy them on the same trip but I might eat the once a year in the same week. Yum!
Footlong chili cheese hotdogs with tater tots and a large rootbeer.
Grilled cheese....with peanut butter. I know. I am sick.
http://vegoutandabout.wordpress.com/
The occasional package of full-sodium, MSG-seasoned Ramen.
Cadbury mini eggs. Not the ones with the creamy center, the small ones with the chocolate and the crackly outside. I could eat bags & bags of these (but I don't)
I used to buy fruit snacks - usually the Sunkist gummy fruits. However, I don't really crave them now that I eat those gummy bear vitamins.
Count Chocula cereal...... :)
Corn pops
I second the MSG laden bowl of Ramen noodles, but I do like to slip in a poached egg, that's the way my mom always made them for me :)
Mini chocolate covered donuts from the gas station
Blue box mac and cheese. It's the first thing I could cook for myself, and sometimes it's the only thing in the world that sounds good. I keep one box on hand for emergencies.
Have to agree with Kraft Mac & Cheese but I also absolutely LOVE frozen Eggo waffles. I actually don't like home made waffles or restaurant waffles.
oreos, coke and im a sucker for candy bars
Snapea Crisps. I buy them at Trader Joe's and eat the whole bag on the way home. I think this equals 100 calories. Then I toss the evidence into the trashcan in our garage.
Those are my favorite pop tarts, I don't even care about the rest of the flavors. And Kraft Mac & Cheese or Kraft Dinner as we called it growing up.
*1000!!!!! Wishful thinking ;)
I've been eating a pretty steady diet of string cheese and pudding lately :-P
Every once in a long while, I'll get and make a box of cheeseburger macaroni hamburger helper. It's been a while, though, so maybe I'm phasing it out.
And this isn't a secret or a guilty pleasure food, but I have a strange fondness for what we call "meat chips." Y'know, the ones that are BBQ rib or chicken fajita flavored. Target has the best ones, but the Kettle brand has some good ones, too. Mmm, MSG.
It's not exactly a secret, but it's a food I know I'll never be rid of - Quavers! They're just so damnably addictive!
I have two: Chicago style dogs (preferably bratwurst, not a hot dog) and eating Nutella right out of the jar with a spoon.
Store brand cheddar cheese melted on whole wheat bread.
Pizza rolls
Utz cheese balls. It's shameful.
Kellogg's Cracklin' Oat Bran. With milk, microwaved until mush. Mmmmm. Also, Crystal Lite (cringe!!) drink mix, cherry + pomegranate flavor. But *only* that flavor, really!
Fruity Pebbles.
I just love the pink milk and sugar overload.
Burnt toast with peanut butter and a ton of jam or chocolate chips.
Spreadable cheese on crackers, especially the little Kraft packages.
Spaghetti-O's, but I recently discovered Trader Joe's Joe O's which taste the same but better since there's no high fructose corn syrup in them. My other dirty secret: Taco Bell bean chalupas.
Everything from the frozen appetizers aisle - jalapeno poppers, mozzerella sticks, cheese-tatertot bites, pizza rolls, and frozen pirogies.
When our fridge died and we only had a freezer for 4 weeks while waiting a replacement, the husband and I rediscovered the frozen aisle and ate that way too much. I also learned that bagel bites are bland, freezer burnt and vile. Sad, used to like those.
Cheese Whiz and white bread. I also love Kraft Dinner (I think in the US you would call this macaroni and cheese - it is in a blue box. In Canada it is known as Kraft Dinner or KD)
Cap'N Crunch or banana sandwichs with *gasp* mayo!
I agree with the EGGO comment too! Have you ever tried them made into a sandwich with mayo, bacon, fried egg & sliced tomato? YUM! My mom used to make them for us as kids - oh and she would add a kraft singles slice (speaking of junk food)... I don't know how we did not all become overweight with those alone!!
banana & mayo! How about peanut butter, mayo & claussen pickle sandwiches... yep, I like those! Haven't had one in several years... hmmm, maybe time for one!
An entire box of cooked pudding. Chocolate is usually my first choice, but I love vanilla, tapioca, etc!!!
FLAMING HOT CHEETOS
Potato chips. I love 'em--but only once or twice a year.
msg ramen for sure
Dairy Queen cheeseburger and a mini blizzard once or twice a year. I regularly eat a lot of other garbage foods, but this one I'm a bit ashamed of and will hide the evidence...
Cadbury cream eggs.
I'm embarrassed at the amount of frozen banana "popsicles" I eat everyday. I even eat them for breakfast.
You pretty much covered my top 5 processed foods I secretly love: Brown Sugar Cinnamon Pop Tarts, Kraft M&C, Pizza Rolls, and Count Chocula (my husband I eat it for dinner on Halloween every year--as much as we want for that one night!).
Two other things I used to like but no longer call out to me are Pillsbury Crescent Rolls (I could eat them raw) and King's Hawaiian Rolls.
so much to choose from! Any kind of noodles, KD, (like suzmac, I'm Canadian!) ramen, whatever. Oh, and beef jerky! I wonder what my shrink would say?
Definitely ramen.
I love Krafts Mac n Chz, but usually go for the Velveeta shells and cheddar (the kind with the squeasy chz.)
*shame*
Cheese-covered fries, dipped in ranch. Mmm.
Cheese curds, though I don't store them in the back of the pantry. I just go to and A&W in Wisconsin once or twice a year. :)
Shin Ramyun-brand "Spicy" style Korean ramen. Every now and then I just go through intense cravings for it, and find myself running off to my local Korean deli for a few packages three or four times a year.
Ah man, Chef Boyardee Spaghetti & Meatballs, straight out of the can.
this is such a deep dark food secret that even with the anonimity here, i'm a little scared to let it out. I like to take 2 marshmallows, put them on a paper plate and microwave them until they puff out all big and get sort of golden on the bottom edges. the resulting ooey deliciousness is nothing short of evil genius.
@matt dudzic - that stuff is the SHIZZ-ITE! I loooove me some good korean ramen.
McDonald's breakfast. The only time I am even up while they're serving breakfast is if I'm heading home after a night of drinking and have crashed at someone else's house. Then two sausage, egg & cheese muffins find their way into my pre-hangover tummy. And I definitely hide the bag in my purse on the way from my car to my apartment!
Also entire boxes of mac 'n cheese. Mmm....
I too love me some Kraft mac and cheese. My other secret love is the "chili"-cheese burrito from Taco Bell. I don't think they have them everywhere either, but they are so tasty. :) Even with the fake meat reports, I'd still get my once yearly splurge.
Peanut butter M&Ms...the ones they sell at Easter time that are the extra large M&M "eggs". I can eat quite a few in one sitting.
McRib sandwich ... frozen turkey/dressing/mashed potato "TV" dinner (Marie Callenders brand) ... Little Debbie 50 cent cheese Danish bought at the gas station (gotta throw away that wrapping to destroy the evidence!)
i've been known to eat frosting from a can with a spoon, and i also like to get cherry pie filling in a can and eat that. super gross, and very few people have been allowed to see this behavior, haha
I dont' really have a "secret food" but I have a hard time NOT eating spoonfuls of peanut butter throughout the day.
If I HAD to choose something I wish I could eat all the time (without the thought of fat, calories, processed ickiness) it would have to be Easy Mac. Something about that cheesy goodness kept me going (and GROWING) in college.
Tip about Brown Sugar Poptarts: Warm them in to toaster and slather with yummy butter. Takes them to another level. I ate these all the time as a child.
Before I developed a peanut allergy, my secret food was Cheez-its dipped in peanut butter. I haven't discovered a snack that would make me feel so deliciously guilty since!
pretzels dipped in frosting
chicken fingers preferably from a ballpark and dipped in honey mustard
Kraft Mac and Cheese for sure. I'm always embarrassed when grabbing them off the shelf! And maybe once a year: a box of strawberry pop-tarts. We always got to have those as kids. And yes, I keep those WELL hidden in the pantry! :D
@Matt Dudzic: the shin ramyun spicy ramen is aces! I haven't been able to find it lately though.
McDondalds Chicken tenders with BBQ and Taco bell Crunch wrap supreme. I dont think I can get worse than those two.
Nacho doritos dipped in a sour cream-based dip called "sassy salsa." Discovered the deliciousness a few years ago and I don't think I've indulged since... it felt so wrong, but so right.
Cheez-its and Sour Patch Kids (not together ha).
marshmallow fluff. On white bread, on graham crackers, on bananas, over nutella...
oh, blue box mac and cheese w/ turkey dogs (a couple times a year at most)
american cheese grilled cheese (more than i'd like to admit)
cream eggs and candy corn
Peanut M&Ms...not very exciting I'm afraid.
I don't feel ashamed about anything I snack on, but there are some things I do hide just because I don't want to share...
Little Debbie Oatmeal Cream Pies - I found out they don't even melt after you ship them to Afghanistan in the summer.
Cheese and Peanutbutter crackers. I always have a pack in my luggage for an emergency hangover remedy.
Mac and cheese for sure. I hide them in the back of the pantry and then burry the empty box in the garbage when I have them. haha.
I used to love cold spaghetti o's right from the fridge (the smell of heated ones grossed me out), but have managed to resist for years since I stopped eating HFCS. The few comments above just reminded me of how yummy they were.
I love those pop tarts too! Haven't had one in years. I also am a sucker for Kraft mac & cheese even though it's always better in my imagination than it is when I actually eat it. And I love the cranberry sauce that keeps the shape of the can.
utz cheeseballs. oh gosh my boyfriend and i have gone through tubs of those things..
also, chips with the lipton onion dip mix. aagghhh.
This post is rocking my world. I love all these admissions.
Now for my own:
Kraft Mac + Cheese but ONLY the spirals (they're just better!)
chocolate frosted donuts from the supermarket
McDonald's chicken nuggets with sweet+sour sauce (I'm aware what they really are... but 1-2 times a year I don't care.)
Beef-a-Roni. I love it topped with melted cheddar cheese.
@lakegeneva3 Yes!!! to the spirals. It is by far the most superior of all the shapes.
The donut comment also reminded me of Entemann's Chocolate donut mixed pack. Those chocolate donuts with the little crumbs on them are SO good.
Does anyone else eat brown sugar out of the jar with a spoon?
Ann, you are indeed, brave.
I'm like melle, I eat tons of unhealthy foods throughout the year and the only reason I hide some/them is because else the bf tends to binge and eat them all in one go where I'd rather eat a little but on a semi regular basis. But I like almost everything that's been named in the thread. =)
I used to eat chicken in a biscuit crackers with the canned easy cheese like there was no tomorrow.
Now my secret food is Milano cookies. I keep them secret so I don't have to explain why I eat the entire package for dinner when hubby isn't home.
Too funny- you nailed mine. Brown sugar cinnamon Pop Tarts! I won't touch any other kind. I also love Eggo's (Homestyle, with margarine and fake maple syrup), and pizza rolls.
I am such a jerk about food most of the time (whole foods, mostly local and organic) that my boyfriend LOVES it when I eat junk like that. Almost never, but it's fun when I do! I made him a deal that we'd get McDonald's cheeseburgers when we finished moving into our new apartment, but we didn't enjoy them as much as we expected!
Peanut butter and pickle sandwiches!
Everyone is grossed out when I make mention of this delicious salty, nutty combo, so I choose to keep quiet and eat them when my boyfriend works late and misses dinner :)
Special K red berries, I to eat a bowl a day as soon as I get home from work to tide me over before dinner. I figure this is better than a bowl of ice cream every night :/
Grape Kool-Aid
I eat the powder!!!
Only if I'm alone and if I have enough time to wash my hands make sure my fingers are not purple
SLIM JIMS! it's disgusting, but i love them.
When idly surfing the web... Skittles by the pound. Also any snack that includes "Cheez" in the brand name- especially if it is some color that is not found in nature.
And the Slim Jims that @galaxiekat mentioned are NOT disgusting if you dip them in Cheez-Whiz prior to consumption.
Lays Barbecue Potato Chips.
Chips and dip. Regular Ruffles chips with either Ruffles Ranch dip or Philadelphia Dill Pickle dip.
velveeta, man. mac n' cheese made with velveeta. mmm fake cheese.
@Lyd067: Peanut butter & pickle sandwiches are my favorite, too! I used to get them in my lunchbox all the time. They're even better with a cold glass of chocolate milk. Yum!
Totino's Party Pizzas...once in a great, great while, my hubby and I each get our fave flavor, and each an entire one each, with a bottle or two of beer...cheap beer...
Lucky Charms...I eat all the oat bits, saving the marshmallows for last, then eat those in order of color (light pink, red, so on and so forth). This displays an embarrassing level of OCD.
Also, I have a certain fondness for McChickens, but never in the daytime.
I have a few, but thankfully I have learned to eat them in moderation. I love any of the non-chocolate sugar candies, like sour patch kids, blow pops, and laffy taffy (there is ALWAYS a stash in my cabinets). Sugar cereals like Fruity Pebbles and Cinnamon Toast Crunch, and cans of Beef-a-Roni.
Hormel turkey chili over spaghetti, with chopped onions and shredded cheese.. Yum!
Parmesan Pepperidge Farm Goldfish. (NOT cheddar.)
Cheetos. They only seem to be a good idea if I've been drinking, though. I guess that's a good thing since I don't drink that often.
Wow this is a fun post! I don't think I have anything not already mentioned, but I adore Cadbury Creme Eggs and peanut butter & pickle sandwiches (although I go no-mayo). If it makes my fellow pb&p fans feel any better, I read once that it's the favorite guilty pleasure of Oscar Winner Kathy Bates, too!
So glad to hear there are other Chef Boyardee lovers out there! Everyone I know thinks I'm a freak but I loooove me some cold spaghettios, or some lasagna, or some spaghetti n meatballs...
Also, Velveeta Mac N Cheese. I used to love Kraft, but then my husband made me try Velveeta. I had been avoiding it for years because it was looked down upon by everyone I knew, but once I ate those ooey gooey cheese shells, I couldnt go back!
Saltines with chocolate frosting... Salty, sweet, chocolatey....
I have not laughed and smiled (and sadly, nodded in agreement) at so many items. And let me just register my vote for the Kraft Mac and Cheese—had to be the powdered mix kind.
pringles chips only the mini can because I could eat the larger one in one sitting.
low-cal fudgesicles. perfect 3am post-bar snack.
and cinnamon sticks. i like to chew on cinnamon sticks... is that bad for me?
Kraft Mac and Cheese or Spaghettio's. Horrible for you, but every so often, you just gotta...
A slice of American cheese with ketchup on it.
Frozen fish sticks! My ultimate guilty pleasure.
Mother's Pink and White frosted Animal cookies are sooooo deliciously awful.
I too am a fan of any time of glo-orange pretend cheez item. Cheetos puffs being on top of list.
Doritos! Or all chips! If they come in the big grab bags from the convenience store they taste even better!
Trader Joe's Ultimate Vanilla Wafers. The crunchy, buttery kind with vanilla bean flecks. The cookies themselves aren't guilt-inducing at all, but there have been a couple of occasions in which I polished off an entire tub of these over a two-day span, accompanied only by tall glasses of cold 2% milk.
Canned cherry pie filling, frosted cherry Pop Tarts straight out of the box, boxed mix vanilla or coconut pudding with bananas, Fritos and bean dip, chilli cheese fries...oh, the shame of it all :P
fruit roll ups!! Oh and chili cheese fritos.
Fried rice with egg and Spam.
Also, Nutella, which I don't actually like spread on anything. I just eat it by itself :)
pudding. I love pudding. In plastic cups with a foil peel-off lid, in a graham cracker crust and called pie... oh pudding.
Humpty Dumpty Sour Cream and Onion Rings (Canadian?)
When I'm in a salt mood, Utz crab chips. mmmm.
When I'm in a sweet mood, Golden Grahams or raw cookie dough.
FLAMING HOT CHEETOS!
This post just prompted me to have a peanut butter and bacon sandwich (on whole wheat!)
Elvis and I thank you.
I also have a secret love for Pop Tarts -- the cherry variety. I feel so guilty about them, though, I that I can't even bring myself to buy them. Usually, I'll just stare at them for a bit in the grocery store aisle until my guilt drives me away. ~sigh~
Spaghetti O's and Sprite, and only when I'm sick. That was the go-to meal my mom gave me because it was the only thing I'd eat.
I absolutely refuse to eat tuna salad without nacho cheese Doritos. I also love Pepperidge Farms coconut cake. And Hostess Suzy-Q's. And Little Debbie Swiss Cake Rolls. And Wendy's spicy chicken sandwiches. And Applebee's pork wonton tacos. I don't eat any of these things very often, but when I do...bliss.
Kraft Singles!
I even get embarrassed in the store when I buy bologna once a year. Oscar Meyer and white bread. One weekend a year, I eat bologna and white bread sandwiches for breakfast, lunch and dinner. And I like to alternate mustard, mayo and miracle whip. That and cosmic brownies.
I only buy Kraft mac n cheese once a year and make my favorite childhood dish: browned ground beef well done beyond recognition and doused with Lea & Perrin Worchestershire (sp?) sauce served loosely atop Kraft mac and cheese. Divine. And oddly not ashamed of that one, even though it's basically deconstructed hamburger helper.
definately Kraft Mac n cheese...maybe once a year and then I eat it and wonder why I was craving it so badly, lol. We're all drugged, people! Also, I get chocolate fudge pop-tarts maybe once a year or once every two years...usually when I'm perioidal...and I eat them and get very very sick, lol. About once a year, I'll get Pinwheel cookies...you know, the chocolate wafer, covered with marshmallow and then dipped in chocolate. I can only eat one at a time or I get so sick, but man...they're good! Oh yeah, I'm sort of allergic to chocolate, that's why these are so few and far between, lol. I can pass the Kraft box off because I have a kid, but the other two...I hide them deep in my cabinets so no one knows I bought them and eat them! I even hide the wrappers under the other garbage in the garbage can so no one knows :)
Hot salsa con queso with tortilla chips. The electric yellow one. It's disgusting and I love it. Only buy it 2 or 3 times a year because of the shame involved with purchasing it.
i think it's safe to say i enjoy many of the secret foods mentioned here. one that really tops my chart, though, is the occasional double dip of awesome. To clarify, begin by taking a teaspoon and taking a nice, little scoop of peanut butter, than moving to the nutella jar and topping off the pb with the magical hazelnut spread. Brings the chocolate/peanut butter combo to a whole other level. I admit, this can be a weekly occurrence.
*hangs head in shame*
Alphaghetti. (hangs head in shame.)
oh! big ditto on the beefaroni. especially good (or bad, depending on how you look at it) if you sop up all of the extra sauce with white bread. my best friend and i were known to do this while hungover in college. oh, the shame...
My brother does steak sauce on toasted bread(?), drowns everything in sauce. I never stopped drinking Kool-Aid and eating dry cereals (Cinnamon Toast Crush & Captain Crunch Berries) from the box.
cheetos! but the crunchy kind not those weird puffy ones. Ooo but the cheetos puff balls (in the can) those are good.
and sour patch kids
My mom used to sandwich Nilla wafers around chocolate frosting from the can. We called them hamburgers... they were delicious. I'm surprised none of my siblings or I are diabetic.