A Review of New Things I've Tried #22 (Packaged Ingredients Edition)

If you wondering why you're seeing less of the "Sequestration Meals" series right now, I guess I'm just having some struggles. But fortunately I still have things to share with you for a bit, and I'm glad to have this way of connecting even when meals have been challenging.

I wasn't sure what to call this, but this made the most sense to me: These are convenience foods that make cooking easier, especially for me being on my own. Larger packages can mean more waste, so the last two are really about the size of the packages more than the actual items. Let me know if you have tips of other ways to shop for one.

1. Nasoya Vegan Egg Roll Wrappers

This one is not about the size, but the fact that such a thing exists. These worked beautifully in my vegan egg rolls and in my vegan "egg" egg rolls. There are also some great recipes on the package I am dying to try! I'm so glad these are out there. Let's face it: I'm probably never going to make my own egg roll wrappers, so it's either prepackaged wrappers, or no egg rolls, and life is better with egg rolls.

2. Pearls Kalamata Olives to Go

I often want just some kalamata olives, not a whole jar I then have to worry about using up. For that, these come to the rescue. Each cup has about 1/4 cup of olives in it. You could take them to go, I guess, but we're not going anywhere these days. The olives get more of an adventure than I do in being shipped to me. These come packaged without the brine, which is a little strange, but it works out somehow.

3. Thai Kitchen Small Canned Coconut Milk

What is different that I tried here wasn't the coconut milk itself--I'm sure I've had Thai Kitchen before, and it's good--but the size of the can. This was a tiny can, the size you usually find tomato paste in, and holds about 2/3 of a cup. It's the perfect size for the scaling-down of recipes I usually do, and prevents me from having to figure out what to do with excess coconut milk. A standard can has about 13.5 ounces; this can has about 5.5 ounces. I'm really excited about the silliest things sometimes, and maybe this was one of those things.