The way we ate

HALLIE EPHRON: I was in the supermarket last week, loading my cart for Thanksgiving and thinking about the foods I once enjoyed. 

Start with canned soup. 

• Chicken noodle soup, salt water with very soft noodles and the occasional chicken shred. (37% of DV salt) Still my go-to food (with ginger ale) when I've got a cold. 
• Canned condensed mushroom soup (9% of DV fat; 36% DV sodium) plus a ton of butter makes the most delicious scalloped potatoes; I made them the first time I cooked for my to-be-husband, and I credit it for hooking him.
• Casserole of green beans, canned mushroom soup, and canned fried onions (a 2-tablespoon serving of fried onions: 45 calories, of which 30 are fat); sadly this was never a tradition in my family; we gussied up our green beans with a little sugar, butter, and toasted almonds.
• Cheddar cheese soup on a baked potato (36% DV sodium; half of its calories are fat)
• Lipton onion soup dip (one serving: 25% of daily sodium allowance, and of course it's best with full-fat sour cream)

Then there's the sweet stuff I once craved:

• Sweet potato casserole with marshmallows (1/2 cup of miniature marshmallows contains nearly 15 grams of sugar—that's nearly 4 teaspoons)
• Canned fruit cocktail--should be called sugar cocktail--one serving contains 16 grams of sugar/30% DV.
• Twinkies (one contains 19 grams of sugar – that's 5 teaspoons)

What are your comfort foods from way back when, and 'fess up: do you indulge when no one's watching?

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: I used to make Chicken Kiev, my go-to. Fettucini Alfredo. Often served those together! Now they're sort of heart attack food, fried stuff and cheese and cream and butter, you know? 

Cheese fondue! Absolutely. And Beef fondue, with fresh mushroom sauce, which was really reallly reeeaaallllyyy good.  

As a kid, I loved Campbells Chicken Gumbo soup, for some reason, even with the semi-slimy okra. Fritos. OOh, the five layer dip, with salsa, beans, cheese, guac and sour cream. AND Fritos. Triscuits. Cinnamon toast!  I also loved Nehi Grape soda.  AND Bacos.  And Grapenuts.  

Now it's all too carby. Not sure this list makes any sense, and now I don't eat any of it. but it's making me truly hungry.

INGRID THOFT: I still love Grapenuts, although I don’t eat them as often as I used to, given the “too carby” element that Hank noted.  When we were young, my oldest sister would mix up batches of onion dip using the Lipton Onion Soup Mix, and we’d polish off bags of Cape Cod Potato chips without a second thought.  

I also remember having large servings of Brighams chocolate chip ice cream.  I still enjoy the occasional scoop, but it was the sheer quantity that boggles my mind.  

A comfort food that is yummy, but makes my arteries hurt just thinking about it?  Francheesys: hot dogs stuffed with sliced American cheese, smothered in canned tomato soup and baked in the oven.  Yum!

JENN McKINLAY: Used to enjoy? I’m not sure I understand the question. Are we supposed to give up the foods that make life worth living? No, just no. 

I still eat fluffernutter sandwiches (marshmallow fluff and peanut butter), sour cream and cheddar potato chips, and Hostess sno-balls, preferably pink. Essentially, aside from our evening meal served with two veggies and a salad to make sure everyone is getting their greens, I still eat like I’m in middle school. I don’t see it changing any time soon. And now I have Ingrid’s Francheesys to add to the menu!

RHYS BOWEN: Lipton Onion soup dip! Mmmm. Still yummy. I was never a fan of green bean casserole (having not grown up with it) nor of those jello/Cool Whip and fruit concoctions which I was never sure were supposed to be salad or dessert. 

But I do crave fish and chips occasionally, even though it has a week's worth of calories, and a cream tea, and a full English breakfast. I eat one every morning when we stay at our club in Club in London and even sin even more by having an occasional slice of fried bread (fried in bacon fat, of course). But I was never a fan of Twinkies or any of those Little Debbie products my kids used to beg for in their lunches.

John and I eat simply and healthily most of the time so I do allow myself the occasional treat (bacon for Sunday breakfast. Salted caramel lice cream sometimes) As Jenn pointed out, life has to be worth living! 

DEBORAH CROMBIE: I am SO boring. My family never ate much junk food to begin with--my mom and grandmother were both good from-scratch cooks--and by the time I was in my teens my mom had become a certified Health Nut. AND I discovered I didn't get along with MSG. 

Which meant no canned soups or dip mixes or a hundred other things. I did have Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup when I was sick, with ginger ale, and we still keep some in the pantry for under-the-weather emergencies.  And I did adore Fritos. I don't buy them but will give into temptation if they're served at a party!

Rhys, you can't imagine how much I hated Little Debbie anything! Too many years of being called "Little Debbie Cupcake!"

LUCY BURDETTE: Yes on the Lipton onion soup dip only I preferred it with Ruffles. Throughout grad school when I was studying late, I'd live on that dip and chips plus Pepsi. Pepsi! I despise Pepsi now. Sadly can't eat the other stuff because of the salt.

My mother cooked everything with cans or packets of soup. Pot roast (onion), meat loaf (alphabet vegetable), sloppy Joes (tomato). Lots of hot dogs, oh and that reminds me, I used to love salami sandwiches with sweet gherkins and potato chips on them. 

And sad to say when John and I got married and I inherited his kids, we fed them awful things...rice a roni, many packets of orange mac and cheese, and boboli pizza rounds with jarred sauce. Luckily for all of us, we also had a vegetable garden!

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Boboli pizza rounds! I had forgotten those, Lucy. Shoot, I used to feed my kids that every Friday, also with jarred sauce (and sauted green peppers.) My mother also had a whole repertoire of meals made with canned and dried soups. I confess; I still make He-Man Tuna Noodle Ding Dong with good old Cream of Mushroom soup and sour cream. I do omit the crushed potato chip topping.

My mother has since gotten very into healthy cooking, and I have definitely drifted that way as well. I suspect the junky things we ate as kids were perfectly okay for us - the reason we've set them aside is because we're watching our blood pressure/weight/cholesterol level/stomach acids. Ah, to be young and mainlining Coke and M&Ms with no consequences...
 

HALLIE: So do canned and packaged soups still have a place in your cupboard and on your table? Do you still crave the occasional Twinkie? And when's the last time you had onion soup dip and you polished off a bag of Fritos?? 

Share fond memories of health-threatening foods.