What's In Your Breadcrumbs?

I know what you are thinking. That I have gone off the deep end. Why the heck am I talking about breadcrumbs? Who cares, right? Let me explain. My husband and I battle over food a lot. I really try to keep our processed food consumption to a minimum and the processed food that we do eat I try to keep it as natural or organic as possible. He might think I am slightly crazy for it, but his health will thank me for it one day.

For some reason one thing he refuses to get on board with is breadcrumbs. I prefer panko breadcrumbs because there are minimal ingredients and I like the crunchy taste. But he hates them. So when I am breading chicken for chicken parmigiana or some other type of breaded chicken I use the panko style for myself and the kids and then traditional Progresso plain breadcrumbs for him. Its a pain but whatever.

A picture is worth a thousand words right? Well check these out.

My panko breadcrumbs with only 4 ingredients: Flour, Dextrose, Yeast & Salt).

And here are his breadcrumbs. WTF? I didn't count the ingredients here because this list is ridiculous. I can't even fit them all in a single photo. Of course many of them are bad for you ingredients which I try to avoid at all costs. I underlined some of those.

My point (I think I have one somewhere in my mind) is that something as simple as breadcrumbs can be loaded with garbage. I am sure most people do not even think to look at the ingredients on breadcrumbs because really, shouldn't it only be bread and some seasoning? I suppose if it is something you only use once in a while then it is not that big of a deal. But for a family like ours where I make some form of breaded chicken once a week, it is not something I am ok with.

Do you know what is in your breadcrumbs? I challenge you to open up your pantry or cabinet and take a look at them or something else in there that you've never really looked at and learn a little bit more about what you are eating.

P.S. If you don't like panko style breadcrumbs but are looking for a less full of junk brand of breadcrumbs to use, Trade Joe's makes a regular old traditional style of organic breadcrumbs. My husband does like those, but I don't get to TJ's very often.