Organic Hot Dogs – What To Buy and Not To Buy
I have a problem. I love hot dogs. About a 1/3 of America’s population also has this affinity for this meat treat. In fact, 150 million of them were consumed this 4th of July, which roughly equates to half the population all consuming one hot dog. Big stuff. Problem with them is that they’re absolutely LOADED with preservatives. You know, all the nitrites and nitrates and the through the roof sodium (Students – a note for the future: any food with a whole lot of “-ites” and “-ates” as suffixes to ingredient names is a pretty good sign of something that’s not healthy for you).
Recently I ventured out to find a solution to this problem. My searching provided two results:
Applegate Farms Organic Hot Dogs vs. Smart Dogs Vegetable Hot Dogs
Now, let’s compare.
Smart Dogs:
As I started out on my adventure to find a hot dog alternative, I kept an extremely open mind (which I’m still not sure if I regret or not). However, I came across Smart Dogs. Yes, they are 100% vegetable hot dogs. Not organic, nothing special. Just made out of the fiber of various vegetables.
I still remember how excited I was to try them. Got them in the microwave, prepared my buns and all the awesome condiments I usually put on them (diced spear pickles, tomatoes, celery salt, freshly shredded cheddar cheese, dijon mustard, yellow mustard and occasionally fresh jalapeños with NO SEEDS). Soon as it was all ready to go, I took a bite, paused, then swallowed. The next bite ended up in the trashcan with the rest of the vegetable hot dogs.
It was a poor experience. Totally let me down. They tasted more like a sweet piece of broccoli. It was rough. However, a week later I went out and I found another option – Applegate Farms.
Applegate Farms:
You get the picture. Same routine as before. Except these dogs tasted absolutely amazing (aka just like a normal hot dog) except that these dogs
- were USDA Certified Organic
- were made out of grass fed cows
- NO PRESERVATIVES!
- gluten free
I mean, it really doesn’t get much better than that for meat. So I throw my hat in to Applegate Farms and their dedication to pure meats. Plus they have chicken and turkey dogs as well for those of you that are holding off from so much beef.
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Go, eat your meat. Feel shame no longer.
2 comments
I realize that most people who eat meat probably have some negative feelings towards meat imitations, but when it comes to a simple hot dog (as opposed to, say, a legit bratwurst or something) I would doubt there is much difference in terms of consistency. I would recommend, highly, that you go to a good Whole Foods, or some other well-stocked natural grocer, and check out their non-meat and organic sausages. They are ridiculously good and good for you.
Oh, and I don’t mean anything like “smart dogs” which are worth going in the trashcan as you pointed out. Also, you definitely should rarely microwave veggie-meat alternatives.