Meals from a box hold a helping of nostalgia, too

By TRACEE M. HERBAUGH
Associated Press

Boxed convenience foods aren’t just dinner. For many people born in the latter half of the 20th century, they’re also a source of nostalgia. AP writer Tracee Herbaugh recently bought some Betty Crocker’s Suddenly Salad after her grandmother died. Herbaugh was raised on boxed foods in her grandma’s house. When she left home she turned to organic ingredients and homemade recipes instead. But she discovered that eating pasta salad from a box again made her feel closer to her grandmother and gave her kids a taste of her own childhood. Her grandmother was part of a generation of working women who turned to these foods as a time-saving miracle.