I would imagine that pre-cut onions would get soggy pretty quickly. They should cost less than regular onions.

[www.theonion.com]

@Jeff_McAwesome: I bought them last week and they' still crisp and flavorful.

those were probably made from mutant nasty mangled bruised onions that people wouldn't buy under normal circumstances

Every product has a "convenience" version. Like those bags of lettuce.

I imagine this product is popular because many people don't like making salad while in tears.

No. Buying pre-cut onions is like getting the plastic bottles of miller because it is too hard to find a church key to open a glass bottle of good beer.

It is less of an extravagance than people might think--usually when pre-cut/pre-made produce is used, the taste of the food suffers. Of course, we cook so little that we don't even really notice when food taste suffers.

How many people do you know who don't like green beans? Broccoli? Asparagus? Brussel Sprouts?

How much do you want to bet that they formed their white-hot, searing hatred for those vegetables because they came in contact with their canned or frozen form?

How many people don't like garlic because they have only come in contact with canned minced garlic and garlic salt?

We are in such a rush to convince ourselves that our time is valuable that we don't stop to ask why it is valuable to us. Is it valuable because you do things you enjoy? Because you make things you can be proud of? or is it valuable as an exclusionary notion? Is it valuable because you know your wage rate and you add a premium to your free time?

That's pretty darn stupid there, Ben. But then, I suffered through a blatant rip-off of the Godfather (read: American Gangster) so that about makes us even.

I'm gonna have to go with Hyland on this one.

I would buy chopped onions only because if I go anywhere near a freshly chopped onion I get a migraine for the entire day. I'm going to have the hubby look for this next time he cooks with onions.

I would be overwhelmed with guilt for buying pre-cut onions. I have no issue with the 100-calories snack-packs (I know, I know).

I guess pre-cut onions are my tipping point.

@demonradio:

they're called scuba goggles. Use 'em

*looks around embarrassed* I used to live on 182 Claremont, went to Fairway every week or so, and for a single guy, pre-cut veggies are pretty much the only way you would get me close to making vegetables of any sort for dinner. Seriously though, Fairway is amazing, one of the few enjoyable memories I have of 2 years in NYC. Chicago ftw!

/pretends like he doesn't live in Boston at the moment.

@Elviswasntmyhero: What was wrong with American Gangster? I was no Godfather but its was damn good.

Um ... why don't you buy frozen chopped onion? Much cheaper, keeps forever, and you can just use a handful in recipes as you need it. I suppose the frozen ones wouldn't be great for a salad, but for cooking with they're great.

I have serious problems chopping onions, so unless I know my husband will be home to chop it for me, I buy the frozen chopped ones. So much easier.

The only produce I get pre-cut is pineapples because those are a pain in the ass to core. And you shouldn't pay more than $1/lb for onions.

@discounteggroll:

Uh, no.

@v12spd: "for a single guy, pre-cut veggies are pretty much the only way you would get me close to making vegetables of any sort for dinner."

A chef I know (who doesn't get to eat at home too often) told me he buys most of his veggies for home cooking off the salad bar, because there's no way he'll get through, say, an entire head of cauliflower when the recipe calls for only a couple, but he doesn't want to have to avoid recipes because they only want a quarter of a pepper or whatever. It costs a little more per ounce than buying the "whole" veggie does, most of the time, but if you're going to waste 3/4 of the whole veggie, paying a couple cents extra to get just the right portion seems like a great idea to me.

Now I feel all clever when I buy something off the salad bar because we couldn't normally get through the entire full-sized one.

"even still" ?

Steven Sills?

seven stills?

till seven?

I am amazed at the prices for pre-cut up fruits in the produce section. It only takes about a minute to cut up an onion and you get to hone your culinary skills.

Of course, if the only way you are going to break down and eat a veggie or fruit is to buy it already cut up, then I guess that's better than not eating something healthy. I personally can't afford to do that, but to each his own.

I have nothing to say. Seriously, nothing at all. It's like all thought flew out of my brain upon reading this post...

You can usually buy them frozen, but they're pretty mushy when you defrost them. Maybe they'd be useful for recipes, but don't plan to put them on your hot dog.

I buy pre-sliced mango because cutting mango is annoying and the price is comparable. But anything else and I would feel like a tool. Plus the longer you wait to cut into a produce, the better it will taste.

At least until it start to rot that is.

Should have added this in my last comment, but I feel like you're not just paying to save time, but to save your hands from smelling like onions. Even the stainless steel trick is only temporary. The smell keeps coming back. I could smell onion on my hands for at least five days after I chopped them last time, and I'm not exactly a slouch in the hygiene department. To some people, that might be worth paying a lot more.

@Ben Popken: tis true. we will use a half vidalia for say, spaghetti or bratwursts, and put the other half in a ziplock, where its fine for a couple of weeks. i am sure to push the air out of the bag. and its always just as crisp and yummy as it was when freshly peeled.

I can't believe no one recognizes that these are Vidalia onions, which are highly valued for their flavor and can only come from specific areas of Georgia (you can read more on Wikipedia). So you're paying for the onion itself as well as the convenience.

If you have ever had Vialias you'll understand the difference between these and the generic onions from Fresh Direct.

also, you onion-sensitive wimps (like myself), if you rinse your knife in water, along with the peeled onion, its not quite as bad. i try and avoid any other gimmicky tips, and its quite tolerable that way.

@rjhiggins: Yes, Vidalias are amazingly good.

@discounteggroll: That wouldn't help her migraine - but nice try.

I've gotten the pre-cut onions in the past, but when you don't use them all and/or forget about them, it's not such a good thing. So I either forgo onions in a recipe, or I just suck it up and cut up an onion.

ew. why would i waste money on an onion in the first place? i spend enough time picking the stinkers out of my food. :]

For the very frugal, onions are ridiculously easy to grow in a backyard garden. Very nice go to pull up your own when you want one! (But I still make my husband cut it up.) You could probably even grow them in a windowbox.

(And the reason they keep so long, even cut-up, is that they're root veggies, and those all keep a surprisingly long time.)

@freshyill: The same thing happens to me, but not to my husband. If I TOUCH a raw onion, I reek of onion for 5 to 7 days, and it's terrible. He washes his hands and the smell disappears. I guess it must be personal skin chemistry. (My skin is also slightly irritated by the raw onion, I've always sort-of wondered if that's related -- is yours?) I've tried not only the stainless steel trick, but every crazy-ass remedy available, up to and including washing my hands in rum. Then they smelled like rum and onions.

Normally I would rag on anyone who eats onions however coming from a mexican background (on my moms side) and a polish background (my dads side) I am surrounded by onion fanatics from south texas all the way up to michigan & canada. Furthermore I must sa.......Oh god how can you people eat onions?? lol.

I'm all about pre-prepared foods for cooking for myself. I'm not going to use the rest of the onion, so comparing the price per pound or price per onion doesn't make any difference to me. If for $1.73 I can get the exact amount of food that I need, compared to spending $1.99 to waste half of it, I'd rather spend on the pre-pack and know that someone else got the other half of my veggie. Plus, they sell stuff like peppers & onions too, so you get 2 or 3 different peppers and some onions in there as well. If the extra would go to waste before you could use it anyway, it makes sense not to buy all those veggies, and then have to worry about storage.

@Hyland:

Good. Fucking. Post. The great industrialization of food in this country left the vegetables behind. My mom is an amazing cook, but god did I hate her veggies till I discovered the joys of the farmers market (or greenmarket now that I live in NYC). Frozen, and nuked till all flavor was either gone, or nasty.

As a tangent to that though, onions that fairway has chopped isn't exactly a problem with the industrialization of food. This is probably an onion from their regular source, ran through some kind of chopping machine. On the grand scale of processes detrimental to food, the environment and the American culture of cooking and eating this ranks pretty harmless. Hell, if this was a locally grown, organic onion to start with, it's probably better quality and better for the world than a whole onion shipped in from Mexico.

So it's a luxury, but it's better to be actually cooking with an onion (probably locally grown) that's pre sliced at the grocery store than going out to eat, or using some kind of crap from a can.

Another aside Fairway would be perfect with a bit better organics/local produce section. Unless it's better at the other fairways, I've only shopped at the harlem store.

@rjhiggins: vidalia onions are pretty much like all the other sweet onions out there (maui, walla walla, the ones from texas and the imported ones). they are "sweet" because they have a lower sulfur content and a higher water content than the regular brown storage onions. they also tend to have less flavor and be more watery than a traditional brown onion when you cook them.

@ben: precut onions are just a step away from this crap.

Vidalias are excellent, but sometimes you need an onion to be an onion. That missing sulfur lacks in certain dishes.

I didn't know there was frozen, diced onion (don't get down that aisle too often), but it sounds like it would be awesome for mirepoix or something (the base, for, like, everything).

Overall, the quality of most flash-frozen or IQF veggies is quite good, definitely better than canned (even home canned), definitely better than buy-fresh-and-freeze-yourself, and almost as good as fresh (as long as it's not pre-cooked and frozen).

Why do stories like this get more comments than actual consumer issues of more importance?

Those that would buy cut onions, would you also buy the prepared deviled eggs that cost a fortune?

It's just my husband and I at home (so I only cook for us two) and I still go thru onions like crazy. I do a lot of my cooking with them because they are a great flavoring/aromatic agent (along with carrot and celery). So even if they are not a noticeable, main part of the dish, they're still there in one way or another.

When saving a partly used onion in the fridge I do try to keep as much air out of the bag. Otherwise the onion gets kind of waterlogged and mealy, at least on the outer layer. I can remove that layer, but then that means less onion :)

@freshyill:

The stainless steel trick is much better for garlic than for onions. After I mince garlic I rub my hands on the faucet, and the smell is gone instantly. I don't know why this happens, but I do know it's not really valid for onions.

@balthisar: "I didn't know there was frozen, diced onion (don't get down that aisle too often),"

Frozen bagged veggies section, usually right next to the peas (since they're usually alphabetized). We mostly cook with frozen chopped or with fresh onions pulled minutes before from our own backyard, and if you're cooking them, there's not a real flavor difference between the frozen ones and the fresh-out-of-the-dirt ones.

@balthisar: I agree to an extent on the quality of some frozen veggies (definitely better than canned), but I have to stress "some". I tried frozen broccoli just last night and was not at all happy. But things like corn and peas, or a mixed-medley type of thing, definitely has its uses.

I love onions. Onions are so flexible...they can be crunchy, soft, raw or cooked. If anyone has issues cutting onions, a small food processor can be purchased for $30 or so.

@Eyebrows McGee: They actually sell stainless steel "soap" that you can use to rub your hands. [www.uncommongoods.com]

Rubbing your hands on stainless steel really does work, but it doesn't last forever. I'm not sure if doing it more often will make the smell go away permanently any sooner though.

If my sink is clean, I'll rub my hands on that, and just riding the subway and holding onto one of the bars will do it, but I'm considering investing the $10 to get one of these.

As for whether onions irritate my skin, I haven't noticed it, but I'll definitely be on the lookout in the future.

Also, I feel compelled to say that garlic does the same thing to my hands as onions.

@BigNutty: Because it's more relevant to more people on a regular basis.

@ekthesy: A good garlic trick that I've learned is to put the cloves in the microwave for 20 seconds before I peel them, and the skin comes right off, which usually prevents a lot of the smell from getting on my hand in the first place.

The big issue here is that it's very probable that the onion you received is not a Vidalia and more likely a Peruvian sweet. The Vidalia harvest ends in mid June and commercial supplies are currently not available. Commercial sales stopped in October making it almost impossible that the onion you purchased is a True Vidalia. Here is the problem with cut produce. It looses it's identity and only lab testing can prove which actual variety of product you received. I smell mislabeling as the real issue here. All experienced fresh produce personel can tell a fruit or vegetable variety visually, but certainly not if it's precut. So either you got scamed or are eating a product that is 6 months old.

Bay Leaves. I put bay leaves in almost everything I cook.

Oh any why not have it both ways? Cut up 2-4 onions, tupperware them, then have "ready made" chopped onions when needed. I've done this with onions, peppers, black olives and other random veggies that I know I need to use up.

@Eyebrows McGee: If you smell of onion, try rubbing your hands against stainless steel. When you stop laughing at the absurdity of it, you'll realize that it actually works (especially on fish smells).

I usually chop leftover onion and put it in a fridge container for using in other stuff, but we go through a ton of food. Or chop your own and put them in the freezer. We have a cheap food processor for when I am feeling really lazy but good knives help so it really isn't a chore.

The already hard boiled eggs at the store and small bags of baby carrots are a lifesaver if I need something to eat while running errands. Otherwise I don't buy pre-processed stuff.

Thank god for my garden.

I lived in the Netherlands for a year and a half, and they are way ahead of us in the prepackaged vegetables stakes. What I wouldn't give to be able to buy bags of tiny, pre-trimmed baby brussels sprouts (spruitjes) here!
I don't mind chopping onions, but what I found recently that I loved was fresh pre-peeled whole garlic cloves, at Metropolitan Market (greater Seattle). It was $1.50 or so for probably two heads' worth. I made everything with extra garlic for days and days.