The Search for a healthier Ranch Dressing

Mary was in a time crunch going through her dressing aisle in a "super-sized" Texas grocery store. She needed a healthier option for her girls' Ranch Dressing staple. Yet comparing ingredients on labels of various brands of Ranch seemed like a chemistry project!

I bet many of you Mamas have children like Mary. She has a 7 year old and a 4 year old who will only eat veggies if they can dip them in the "white ketchup" ... a.k.a Ranch.

Back to Mary in her Texas grocery store...

Despite her time crunch, she thought of us Mamas at MRL's as she picked up many varieties of ranch (Wish-Bone, Store Brands, Kens, Hidden Valley, and Kraft) and put them back on the shelf after quickly looking at the long list of "chemistry-lab" ingredients. She spotted some key ingredients we highly suggest to avoid (MSG, Corn Syrup or HFCS, Preservatives...etc). *Just to note Mamas, a bottle of dressing that has a paragraph of ingredients is a good enough reason to put it back even if you do not know the key words to avoid in reading labels (tip: look for the LEAST ingredients!).

Mary was frusturated with all the garbage put in Ranch! She headed to the cold produce section to see if there would be any options there.

GREAT IDEA MARY! If its in the cold section, it has LESS of a shelf life and the food will most likely offer more "life" to our bodies! Also, hopefully LESS "chemistry-lab" invasive ingredients!

In the cold produce section she found some refrigerated, preservative-free options with BETTER (and LESS) ingredients!

After this experience, Mary called me to tell me of her (at first defeating... but then rewarding!) MRL experience! She expressed how angry she was with these big brand name companies filling their dressings full of chemicals, HFCS, preservatives and MSG! But she told me she is thankful to be a MRL because it has changed the way she thinks about food and how she shops for her family.

We are working on making a better homemade buttermilk ranch! But until we can share that recipe with you Mamas, leave those chemical-laden ranches behind and take a trip to the cold section like Mary. Stick to those brands that you have read the label on from now on and it will save you plenty of time (and money in the long run when it comes to your health!).

~Sarah