Dreaming Up the Perfect Menu With today's convenience foods, you don't have to cook anything from scratch. If you can preheat an oven or set the microwave, you can prepare an impressive meal straight from the freezer case. You can add fresh fruit, prepackaged salads, or cut vegetables from the produce department to round out the meal. You can use them to supplement your home-cooked meal or get the entire meal from the deli. When you purchase food from a deli, ask how fresh it is and ask for a taste.
Most delis are happy to oblige.
A good friend of ours learned this lesson the hard way. She purchased some fancy-schmancy dip at the deli. It looked great, but tasted like plastic. She removed it from the table when no one was looking. Now she always samples before she serves.