Ready meals and home cooked food

[Halcyon]

Having seen the long list of Sudan1 affected products, I noticed that many apply to ready meals, fast food, and microwave pre-made dinners.

I have never been a fan of ready meals and prefer to cook my own food.
OK, so it takes a little longer to cook, but I believe they are a much healthier option over the chemically enhanced flavoured alternatives.
Often salt content and flavourings, artificial enhancers, and fat content is very high on these kind of meals.

I think that nearly everything premade (ready made, pre-packed, ready meals, frozen microwave ready dishes, etc) are all chemically enhanced and that the best food is home cooked from raw ingredients.

My next door neighbour told me last night how he used to work in a factory building machinery.
One of the products to be built was this chips dispenser that would be located in motorway and railway Station waiting rooms, etc.
You'd put in your money, a very finely chopped and processed chip batter would drop down into boiling oil and in less than 2 minutes you'd have your piping hot chips.

What he observed one day was a team that came in with a set of chemicals. The chips mixture was not holding together and breaking apart. He saw how they were adding little bits from several pots of chemicals to enable the chips to stick together, with no alteration to the actual taste, but an effective way to make sure the chip came out perfectly. The consumer would have been non the wiser.

They then went round and asked people to try them and my neighbour refused after having seen all this chmical lab being put in it.

The point Im making is that there are probably many products that have tonnes of bad chemicals in them and the Sudane1 incident is only the start of a wide range of products that will be discovered...or tried to to be hidden from us.

I avoid ready meals and pre-packaged rubbish as much as I can and although it might take longer to peel some potatoes and boil them and do the cooking, I know what I am eating.

Whenever I've heard people eating prawn flavoured crisps or barbecued flavour I just think how on earth can crisps become that flavour. All these enhancers and flavourings have been created in labs and it just seems wrong. I'd rather eat a cooked jacket potato with a piece of butter and some fresh prawns over the top.

Often you can cook something twice as nice at home with basic natural ingredients that tastes much nicer than any of these ready meal products.


So, Do you cook or are you a ready meal fanatic ?
Nothing in my opinion beats a home cooked meal.

[danielf]

We cook properly when eating at home (it's a bit of a hobby of ours), but I am tempted by ready made meals/takeouts when I eat alone. I just don't like cooking for myself very much.

[Ramrod]

We prepare pretty much everything ourselves apart from the occasional take-away................

[Charlie_Bubble]

Cooking your own food is fine, but after struggling home on the M25 at night and barely getting in before 7 most nights I really can't be arsed! I eat out or takeaways most of the time.

[ian@huth]

When you eat out you cannot be sure that the food you are eating is freshly prepared and cooked, a frozen ready meal that has just been heated or yesterdays leftovers that have been rewarmed today. I dread to think what some unscrupulous establishments may be doing including reusing what customers may have left on their plates. The front of the restaurant may look perfect but what goes on in the back?

Interesting thread.

First off, to declare an interest I do work in the food industry and the company I work for makes a large number of 'ready meals'.

Secondly, I do agree that preparing your own meals from the basic ingredients is preferable to having a ready made one.

However, it isn't necessarily the case that 'ready meals' are to be thought of as somehow 'unhealthy', although Halcyon's example of the chips, I will concede, sounded well dodgy.

A large part of my job concerns screening incredibly detailed specifications for the ingredients we use, in order to ensure that we comply with the law, our customers policies & public opinion. For example, I check to ensure we use no genetically modified ingredients, that all additives are permitted & not used to excess and that the components of the ingredient are properly described to avoid misleading the consumer.

Dealing with retailers, as we do, we have to comply with a minefield of policies regarding our products. For example we can only use natural flavours in Iceland recipies. Recently we have been involved in a major exercise to reduce salt levels in our products.

So while I accept that having Pot Noodle & chips 7 days a week, is not a healthy or balanced diet, I wouldn't like anyone to think that the food industry is being underhand or devious, in any way - the ingredients are on the pack, as is, usually, the information on levels of fat, salt, etc .

Unfortunately this Sudan dye incident has had a serious effect on the industry, but previous scares have been & gone with far less publicity - you wouldn't believe the work caused by having to certify ALL dairy products during the Foot & Mouth outbreak, for example.

So, sorry, a bit of a ramble, & I re-iterate my second point, but please don't think that the food industry doesn't listen to its customers - we take their views very seriously indeed.

[gazzae]

Like Charlie_Bubble when I get home from work I can't be bothered cooking so during the week I usually just eat ready meals, but at weekends I try to cook a meal.

[orangebird]

I love to cook if I have guest, but I don't usually cook just for me. Buying fresh ingredients for one always turns into a bit of a waste. I also work two jobs, and don't have time to cook a full meal inbetween workplaces.

[Mr_love_monkey]

Originally Posted by homealone

So while I accept that having Pot Noodle & chips 7 days a week, is not a healthy or balanced diet, I wouldn't like anyone to think that the food industry is being underhand or devious, in any way - the ingredients are on the pack, as is, usually, the information on levels of fat, salt, etc .

True, but to most people what exactly do those details mean? - not a lot I should think... I remember reading somewhere about ready meals having most, if not all, of the daily requirements of salt needed by an average person (apologies if I'm wrong there) - I doubt most people know how many grams of salt per day is considered 'healthy'.... but don't get me wrong, I'm not blaming the ready meal companies for this, after all, they're are not forcing anyone to eat these things, people have the choice at the end of the day - and if people are that concerned about what they eat, maybe they should find out about is healthy, and then check the labels and make their decisions.

People have to be sensible about their diets, there's nothing wrong with the odd ready meal, any more than there is anything wrong with the odd fry-up - the problem is when people start only having these things, and thinking it is a balanced diet (and then complaining that its the ready meal/fast food/supermarket insdustry that has _made_ them eat it).

Originally Posted by Mr_love_monkey

True, but to most people what exactly do those details mean? - not a lot I should think... I remember reading somewhere about ready meals having most, if not all, of the daily requirements of salt needed by an average person (apologies if I'm wrong there) - I doubt most people know how many grams of salt per day is considered 'healthy'.... but don't get me wrong, I'm not blaming the ready meal companies for this, after all, they're are not forcing anyone to eat these things, people have the choice at the end of the day - and if people are that concerned about what they eat, maybe they should find out about is healthy, and then check the labels and make their decisions.

People have to be sensible about their diets, there's nothing wrong with the odd ready meal, any more than there is anything wrong with the odd fry-up - the problem is when people start only having these things, and thinking it is a balanced diet (and then complaining that its the ready meal/fast food/supermarket insdustry that has _made_ them eat it).

good points, we are starting to print information on packs about recommended daily intake for salt, fat etc, but I agree most people would not be able to quote a figure without looking it up.

The proposed 'traffic light' system won't help things in my opinion, I think it will just confuse people, having a product with a low fat green light, may have a red light for sugar & salt & vice versa.

I totally agree that a sensible approach is all that is required - cheese has high levels of saturated fat & salt, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't eat cheese, just be aware not to overdo it.

I don't think we could cope with the 'old' way of doing things, where perishable stuff like meat, bread, fish was purchased on the day it was to be used, in different shops. Having the 'convenience' of fridges & freezers & buying everything at the supermarket is a mixed blessing, but one that seems to have reduced a lot of peoples knowledge & interest in the food they eat.

Luckily the trend towards farmers markets & fresh/organic products is on the rise, so some compromise is possible.

[Wolf]

i take ready meals to work as bread just doesn't cut it. I like the ASDA ready meals. At home it is always cooked. I like to experiment with herbs and spices. Fair enough this sudan 1 could shorten your life but so could going to work or even staying at home. We can worry about everything we hear. Alcohol will kill you and it won't. Coffee will kill you and it won't. Scientists can only guess at these things by the sounds of it.

[andygrif]

Originally Posted by homealone

However, it isn't necessarily the case that 'ready meals' are to be thought of as somehow 'unhealthy', although Halcyon's example of the chips, I will concede, sounded well dodgy.

I think I would cautiously agree with you here. Like most people's lives these days sometimes (most weekdays) there simply isn't enough time in the evening to prepare and cook a hearty meal - so I do rely on prepared foods. I use the word prepared as most often these are not ready meals in the traditional sense, these are two or three components of a meal that go into an oven at some point over the following 30 mins.

I'm quite careful as to what I eat, not only from a taste point of view but also what goes into it. It's very easy to overdose on your fat intake with many prepared foods and some things (like most of Sainsbury's repertoire) just have no taste at all - or have no taste at all so they load it with sugar or salt.

Originally Posted by homealone

Unfortunately this Sudan dye incident has had a serious effect on the industry, but previous scares have been & gone with far less publicity - you wouldn't believe the work caused by having to certify ALL dairy products during the Foot & Mouth outbreak, for example.

I think we have to co-shoulder the blame ourselves (along with the supermarkets) for these kind of outbreaks and scares. Supermarkets have sold us the convenience foods with great vigour, as they cost little make and can sell for far more than the raw ingredients that we would otherwise buy. We want products to last longer in the cupboard or fridge, we want consistent fruit and veg (and the supermarkets want everything the same shape and size for easy and cheap shipping), we want seasonal products all year round - these things come at a price, and that price is additives in almost everything we eat today (including 'fresh' fruit and veg).

On top of this the supermarkets' corporate desires for market domination has led to overly agressive behaviour with its suppliers to reduce the cost to them to extremely low profit margins, sometimes no profit margin. That means that suppliers cut corners, which is how we get things like foot and mouth and the Sudan 1 scares happening.

I learned about the crap that goes into out bread a few months ago, and I went out and bought a breadmaker - it lasts longer, tastes better, is cheaper and doesn't have artery-clogging fats in that supermarket bread does. I also buy all my fruit and veg from a farm shop now, not an organic one, but you can taste how much fresher things are - so I'm assuming that means they're better for you.

[Paulie]

Sorry guys, but i couldn`t resist getting a link in. Get you recipies down at http://www.hamburger-deluxe.co.uk/

[Halcyon]

Some interesting replies there.
As has been said it seems to be a matter of common sense and being able to eat in moderation and in correct quanitites of each type of food, favouring the natural home made food over ready meals.

Its true there are times when it is impossible to cook a whole meal as coming back from a long journey or late from work makes you in no mood to want to cook. I just would make sure that I really choose my products carefully in the supermarket and often stock up on fruit that I can eat anytime of day.

I do not tolerate salt and find a lot of the ready meals too salty, and dont even get me started on crisps. It has been good to see the recent changes in addressing salt content and reducing the amounts in products.

What I do feel is that some young people may be becoming dependant on fast foods and ready meal foods and that is where they can develop problems.
There are some recipe books that are avilable in the shops that show how you can make a tasty dish in a quick amount of time that will be much more healthy for you.

Substituing white bread for a whole grain brown bread or adding cucumber and lettuce to a sandwhich...its all simple.
Or just bunging an onion, carrottes, potatoes, leeks, and whatever other vegetables in a blender and making a soup is quick and easy to make.

Some companies do offer some ready meals that are very well prepared and as Homealone said, some companies have strict policies and work towards making their products with only natural produce and low in salt and fat, which is a good thing.
If only more companies were like this, it would be great.

[danielf]

Originally Posted by Paulie

Sorry guys, but i couldn`t resist getting a link in. Get you recipies down at http://www.hamburger-deluxe.co.uk/

Do I detect a slight whiff of spam there?

This is your own site you posted about earlier today isn't it ?