To think processed and pre cooked food is way too common in this country?

Why isn't it?

with respect, what you describe is not a good tomato sauce.

FWIW: my mum lives alone and is no longer able to cook for herself. So i visit periodically and stock her freezer with ready prepared food. And that is fine.

Not everyone has the facilities, or the faculties, to cook from scratch and sneery posts/threads like this are pretty ableist.

Don't know about the rest but it does not take me piles of 'good quality tomatoes' and hours of faffing about to make tomato sauce. Nor would it take anyone else that to make something comparable to a jar of Dolmio or own brand equivalent.

People don't go from 'oh I can't get hold of the finest quality fresh produce lovingly ripened by the Mediterranean sun, and I don't have all day to carefully bring out the depth of their flavours over my aga until I reach the most authentic of sauces' to 'sod it I'll just get a microwave lasagne'. There are plenty of perfectly acceptable steps in between those two.

If you have preferred recipes or ways of preparing things that take YOU hours and only the best ingredients then by all means enjoy, but surely you know the tomato pasta is just one example and there's many, many quick and easy options that don' t require such. We cook mostly from scratch and never buy ready meals but there's hardly anything in the regular rotation that takes more than half an hour to get on the table. Not everything is restaurant quality knock your socks off delicious, but it's good food that we mostly enjoy.

You’re ignoring my posts suggesting that Italy is simply 10 years behind the uk (in most ways) but on the same trajectory. It’s not a special place, nowhere is. You’re just behind.

What’s wrong with ready meals though? I think a lot of people who say this haven’t even read the ingredients in a ready meal.

Go into marks and Spencer’s and read the ingredients list in their lasagne. There is nothing in there you wouldn’t add yourself if making it from scratch. many ready meals are like that in the uk.

@HotPotLove , frozen is much cheaper and since it’s frozen close in time to when it’s picked has reliable nutrition with no additives. ☺️

It was Robert Lustig, described as a world leading expert on sugar addiction on DOAC

And yet there has never been anything like the amount of free resources online as there are now - for people who actually want to educate themselves about food and how to prepare it.

I am not an advocate of ready meals but in their defence, they have improved vastly in content over the last 20 years.
I know this as I had a child with multiple allergy type problems which put virtually all ready meals out of the question in the early 2000's.

Now, it's not that unusual to see ready meals that have all recognisable ingredients similar to what may be used at home. I haven't got time to put particular example now

Also, listening to a DOAC recently, there was a scientist in America. He's very very against any adding of sugar in any guise and also against artificial sweeteners talking of how he had worked with a government- I think Kuwait- to produce ready meals with no unhealthy ingredients. The price point and sales remained the same after removing all the potentially harmful additives. I think this could be a way forward.

It’s not a nuanced discussion though, is it. It’s ’the UK is awful and everywhere else is better’.

So we can’t cook, and and now we’re touchy because we don’t want to be insulted. Got it 👍

My diet is mostly processed food, which is a huge no-no on here.

However the reason is that I’m autistic and I find cooking and eating new things very overwhelming - I also struggle with unpredictable textures and flavours.

I’ve had previous “safe” meals ruined for me because the texture has been wrong - processed foods generally taste and feel the same no matter what so they’re a guaranteed way to get me to eat.

I’ve also had too many experiences where I’ve cooked a meal and then been far too overwhelmed to actually eat it.

@SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius , many people are time poor but make the time to prepare food. It really depends on what your priorities are…
Do you prioritise your family’s health or an extra 45 minutes on the sofa for mum and dad?

You make a lot of assumptions here about people's available income, available equipment, knowledge and confidence about food.

This is all fine if you have a hand blender, olives, roasted peppers or sun-dried tomatoes and Italian herbs (and yes I know you say 'if you have them', but it will be a lot less appealing and filling if you don't).
Garlic: many people won't know how to peel/chop it (I remember seeing a minor sleb on some cooking show who had no idea about how to skin a clove of garlic or chop it properly). Won't necessarily know you can buy jarred or frozen, or have the fridge or freezer space or the money for it.
As for meatballs/other protein, meat is either expensive, or cheap and shit quality. Again, what if you're not used to cooking with raw meat and scared of poisoning yourself/your family?
I'll never forget seeing a Jamie Oliver show where he taught a young woman to cook. She was lone parent to a little girl and she'd clearly had no exposure to food shopping or cooking; she bought them convenience foods (which they ate sitting on their living room floor as she couldn't afford furniture). When he started showing her how to make something (I think it was a basic tomato sauce or similar) she froze and said, 'I can't do it.' She just had zero knowledge or confidence.

These things seem straightforward to someone who has more advantages, but I think you might be surprised at how disadvantaged many people are.

Personally, nothing. I am just pointing out that it wasn’t part of a meal, it was the entire meal
i often have broccoli pasta with Parmesan

You're not wrong that it's common because I moved away from the UK and I really miss being able to buy these things. The pre made foods for sale here are mostly absolutely dire like something from the 1970s. They just aren't popular at all.

I don't actually think most pre-made foods/meals are ultra processed (though TBH it's not really a label I pay that much attention to). They are labour saving and tended to help me cook more often because if I can have part of a meal already made and don't need to spend time on that, I have more time/energy/effort to spend on the other parts of it.

So, OP, why do you think UPF are becoming increasingly popular in countries like Greece, Spain and Italy? They have access to excellent local produce and have a strong food culture and yet processed foods are becoming increasingly popular. The problem may be bigger in the UK at the moment but it’s certainly not exclusive to here. It’s a trend that can be seen all over the world. Genuine question because I’d like to see countries investigating and treating the issue collectively as it’s affecting so many nations.

I think years ago when many women worked part time or just in the home meals from scratch were the norm but withany women now working full time, driving DC around to school and clubs something has to give. Many people are time poor and I suppose throwing a ready meal in the microwave is a quick option. It's not just ready meals though it's the culture of giving kid a McDonald's as their meal too. I like to either cook from scratch or once or twice a week to eat out.

Why is my comment appalling? Because there’s a risk your country could be insulted?
I’m quite pissed off with the idea that bashing the UK is perfectly acceptable but unacceptable if it’s another country. Do you not see the irony?
You only have to glance on AIBU to see threads in a similar vain daily.
FYI, whenever I’ve been to Italy I’ve seen many obese people so I’m not certain your idea that the U.K. seems to exclusively have a high rate of obese people can be true.

I’m sure that is true @IHateWasps

We need to acknowledge what is happening and educate people on how to fuel themselves and their children on proper, unprocessed food. I still think elsewhere in Europe people generally eat more healthily but this may not last for long.

I am also originally from Italy and I notice in the supermarkets there are more processed foods available than when I was a child.

There are quite a lot of pre packaged lentil/soup bases which i don't see as much in the UK but would be super handy with the UK weather.

It’s not Brit bashing. OP has said she uses the ready meals herself. It’s completely fair to point out they’re more common here than plenty of other countries - they are. They’re more common here than they were 30 years ago too. It is what it is.

I think you mean ultra processed

Many staple foods are single ingredient and processed like cheese, yoghurt, tinned tuna, frozen peas and are healthy choices.

It's just setting the bar too high if advocating a healthy diet to avoid processed food.

Similarly I get irked by folks going on about fresh food. Frozen is fine in many cases, cheaper and harvested and frozen so quickly. The prime example is peas. If from a supermarket peas in pods have been sitting around in transport, on shelves etc and the natural sugars have turned to starch and an inferior product. Only truly fresh if you have picked them and used them quickly.

If people get the idea that to be healthy a food has to be fresh rather than frozen, this puts many healthy foods out of the price range of many unnecessarily. See also berries, French/green beans, fish etc

I really think the words matter.

I’ve made this kind of thing plenty of times with any old cherry tomatoes and it’s always lovely. There’s garlic and herbs and oil for extra flavour. We do this either with normal pasta or with tortellini, it’s so quick. It isn’t a “coats all the pasta with lots of tomato” type sauce, but there’s lots of flavour and freshness.