'Healthy' Ready Meals?

[MrsWhipstonSnippet]

Asking for a client who is disabled. She is quite fit and takes good care of herself regardless but is limited in some ways. Without getting into too much detail, I am wondering if I could recommend something like this?
The ingredients seem fine to me, also could add a few peas, broccoli from freezer.
It is both a time and limited movement thing so she would struggle chopping, washing, etc.
Money isn't an issue but she is not a fan of paying more for a brand name so Bigham's is probably out

Is this still UPF? I am not very well up on the minutiae of upf's so be gentle with me.

Yes UPF. UPF free ready meals will Be more expensive.

I can name everything in it though, it all looks pretty natural, what you would use in own kitchen, to a point! Got to admit most of the M&S ones aren't as decent as this. Their samosa's look nice and some of the fresher potted salad meals.

The Gym Kitchen (available in some supermarkets) tries to offer a healthy selection

https://thegymkitchen.com/pages/discover-our-in-store-ranges

Cook ones are pretty good and mostly not UPF.

Food warehouse ( basically a big iceland) might be worth looking at?
Lots of chicken in ready meals is not from the UK, regardless of which shop you buy from.

Yes, I thought of M&S as they usually state their chicken is from UK farms.

She is not good with handling hot pans, etc, or worktop stuff. Previously she was being cared for and cooked for, but since has become slightly underweight and living on toast, peanut butter, etc. She has been through a period of depression but has. managed to keep herself pretty fit for her ability. She in now wanting to gain a few lbs in a healthy way and cook alone.

Lidl steam meals are pretty good?

I’d have a search for local companies too via fb groups or similar, I don’t live in a very big town but there’s at least one, I think two, small home businesses selling homemade meals that you can fridge or freeze and then heat up in microwave or oven.

People obsess about UPFs and also muddle up what is a UPF with just plain old processed foods

People obsess to the point that they cant see the wood for the trees

Better fed than dead doesnt just apply to children.

Lots of ready meals really are just quickly accessible meals. Im sure I found a cheap as chips Tesco ready meal on one of these threads and posted it, to huge silence. It wasnt a UPF but was a bog standard dirt cheap ready meal

Not my cup of tea, I dont like the way they taste but theres nothing wrong with it nutritionally from that point of view.

Theres also quick packets of lentils and grains you can get in Aldi and Lidl, pop them in the microwave.

@soupyspoon I see your point and agree, there are degrees of processing...

Thanks everyone, she uses ocado currently so would most likely purchase from there.

Cooked Long Grain Rice (39%) (Water, Long Grain Rice), Chicken Breast (17%), Water, Single Cream (Milk) (7%), Onions, Tomato Paste, Rapeseed Oil, Sultanas, Apricot Purée, Coconut Milk (Coconut Extract, Water), Sugar, Tapioca Starch, Yogurt (Milk), Ground Spices (Coriander, Turmeric, Roasted Coriander, Roasted Cumin, Black Pepper, Kashmiri Chilli Powder, Cinnamon, Chilli Powder, Mace, Roasted Green Cardamom Seeds, Ginger, Nutmeg, Cloves, Fennel, Green Cardamom), Lemon Juice, Salt, Ginger Purée, Cornflour, Coriander, Dried Mango, Carlic Purée, Rice Starch, Cracked Black Pepper, Bamboo Fibre, Cround Bay Leaves

This is not UPF. It's a processed meal but of course it is not ultra processed. UPF is the new buzzword and people apply it to absolutely everything. It's hardly a tube of Pringles, can of coke, and a bag of haribo.

It’s the tapico extract and bamboo fibre which make it UPF.

The meal you linked to doesn’t lookm awful in terms of UPF but it still contains UPFs and you said that is a concern.

I looked at Cook meals as that is often suggested and they contain way more UPFs. I was shocked by their ingrediant lists.

https://bakerpedia.com/ingredients/bamboo-fiber/#:~:text=Bamboo%20fiber%20is%20a%20fine,dietary%20fiber%20with%20functional%20benefits.&text=As%20an%20insoluble%20fiber%2C%20it,goods%20by%20up%20to%2010%25.

I think this was the Tesco ready meal I linked to last time, I thought it was cheap but on reflection over 3 quid isnt cheap, but my point still stands, bog standard ready meal, nothing fancy or taste the difference or organic about it. Not a UPF

https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/310130809?sc_cmp=ppcGHS+-+Grocery+-+NewMPX_PMAX_All_OT_Top+Offers_Online+Budget_1011017**310130809*&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAzPy8BhBoEiwAbnM9O_riid8bUtsz0zyeF99FRTuXZn-lX5gmCTa673ZD_3GmkTkfp3Z1choCCaQQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Yeh, I have noticed the prices!
I don't like ready meals myself, but did notice the prices of living on them per week would beat what I spend on non-ready meals. I suppose those days are gone unless you go to Heron foods or Iceland.

Had never heard of bamboo fibre in foods, one wonders why they are often used as 'bulking agents'.
Can't they make decent meals that are easy to cook without pollyfilla?
I would presume they are saving money by using weird thickeners. Why not cornflour or whatnot?

I also suspect this is how they convince the market there's no inflation - constantly lowering the quality of the product to keep it cheap. There's a market for good quality ready meals but I don't think the Bigham's variety are convincing personally.

However, to get back on topic - I think the M&S meal and some others are just fine. It won't kill her and has a decent enough variety of ingredients. I supose there has to be a middle ground. She isn't going to be making her own organic fillets in breadcrumbs, sadly.

I have often wondered why they won't put organic meat in take away foods. Some would be happy to pay more!

To be honest its no more a weird thickener than flour, corn flour, potato starch etc etc

Its a baking agent for many people, Im interested in it because Im interested in gluten free flours for someone at work (baking), but as Im not gluten free Im not au fait with them all. (You can make your own mixtures up which apparently are better than the bog standard gluten free flour you can buy in a bag)

So I wouldnt view this as particularly strange, as I said, people are absolutely obsessed

Out of interest I also looked at the Finest version, but the frozen one, that is only £3, same weight. Terrible reviews. Slightly different ingredients, still not a UPF although they have added a bit of wheat gluten. Not going to kill anyone.

The M&S High Protein range are pretty good,there's a few different varieties. All real ingredients as far as I can tell

https://www.ocado.com/search?entry=m%26s%20high%20protein

Expensive but might be affordable for her.

https://www.waitrose.com/ecom/products/waitrose-indian-chicken-jalfrezi-curry-for-2/041281-20428-20429

This and some of the other cities don't have any ingredients I don't have in my kitchen, therefore wouldn't be classed as upf. Plus they do taste nice.

Serves 2 and its 350g?

I think that Iceland do a luxury range that Ive had a few of their ready meals, really really nice. They do deliver as well

Cook ready meals are pretty good on the whole I think

Cook is good and the most comprehensive, plus ready meals from Waitrose (they usually say where their meat is from, and M and S sometimes.

People are a bit confused and/or bonkers about UPF I think, and to a degree it’s the latest thing, like intermittent fasting or paleo or clean eating were before it - there is no formal definition of what it is.

If you can recognise the ingredients and the salt/sugar/fat ratio is OK then it’s OK I’d say. Not all Cook or Waitrose prepped food is healthy by that definition, but lots is.

I'll have a think of some recipes which she can do with minimal standing and no heavy pans ....

But could she get someone to batch cook a few different meals for her and freeze?

I make a recipe that's a pouch of brown rice (can use any rice type or couscous) heated then chop spring onions, tomatoes, cucumber, fresh parsley, dried oregano, olive oil and feta cheese. To make it simpler she could use antipasti from the fridge aisle (Lidl have a selection) instead of chopping tomatoes etc. you can refrigerate for the next day too.

Have you looked at meals on wheels? Worth a try for her.