Do you eat ready meals regularly?

[RedRosette2023]

Following from another thread - I heard a statistic the other day that said up to 90% of people regularly consume ready meals. As in, in a plastic container and from the microwave or oven.

I sense that MN is quite middle class so likely not representative of the whole of the country. But I was surprised by that statistic.

I genuinely can’t remember the last time I ate a ready meal. I occasionally gave eldest DC an Ella tray when they were weaning, a meal I could keep in my changing bag and have handy in case we were out over tea time. My youngest refused any pouches etc so he has never had one. He’s always just eaten what we’ve eaten and taught me baby food is totally unnecessary, albeit convenient at times.

I am coeliac so it’s possible my habits have been formed due to necessity - I would struggle to pick up a ready meal I can eat with ease. M&S do some and I think GF ones slightly more available now but I just don’t buy them.

I’m also not a SAHM Mum, I work a pressured job four days, my DH works away mostly during the week, I use hello fresh etc 3-4 days. But I always find time for a meal. My ready meal is something batch cooked out the freezer.

No judgment - just genuinely interested.

Some are, some aren't. But it is really helpful that it is a controlled portion with calories and ingredients listed, so it's easy to choose a meal under 500cals, if that's what you want. It also means there are no seconds, which stops DH having essentially two dinners!

We eat ready meals occasionally, usually when we don’t have a lot of time between finishing work and going out somewhere. I usually pick up a Mac n Cheese and DH will have a curry, they’re ok. On a normal day DH will cook from scratch though.

I get them for my OH for work, he has mixture of homemade ones and shop bought ones. I try to batch cook for him when I have time and freezer space but I work 53 hours a week as a childminder so both time and freezer space can be an issue at times 😂
I rarely have them myself, I'm also coeliac so limited options, however I do like the m&s carbonara and tesco do a butter chicken that's GF which I do have occasionally. Id say i have a ready meal maybe once or twice a month. I prob have then more since my diagnostic than before as I often go all day without eating and by time I finish work at 6pm or later I don't always have the energy to start from scratch.

Never. We make all our meals from scratch and don’t really eat processed food at all.
But then my DD is 15 and she’s never eaten a Macdonalds! We just don’t eat junk.

Fussy eater here, due to IBS.
So rarely eat anything pre made bar pizza , so no never eat anything pre-made.

Up until last week (we moved to a bungalow with a much better arranged kitchen) my OH and I ate ready meals most nights because I physically couldn't prep a meal, I have arthritis in just about every weight bearing joint (and most that don't) so standing to prep has been really difficult.
In my new kitchen everything is to hand and so much easier. It makes a huge difference.

Snippysocks

Those who eat a lot of ready meals - are they high in calories (genuine question as I rarely eat them, so have no idea). Asking because I'm watching another thread on obesity.

I've known two people who lost a lot of weight by using ready meals. One went from a dress size 18 to a 12 and the other lost about 3.5 stones.
They both said it was being able to know how many calories they were eating that helped.
I notice a lot of posters have said that they find ready meal portions too small, so maybe that's the reason they worked.

I'm not advocating it as a way of losing weight and of course, it's anecdotal.

I’ve started eating them regularly. Things like this though:
https://bolfoods.com/products/mexican-black-bean-chilli
I am trying to lose a bit of weight though and they’re really helping. My DP cooks everything from scratch and I hate the fussing and the mess! If he cooks for us both it is delicious but I don’t know how much oil he’s put in and the food comes out too late for me. And I feel I have to clear up all the mess in the kitchen. I used to like cooking but since being with him I’ve decided I cannot abide it anymore. I just crave simple and healthy and no sodding mess!!!! The older I get the less fuss I want. I crave simplicity. I don’t eat a lot of meat and these or the soulful ones are pretty tasty and healthy. At least I thought they were!! I add spinach or prawns or whatever. I’m really pleased with my new way of eating!

The holier than thou on this thread......
Yes we eat ready meals about twice a week- usually accompanied with veg or salad etc. If both parents are getting home at 6, what time are people here eating? We live in a small house with a tiny freezer. There is no way we could cook from scratch every night unless we want to eat at 8pm.

When I worked I didn't get home until 7pm at the earliest. I cooked a meal from scratch just about every evening, sometimes a roast.

Even now when I am home all day and DH gets home by 5pm we don't eat before 7.30

I’m not suggesting there is anything wrong with a ready meal twice a week.

But to answer your question I don’t cook from scratch everyday. I plan around my work week and the days I know I’ll be late I either defrost something that just needs heating up, cook extra the night before or do something really quick like an omelette or salad. Sometimes we’ll all have something different because there’s left overs that need using.

We do have a supply of freezer food like fish fingers and I freeze little portions of mash for the kids.

I use HelloFresh and there’s a 20 min option too so sometimes I’ll plan one of those when I know I’m short on time.

@BustyLaRoux do you remember the innocent veg pots? I think BOL is the same.

Yeah that kind of thing RedRosette2023. Ready meal I guess as in it’s all in plastic and I don’t have to do anything to it! Other than heat it up and maybe throw some other bits in. Some of them aren’t to my taste, tend to go for the ones with rice or quinoa rather than noodles. Honestly I feel pretty healthy on them! I don’t really go in for the less healthy ones with tons of sugar or salt etc. I don’t like them that much. (Though the M&S ones were pretty good from
memory). I guess not all ready meals are made equal. And there’s nothing wrong with a bit of convenience if that’s what someone fancies. Including frozen roast potatoes!

The fact that you were "alarmed" by the fact that some people regularly eat ready meals (and two meals a week is regular) does suggest you think something is wrong with it actually.

I think some would be lower than home cooked because of portion size. A lot of people might find shop bought small portions, I think if people were serving fish pie at home for example they would do more than the Charlie Bingham single portion.

Ooo there you are Wombling, sorry are you not getting enough attention? Please feel free to look through my earlier posts and see if you can find some more ammunition for the offence you’re intent on taking there. You came to the thread quite late so might have missed an opportunity to make a dig.

Oh, I see the judgement has continued while I've been asleep overnight. You do realise that a lot of ready meals are "cooked from scratch", they are simply frozen so all that has to be done is heat them up. I love how, on MN, the term "cooking from scratch" seems to make everything wonderfully healthy - it very much depends on what you are cooking. It also amuses me how the most scathing posts seem to be from people who have either never tried a ready meal, or had one once, didn't enjoy it, and so all ready meals must be junk.

*Those who eat a lot of ready meals - are they high in calories (genuine question as I rarely eat them, so have no idea). Asking because I'm watching another thread on obesity. *@Snippysocks

People often claim this but the reality is most ready/prepared meals are fairly balanced nutritionally and when it is something more indulgent in terms of ingredients it’s portion controlled.
It’s interesting that many of the posters who say they don’t eat them give small portions as the reason but actually the portions are just a normal portion of food that an adult should be having.

Not remotely judging anyone else or what they eat. Just answering the question. Sorry that makes you feel judged.

m the majority of ready meals contain preservatives and other processed elements. When I say made from scratch I mean I cook using real food, meat/fish/vegetables/herbs and nothing processed.

I have eaten ready meals in the past but made a choice not to in order to improve my health and cut out all processed foods and chemicals after losing almost all my family to cancer (sister, 2 aunts, 3 uncles, dad).

But sure, I’m judgmental!

I love those fancy salads in M&S are they classed as a ready meal? They are certainly convenient.

I very much doubt the cancer was to do with eating ready meals.

You said "we don't eat junk" - surely that is judging those who, in your opinion, do. Who are you to decide what is "junk". I eat McDonalds now and again - a bun, a meat pattie/fish/chicken and a few salad ingredients, is none of that "real food"?

I know what you mean when you say "from scratch" btw. You may well cook very healthy meals, I wasn't geting at you in particular, but some people make a lot of sauces, use a lot of butter, salt etc, cook in fat etc. - all those meals are cooked "from scratch", it doesn't make them super healthy. I eat ready meals from two suppliers in the town I live in - they are cooked "from scratch" on site, then either sold fresh, or in one case you can buy them frozen. How do you actually know what preservatives are in ready meals, do you look at the ingredient list of meals you have no intention of buying every time you shop? Pps have already provided ingredient lists from some which clearly show that is not always the case. A ready meal is simply one which has, usually, been frozen and only requires heating - they come in as many different forms, and health benefits as cooking from scratch. Most of them here (I'm not in the UK) are actually made from "real food" - what on earth do you think they are made from?

clearly there’s lots of contributing factors to cancer but processed foods, nitrates and additives in foods are proven to be one of them.

So you make all your own bread, never buy anything food related unless it is in it's whole state then? Well, you are to be admired, but as many posters have already pointed out, in this modern world an increasing number of people do not have the luxury of available time to do so, nor the money to pay for premium ingredients. You are quite right that processed foods, nitrates and additives are proven to be ONE of the contributing factors to cancer, so good on you for doing your best to eliminate them from your family's diet - but please stop judging others who, just maybe, have more pressing matters to concern them and sometimes have to resort to doing something which might make their lives a bit easier.

Never. I've tried them before and even the expensive ones are vile and tasteless.