To think peoples lives are crap enough without needing the government to interfere with Meal Deals

[Jeansmeansheinz]

FFS just let people have the pleasure of a Meal Deal. I really don't need the Government telling me what I can and can't eat.

It’s about the greater good. 60% of adults in Wales overweight, that’s a crisis. 25% of under 5s overweight I believe as well, that’s shocking. The meal deal intervention is just one method of tackling this. Shops shouldn’t be promoting special offers on high fat processed foods.

What's happened?

I was about to say yanbu but if the pp's stats are true then I can see the point.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-66021503

The problem is that if the government does nothing then we end up with a society that is in poor health. That is bad for the economy and bad for the NHS and bad for individuals own well-being. I totally support the idea that unhealthy foods should be expensive as a deterrent and healthier foods should be subsidised to encourage more consumption.

The average meal deal for me:

Triple sandwich (400-500 cals)
Back of crisps (100 cals)
Zero sugar drink (0 cals)

I doubt I speak to everyone but 600 calories isn't going to plunge the average adult I to obesity.

This is a load of bollocks. And really inappropriate during a cost of living crisis. Tackle takeaways and fast food instead. Educate people more.

I heard someone talking on the radio and even she didn’t seem convinced by her own message! We apparently buy 22% more than we intended on a meal deal? Er, no we buy a meal deal when we go out to buy a meal deal. You aren’t generally mooching around Sainsbury’s doing a weekly shop and think hmmm fancy a meal deal now.

Target Ocado who only do multi packs or large bars of chocolates. They genuinely do make me buy more than I intended 😆

Yeah sorry, I'm massively in favour of the government doing something to decrease the availability and increase the price of upfs. Preferably at the same time as doing the opposite to veg, meat, lentils etc.
As a country we really really need this. I (a slim person who looks after her body) occasionally have a bad treat like a meal deal, but I would be prepared to forgo this or pay more for it if it helps the country eat better. The obesity crisis is bad enough already. The impact on the NHS alone is astronomical.

My gut instinct is to roll my eyes and say people are capable of making their own decisions, but looking at the figure quoted, it doesn't seem like a bad idea.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/jun/27/wales-to-clamp-down-on-junk-food-meal-deals-to-tackle-obesity

Research from Public Health Wales found that three-quarters of lunchtime meal deals exceed the recommended level of calories and salt for lunch.

The least healthy lunchtime options contain two-thirds of daily calorie intake, more than 122% of daily fat intake, 149% of sugar and 112% of salt. The majority of dinnertime meal combinations exceed average energy requirements.

This might be where nudge theory needs to come into play to make the healthier options the more affordable ones.

because if we leave people to their own devices then the majority of us will become obese. We are genetically programmed to seek out high calorie foods and if there is no disincentive to consuming them then many of us will over consumer and paired with low levels of exercise, it’s a health crisis.

60% of people in Wales overweight is a shocking statistic. I suppose people go for meal deals because it’s easy to grab and go.

With all the fucking shrinkflation and 'only 99 calories!' chocolate bars in a multipack ( yeah cos they're half the size) you'd think we'd need a few meal deals to balance things out.

Or the triple sandwich is 600, a packet of normal Crisps like McCoy's is more like 250, and a coke is 200 - so over half of the entire day's calories, closer to 2/3 for some

So slightly selective data you have used

I completely get your point, but I don't even trust myself to make good choices when a "bargain" is involved. If they didn't put deals on 2500cal meals, per sitting, I'd be more inclined to buy some veg and a cut of protein and leave the peacan pie and bottle of wine on the shelf.

I think they should incentivise healthier choices. That would be nice.

As a massive fatso, I can assure the government that it's not meal deals that have made me fat but me. I don't even buy ready meals or meals deals so getting rid of those will do literally zilch to the size of my arse.

^ Im referring to the dine in for £15 deals

Far too many people are overweight. I don’t believe that as a nation we have suddenly become greedy and weak willed, I think it is because we are living in an increasingly obesogenic environment. This is a tiny step towards changing that. We are constantly nudged to buy more calories we don’t need. If we take away some of the nudges eating a healthy amount will be easier. The worry is they won’t do enough.

Let’s face it most meal deals are high fat rubbish with little nutritional value. I would like to see deals on fresh fruit, eggs, salad stuff and veggies instead. Why encourage people to eat shit?

The problem with meal deals is they encourage people to buy more and consume more, because the deal is better value than the sandwich alone. As others have said I'd love to see healthy food made cheaper at the same time so that people are encouraged towards healthy choices rather than crisps and chocolate.

I think fast food , ready made sandwiches , microwave dinners etc have made people lazy. Lots of kids these days have probably rarely if ever (ex sil for example) seen their parents prepare a healthy meal or packed lunch from scratch . It's a hard habit to break.

Penalise those without the ability to make sensible decisions then.

A blanket tax is the wrong thing to do, it'd be quite easy to have a tiered meal deal.

Relatively healthy choice - no fatso tax

Unhealthy choice - fat tax.

Life is about choices and I for one am sick to death of being penalised because a few individuals are unable to control themselves.

I think they need to raise tax on takeaways. In areas of high obesity (usually high deprivation too), there's often loads of cheap takeaways. Tax them and make nutritious food cheaper with special offers. Put basic cookery courses on that are easy to access and free/very low cost.

It's going to take years to undo the obesity pandemic and the meal deal thing just seems to be paying lip service, I doubt it's actually going to make a big difference.

People don't need their lives made worse right at this time. People are skint and a meal deal is a little bit of a bargain and enjoyment for many in otherwise tough days, that's why I object. I bet the 'healthy eating' people aren't generally struggling as much. The government should be looking to help out people in many ways, but this is low priority right at this minute, and to me it seems cruel to take away choices and something people enjoy. I reckon it will have no impact anyway. It's not like people will have an apple instead, they'll just go to Greggs.

It wouldn't be first on my list of things to change to tackle obesity, but every little helps.

I'd stop any more fast food places near schools for starters, and shut all takeaways before pubs close.

Longer lunches so we don’t have to pick convenience food for speed would help a lot. Also make fruit and veg cheaper!! It’s more expensive than shit food!