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.

Sugar tax!! Most things that are low sugar are riddled with dodgy chemicals!!

I don’t give my toddler those baby snack foods in nice little packets. That’s where it starts. PP pointed out that some kids have never seen their parents prepare a meal. I know most women are working mothers now (and probably grew up with their mum being in the home) but this is a scary thought.

Interesting talk
about food and obesity on the infinite monkey cage podcast this week.

Ive never agreed with raising the cost of food…and I certainly don’t in the current economic climate. If they think price will change peoples eating habits why not make healthier food cheaper?

On the rare occasion that I buy lunch on the go I tend to buy a sandwich and water - the meal deals always push salty snacks and sugary drinks which are unnecessary additions. Maybe if they just offered water and a fruit or vegetable snack only but there's no need to put them together as a package.

I agree it should be more about education.

I am someone who eats healthily most of the time and treats myself every weekend-sometimes only every second weekend.
Unless I was on a 'treat day', I'd never dream of buying a meal deal, ANY meal deal. They're mostly unhealthy compared to what I'd usually eat, high in sugar and salt and use up a lot of calories but don't sustain anyone for so long.

But I know this, I have educated myself in it.

I disagree that they're cheap. They're convenient and cheaper than if the products were bought separately, but buying one every day or even a couple of times a week as opposed to making one's own lunch would add up quickly over time-that's another reason I'd not buy them.

I don't have much income-contrary to what a previous poster said regarding 'It's people with more money don't buy meal deals' as I've recently lost my job, but even while working I'd not have spent money on a meal deal unless I was, stranded somewhere with no chance of food for the foreseeable and was starving.

Having said that, I do not think this plan will work. People will just go to the nearest greasy spoon.

Come on! What a cop out! Meal deals are not the reason for obesity. Making decent fruit, veg and meat too expensive is the reason. Expecting parents to work every hour god sends, cook, clean, supplement the areas missing in teaching, juggle kids and their own MH etc is what is causing obesity. Allowing supermarkets to keep inflating prices causes obesity. Allowing fast food outlets to sell going largessthe preferential go to causes obesity. Stuffing people into shitty housing crammed together with no real access to countryside causes obesity.

EVERYTHING IS TOO EXPENSIVE!

This. It’s always all stick and no (pardon the pun) carrot.

We are told there is a CLC, food is up so much, people can't afford the mortgage hikes or the cost of fuel, it can't be that bad if people can fork out a £5 a day for a unhealthy lunch. It is not a bargain, it is a rip off but if you are happy paying £5 for crap that's up to you.

A greasy spoon is probably better for them than the UPF which makes up meal deals. When you realise that your meal deal is full of things that are not food but chemical additives, a bit of bacon and egg is fine. It is still fine to eat those things. It's the processed stuff that is addictive, it seems.

There are much more undesirable alternatives than greasy spoons...

When I worked in an office I would walk to Tescos get a meal deal and walk back. I’m at home now, no meal deals and twice as fat.

What are you supposed to do if you don't have access to a kitchen, or are out of the house lugging all your stuff around on public transport for 10+ hours a day?

Not everyone drives to an office with a nice convenient office kitchen complete with fridge and microwave. Anything I put in my bag when I leave the house I have to carry around until I get home and that's often not until 10pm.

I mainly eat lunch/dinner in restaurants or cafes now and it's funny how that's judged so much less than meal deal/Greggs/fast food, etc.

I love scampi and chips with garden peas. When Little Chef was a thing I always chose it if we stopped. Went in a pub recently. The calories were on the menu. Turns out scampi and chips is over 2,000 calories a portion. My entire daily allowance. I chose something else . I would never have imagined it was so high and if the calories hadn't been printed I would have chosen it. I used to be able to eat anything and stay size 8/10. Post menopause I have to be more careful and work really hard to stay at a 10/12.

When you say "zero sugar" what do you mean exactly? Water - fair enough. But if you mean something like Coke Zero then it's loaded with sweeteners like aspartame that scientists claim are much worse than conventional sugars.

Other UPFs are available on the high street if meal deals are off the table (McDonalds, other fast food places) for those who want them.

A smaller state that doesn't drain the life out of it's citizens with a toxic work & tax culture would do more to help people lose weight.

Maybe even give them a chance to see a doctor before it's become a big problem?

This says if you ate the average meal deal 5 days per week for lunch you'd gain 2.8kg! How big are they and what sort of stuff is in them? The article didn't give any examples. That seems an awful lot of weight to gain just from eating lunches, 🤣 especially if that is just from eating "average" ones... how can they be either so huge or so unhealthy that someone would gain nearly 3kg in a year from eating them?!

I'd eat more of them, but have to be careful because I have IBS. I think DH would be reluctant to have them too often. DS wouldn't even try them.

We spend too much on food, definitely spend too much on crap food, but DS will only eat a fairly limited range, and DH and I are exhausted - and not just because don't eat healthily, but because our life is unrelentingly stressful.

@AngelinaFibres - I bet the portions were big.

Plates are huge in many places. Lots of calories. It's hard to keep track but portions have doubled over the last 20 years.

Like the States. There is too much on the plate but you eat it.

I quite like a meal deal. Big Co-op near me does a chicken Caesar salad although it comes with cheap pasta. Snack is two boiled eggs with mustard mayo. Something low cal to drink or a smoothie. Perhaps not massively healthy but when you have a half hour break in your nine hour working day you just want something fast.

I suspect if you cancelled a meal deal you wouldn’t really help anyone. A couple of white rolls, big bag of crisps and a coke is pretty much the same price as a meal deal and even more unhealthy.

You can’t force people to be healthy using meal deal prices in a country where it costs £1.50 for six apples and 40p for a packet of biscuits.

I'd prefer to see some pledges to make fruit and veg cheaper, but I do think policy should be moving towards nudging us to healthy rather than unhealthy options

The only way I will get behind a tax on unhealthy food is if they use that money to lower the cost of healthy food. And yes you can live off chickpeas that are cheap but lots of people would rather good quality meat and veg and that shouldn't be beyond the reach of anyone.

Why are poorer countries with even less access to kitchens, microwaves, open spaces, doctors, and work life balance not obese? Most of the world, that is, apart from the US and the UK?

No or limited UPF, I think.

I don’t entirely disagree BUT pressures on the NHS etc have a direct impact on everybody. As a nation we’re getting fatter and people are seemingly unwilling to do anything about it so someone has to take action. Otherwise we’ll eventually end up like those people on WALL-E.

Thought they were only targeting the high fat/sugar meal deals. Is it actually a deal though? I don't mind this at all and I'm actually in Wales.

What about a system where to eg you get medical certificates etc to go to a fast food restaurant eg mc Donald's etc,

Something like that should help cut down on unhealthy eating