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

[HotPotLove]

Before you all start yelling at me, I know that there are of course millions of households that eat a healthy diet, cook from scratch all the time, carefully choose ingredients etc etc. But my feeling as a foreigner (have been living in the UK for almost a decade though) is that ultra processed food, pre cooked and ready meals etc are very much normalised here and part of most people every day life. It’s pretty obvious just by looking at the supermaket aisles really.
Curious to know if people are generally trying to stay away from these and make healthier choices or whether it is generally so embedded into our lives that we are not even noticing?
Second disclaimer is that I am not pointing any fingers, infact I often buy these myself but what makes me think about this is that I would have never bought these types of meals when living back in my own country (also less available than here overall)

Mediterranean people have such a strong culinary culture and possibly less of this scarcity mindset

Southern Italy is one of the poorest regions in Western Europe. That's why it's traditionally been the source of high levels of emigration, both to the richer Northern regions of Italy, and abroad. And parts of Sicily and Calabria have very harsh terrain. Not long winters, that is true, but it's never been an easy place to live.

As so often, there's a lot of romanticisation of 'other countries' on this thread.

You mean a cheap, reasonably healthy, easy to prepare meal?

It doesn't. A sedentary lifestyle combined with loading up on cheap carbs and high fat cheese is just as much of an issue as obesity caused by other food types.

Just say you can’t be bothered lol obviously “throw” in this case is a way of saying it’s quickly sorted

Italian childhood obesity is thought to be due to the drifting away from the traditional diet from what I have read and a marked difference from older generations

Throw is a way of using language to make a task sound faster than it really is. People always use this language on threads explaining how quick and easy cooking is

Yes, we did a range of pastry, with both sweet and savoury fillings. The needlework was actual sewing techniques - we made two styles of bag, I remember, and a cuddly toy, all by hand, and other things I don't recall.

I actually think learning to use a sewing machine would have been useful, but I suspect health and safety ruled that one out. I learned to use a sewing machine from my mum but I'm not hugely confident or adventurous with it, as long as it's feasible, if I need to sew nowadays (altering/mending mostly) I do it by hand. I have made curtains and cushion covers using the sewing machine but the finish wasn't exactly professional 😣

The food/meal habits is still healthier imo and being one of the poorest doesn’t necessarily translate into bad food.

I also come from a god forsaken middle of nowhere and the food is still pretty good. Lots of bread, olives, cheese, cured meats, fruit, vegetables.

Not the fanciest, sure, but a lot more sustaining than what we have commonly available these days.

No.

Obviously all European countries have cheap, reasonably healthy and easy to prepare meals.

I'm talking about something that takes max three minutes to produce and is such a staple of a nation's diet.

I know Italy has poverty 🙄 But it has a landscape that provides in a way that much of the UK hasn'/doesn't. Much of the north of the UK, particularly west, it's basically rocks with a thin layer of earth and you're lucky if you can grow potatoes. Taking a little boat out fishing on to the Med in November is a little less treacherous than taking one out onto the North Sea or the Atlantic Ocean. The Sicilians will have had poverty but the quality of food they would've had access to year round on the whole would have been a bit more varied and plentiful than someone from say Shetland or Lewis.

@snowwhiteisfeelinggrumpy
45g of protein per day for an adult female is the amount needed not to be protein deficient. It's not enough for optimal health which is substantially higher.

The protein in pasta is poor quality and not well absorbed compared to protein in animal sources. It lacks the essential amino acids to make it a complete protein.

I am a bit preoccupied with my protein needs after doing much research after an accident a few years ago which cost me most of the muscles in my legs.

On a recent holiday to Morocco I found out healthy foods and fresh foods are subsidised by the government, upf are heavily taxed. Feels like this is the way forward considering how much upf effects our health and ultimately the extra cost burden on the NHS.

Because this post is about diet and processed foods not obesity 🙂

Depends on the tomato sauce. Puttanesca or amatriciana take minutes.

You wrote about ready meals. "Second disclaimer is that I am not pointing any fingers, infact I often buy these myself"

Surely you can answer your own question then as you do the same?

It's not rude to discuss a general fact, and question why that might be! We can't solve a problem if we won't even talk about it

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To be fair a lot of Tesco meals aren't that bad and they are portion controlled. And whilst you can argue they are often high salt and high fat - a home cooked version quite possibly is too.
Pic is the cheaper non finest tesco lasagne.

I think all developed countries have them now., because most families are time poor.

But the use of UPF is increasing in many countries including Italy, Greece and Spain. They aren’t where we are yet but they are using more of them and that trend will likely continue so they aren’t immune either.

Exactly. Pasta is JUST 2 ingredients. Have you seen what goes into you standard supermarket loaf? I can assure you that pasta is absolutely not the same as the vast majority of bread.

The PP gave a simple recipe that is frequently used and its avoids using the chemical laden crap our food is pumped full of. Our food is a disgrace. You can’t buy a tin of black beans in this country that doesn’t have chemicals added to it, just look on the back.

I haven't read any of that research, I'm just speculating on the variation in mindsets based on my experience as a British person who spends a lot of time with Italian people. I have no doubt they aren't completely immune but I do feel some confidence that culturally they, along with the Spanish and Portuguese, will resist better than we have (or at least take a lot longer to succumb!)

I just looked at my tin of Biona black beans, purchased from Tesco and it contains only black beans and water.

Yes. I buy biona too, because they’re organic. They aren’t allowed to use the calcium chloride that non organic varieties use. Biona black beans are also £1.60. More than 3 times the price of others.

How many people look at the ingredients vs those that look at the price? They’re black beans. Should be one ingredient. Our food is full of chemicals, unless you’re lucky enough to afford to buy organic. Not everybody is.

Ha ha I can cook and do so daily and I’m English!! It’s tedious on Mumsnet the rudeness towards Britain and its ‘faults’.