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)

Yes, Biona coconut milk (or any other organic brand, eg Clearspring, I think) is good. There is also a company called Tropical Sun, whose organic coconut milk is just coconut & water - this used to be available in some supermarkets, not sure if it still is - you can order it direct from them though https://tropicalsunfoods.com/products/coconut-milk-organic-100-natural

I remember the Guardian covering this recently - see https://www.theguardian.com/thefilter/2025/mar/29/best-supermarket-canned-coconut-milk

Missing the point completely. I do say cooking isn't difficult. Carbonara does require a certain deftness and - as many an expert cook will tell you - there a risk of over doing the egg cooking and scrambling. It's well known to be a recipe that done never master despite appearing to be relatively simple.

Nobody has to buy anything. The choice is ours. If you don’t like processed food, then cook from scratch with fresh food.

Each to their own - I rarely buy processed foods. 🤷‍♀️

How is it missing a point? The point I was making was that a lot of the blame for people's reliance on ready meals is put on the idea that cooking is difficult I didn't say you found it difficult.

Carbonara must be something that some find easier than others then. I've never had the eggs scramble or found it tricky. I accept that others might do then.

But there are a lot of very simple meals that people can cook from scratch.

And there are so many recipes online now.

My daughter became a very competent cook over lockdown because it was how she chose to spend her time while I was at work - finding recipes she wanted to try on BBC Good Food website and making them. She wasn't reliant on me teaching her and she was 13. If a 13 year old can do it, most people could if they wanted to.

‘if you then freeze them, they're easy to use at short notice (but this entails having a freezer). I suspect a lot of people don't do this, as it's never been the norm for them and they weren't ever taught...’

I was indeed never taught that. But I LOVE black beans and we eat loads, so I will be doing that from now on - thank you for the tip.

The point of my post saying how easy most things are. The point being I was making same point as you then you gain said it

Cooked tomatoes are incredibly good for you because they contain the antioxidant lycoprene , plus are very rich in potassium and vitamin C.

An Italian would probably add parmesan to this which is high in protein. Olive oil has loads of health benefits as its also high in antioxidants and supports heart health. Basil is anti-inflamatory and also contains vitamin K and magnesium.

In the meantime your high protein ready meal will almost certainly be high in salt and sugar, and contain ingredients that you probably need a degree in chemistry to understand, none of which will be doing you any good

High quality ready meals don't contain anything unidentifiable.

Those vitamins etc may be very healthy in themselves but that tomato sauce does not contain anywhere near enough protein or fibre to be a self contained meal - which is the point of the discussion.

You'll be getting your fibre and protein more from the pasta than tomatoes, if you aren't slathering on the tomatoes in their skins and seeds. That would be the case (but probably more so, where fibre is concerned) if you went with a ready made tomato sauce. Of course the type of pasta (wholegrain, egg) will influence these ratios, as will the number of tomatoes. Then there are the one minute additions at various costs - spinach, anchovies, cheese, tinned tuna - if you decide you want or need them

I think it likely deters people from home cooking if they think protein, fibre etc have to be delivered evenly by every dish they prepare. This is a single meal. Have a wholegrain cheese sandwich and a salad at another point in the day to add more nutrients. Eat a yoghurt or an apple for dessert. (These are examples, and not presented as the zenith of dietary choices. But you look at your nutrients across the day or week).

I agree with the above. The fact that with a ready meal (even a high quality one) over 60% of what you are paying will be for its production, packaging and marketing. That means that you will be loosing out by not getting as good as quality of ingredients as you would if you assembled it yourself. The high levels of sugar and salt are often used to disguise the poor quality of the ingredients and to make you want to eat more of it.

I suspect not many people are eating high end ready meals. The majority of ready meals are not healthy as they are high in salt, saturated fat and low in fibre. I posted up thread about the Action Salt report into ready meals which includes reference to a variety of ready meals.

We consume the highest amount of UPF in Europe, so yes definitely.

You don't need huge amounts of protein in every meal - this is a common misconception!

Eat a wide variety of fresh healthy food and you can easily get plenty of protein without having to resort to expensive ready meals

This is a good post

Omelettes are very common dinners in parts of southern Europe and take as little time as making beans on toast

I was in the UK a few weeks go, shopping for ingredients for a meal. I went to a big Sainsbury's in a busy metropolitan part of London. I was amazed at the limited range of fresh fruit and veg, and not just because it was the end of the day - the labels on the shelves showed what had been there and it wasn't much. On the other hand the range of ready meals was vast and attractive.

This is in contrast to mainstream supermarkets in Melbourne where the range of fresh produce is very good, often seasonal and mostly Australian. I went to check out the ready meals - still in their infancy here compared to the variety of the UK - but gaining ground. I can remember several years ago a tradie remarking with amazement that such a thing as a ready meal existed; they are that recent here.

I imagine that in years to come the UPFs will increase but hope not at the expense of fresh produce.

This made me smile. My upbringing too.

When I went to university in the early 70s I was in uni accommodation for the first year, meals included. My parents, when asking me about the meals, were scandalised that there wasn't a plate of buttered bread on the table at every meal.

@echt If you were in a busy metropolitan area then Sainsbury's will stock things for workers, visitors and people wanting convenience.

They are not the places to get a family shop.

For the posters not in the UK … what would a typical weeks worth of evening meals be like?

I’m not trying to be confrontational, just interested to see what is prepared over a typical week.

Speaking for my parents and relatives living in Paris it might be

Day 1 - pan-fried fish with lemon and butter, bread, and a salad
Day 2 - a gratin of aubergine and courgettes or a lasagne from their local traiteur, bread
Day 3 - ravioli bought from the supermarket, salad
Day 4 - a roast chicken from the market with potatoes from the base, salad
Day 5 - Vietnamese/chinese from their local traiteur
Day 6 - Paella or a frozen gnocchi or hachis parmentier (fancy cottage pie) from Picard
One day also usually out at a restaurant, a dinner party, apero dinatoire, etc

There are plenty of omlette and salad and a glass of wine, or salad composee, but also plenty of pre-prepared as the kitchen is the size of a postage stamp. It won't be potato smiles from the freezer but a main or side dish from Picard will make an appearance and they have about 5 traiteurs of various cuisines nearby that they can buy dinner from without ever cooking at home at all.

What you won't find is a traybake or a roast dinner, at least at my parents', as the oven is also the microwave which gives you an idea of size.

Children need protein though and they're unlikely to get it from breakfast alone. School lunches are a 10 mins dash, neither of my DC eat more than a mouthful apparently. They need quite a hearty dinner of an evening as a result (both are underweight as it is!) meat is the best source of protein for us as we can't eat legumes or dairy.

Believe me when I say families live nearby and shop there. I lived close by for 10+ years before coming to Australia.

I wouldn't regard pasta with tomatoes a particularly healthy meal. It's just carb and sauce. It just isn't UPF, but it isn't massively nutritious either.

Uk born but not uk resident…. I’ve noticed where we live, the weekly specials continually feature processed meats.

now I acknowledge that supermarkets will discount items under cost price to gain attention from shoppers (im drinking a good quality wine as I write this that was on special well below normal prices) but I can’t see why this doesn’t apply to fresh meat and seafood too.

I think the intention was to give it as an example of something that could be pulled together quickly and more cheaply than a pasta ready meal, or pasta with a jar of sauce which is the sort of thing people are using due to time constraints. The objective was to compare a like for like dish.

However, it doesn’t take much imagination to see how you could ‘beef’ it up to make it more nutritionally balanced but that would not be comparing it against a UPF alternative which people are using and citing that they are short of time.

As it stands it’s not just carb and sauce, it also has protein and lots of micronutrients from the pasta, tomatoes, basil and olive oil, although I don’t believe it was the posters intention to suggest it as a fully balanced meal. Just an example of a dish without UPFs which was quick to make and cheaper than the UPF alternative.