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)

@SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius , many people are time poor but make the time to prepare food. It really depends on what your priorities are…
Do you prioritise your family’s health or an extra 45 minutes on the sofa for mum and dad?

My diet is mostly processed food, which is a huge no-no on here.

However the reason is that I’m autistic and I find cooking and eating new things very overwhelming - I also struggle with unpredictable textures and flavours.

I’ve had previous “safe” meals ruined for me because the texture has been wrong - processed foods generally taste and feel the same no matter what so they’re a guaranteed way to get me to eat.

I’ve also had too many experiences where I’ve cooked a meal and then been far too overwhelmed to actually eat it.

It’s not a nuanced discussion though, is it. It’s ’the UK is awful and everywhere else is better’.

So we can’t cook, and and now we’re touchy because we don’t want to be insulted. Got it 👍

I am not an advocate of ready meals but in their defence, they have improved vastly in content over the last 20 years.
I know this as I had a child with multiple allergy type problems which put virtually all ready meals out of the question in the early 2000's.

Now, it's not that unusual to see ready meals that have all recognisable ingredients similar to what may be used at home. I haven't got time to put particular example now

Also, listening to a DOAC recently, there was a scientist in America. He's very very against any adding of sugar in any guise and also against artificial sweeteners talking of how he had worked with a government- I think Kuwait- to produce ready meals with no unhealthy ingredients. The price point and sales remained the same after removing all the potentially harmful additives. I think this could be a way forward.

And yet there has never been anything like the amount of free resources online as there are now - for people who actually want to educate themselves about food and how to prepare it.

It was Robert Lustig, described as a world leading expert on sugar addiction on DOAC

@HotPotLove , frozen is much cheaper and since it’s frozen close in time to when it’s picked has reliable nutrition with no additives. ☺️

What’s wrong with ready meals though? I think a lot of people who say this haven’t even read the ingredients in a ready meal.

Go into marks and Spencer’s and read the ingredients list in their lasagne. There is nothing in there you wouldn’t add yourself if making it from scratch. many ready meals are like that in the uk.

You’re ignoring my posts suggesting that Italy is simply 10 years behind the uk (in most ways) but on the same trajectory. It’s not a special place, nowhere is. You’re just behind.

Don't know about the rest but it does not take me piles of 'good quality tomatoes' and hours of faffing about to make tomato sauce. Nor would it take anyone else that to make something comparable to a jar of Dolmio or own brand equivalent.

People don't go from 'oh I can't get hold of the finest quality fresh produce lovingly ripened by the Mediterranean sun, and I don't have all day to carefully bring out the depth of their flavours over my aga until I reach the most authentic of sauces' to 'sod it I'll just get a microwave lasagne'. There are plenty of perfectly acceptable steps in between those two.

If you have preferred recipes or ways of preparing things that take YOU hours and only the best ingredients then by all means enjoy, but surely you know the tomato pasta is just one example and there's many, many quick and easy options that don' t require such. We cook mostly from scratch and never buy ready meals but there's hardly anything in the regular rotation that takes more than half an hour to get on the table. Not everything is restaurant quality knock your socks off delicious, but it's good food that we mostly enjoy.

with respect, what you describe is not a good tomato sauce.

FWIW: my mum lives alone and is no longer able to cook for herself. So i visit periodically and stock her freezer with ready prepared food. And that is fine.

Not everyone has the facilities, or the faculties, to cook from scratch and sneery posts/threads like this are pretty ableist.

Why isn't it?

it is quite often my "shit i forgot to buy anything for dinner, i'll make this" last minute meal.

it is delicious but it is not a good quality tomato sauce.

Yes, every time I visit the UK, I’m astonished by the choice of ready meals, meal deals, etc. And that type of massive obesity that you generally don’t see in other European countries.

What do you think is wrong with the quality of it?

I agree that the consumption of processed foods is entrenched in the way we live in the UK. I don’t think there’s any one reason for it. It’s been a change over time and now multiple generations have lived this way it’s become habit.

I eat very little processed food, mostly because it’s calorie dense and now I’m older it makes me fat. It’s too easy to be lax and let the kids eat it though. I’m tired at the end of the day and throwing some pizzas in the oven is an attractive option. Laziness really and the knowledge they’ll eat it with no whining. I estimate they probably eat what most would consider processed foods around 2-3 times per week. More often than is probably healthy.

I'm also a foreigner and I agree. I work full time, have 2 kids, have a long commute, large garden to tend and a busy house to run. I still cook every meals from scratch. We have a takeaway once a month but hardly ever eat ready made meals and I don't use pre-made sauces etc. There is a big BUT in that I'm super organised, absolutely can't sit still and grow up in a house where this was the norm. Also I've yet to find a ready made meal that doesn't taste like pants!

But these are extreme examples. Most people are able to afford basic ingredients (especially if they are buying ready meals which are more pricey anyway) and can figure out how to peel a garlic even if they haven’t done it before! We have google, social media, youtube, chatgpt etc etc. c’mon!

The OP isn't talking about how to make whatever you/ other posters think of as a 'good tomato sauce' though is she? She's saying here's a quick, easy and tasty meal you can make without needing to use jars or getting a pasta ready meal.

Again, I don't think jarred sauce is the devil, but it's probably not 'a good tomato sauce' either (I mean I'm sure you can get authentic, minimally processed sauces, but I'm talking about the cheap ones with all the added salt, sugar and whatever else). The meal the OP suggested would be equally as tasty as that.

I might be biased because I'd probably prefer the freshness of OP's version to what is being described as 'good tomato sauce' on this thread i.e. slow cooked, depth of flavour brought out over hours etc. I'd take a burst of fresh cherry tomatoes and herbs over that any day - but personal taste aside what the OP is saying isn't incorrect. It's a quick, tasty meal that is an acceptable alternative to a microwave carbonara and potentially better for you (although again, I don't think ready meals are the devil either!)

Same as the people picking it apart like 'oh but that's not nutritionally balanced, where's the protein' blah blah. It's still probably better than most ready meals which is what the OP was comparing it to.

And another thread saying that the British are doing it All Wrong.

Fellow French here :) you are right about the price part but salaries are also lower.

Part of the issue I think is that people overestimate the amount of meat/fish in ready meals, so will compare for ex the price of a bolognaise sauce in a jar with the price of ingredients with way more meat than you have in the jar.

Portuguese supermarkets stock ready made (and frozen) pizzas, lasagna, fish fingers and a few things such as corden bleu chicken, but these are a tiny minority of the available items. The fresh fruit and veg sections are vast and there are in store butchers and fishmongers, even in the smallest stores.

There was a survey recently (don't know who conducted in or how accurate it was) that showed the UK consumption of processed food was over 50% – the highest in Europe. Portugal was about 10%.

Mine were very cheap, bought loads of 20 p plants from elderly neighbour a few months ago and they are still producing tomatoes which taste better than shop ones

The last time I spent any length of time in the UK was in 2019 and I noticed the predominance of processed foods and ready meals then.
I went to Sainsbury's to buy food to cook and was quite shocked at the minute amount of space devoted to fresh fruit and vegetables compared to what I remembered. Ditto Waitrose (which I do not like anyway) and M&S.
I ended up going to a farm shop out of town, where I was rewarded with exactly what I wanted (and some very pleasant Cornish gin - bonus).
The trouble with all the convenience products, apart from the UPFs etc., is that people "forget" or never learn how to cook properly.

I think that your pasta dish sounds lovely.

I think that food and nutrition are viewed differently in different cultures. I definitely eat better when I’m abroad, I put this down to the weather! Fruit and veg taste better and I’m less likely to reach for something stodgy.

I don’t eat lots of processed foods but understand why people do. It tends to be quicker, easier and cheaper. You don’t have to think about it. I did have a frozen meal for the first time in years recently, it was vile!