The Ready Meal Debate

[citygirl1961]

Hi, I am just wondering how many people here are either for or against ready meals.

I now live on my own and have been having the M&S Count On Us meals at least three times a week and friends are telling me they are not healthy, even though they are advertised as healthy meals which I don't think they could be advertised as such if they weren't.

I work full time and really don't have the time or inclination to cook from scratch just for myself. On the days I don't have ready meals I either eat out with friends or have jacket potatoes, beans on toast or soup.

They're so unhealthy you may as well eat a slab of butter doused in sugar and salt.

In general ready meals are pretty unhealthy because they need a lots of preservatives and stuff to make them the quick and easy convenience food that they are.
Having said that, my DH works away quite a few times a year for anything from a few days to a few months at a time. When he’s away, if I don’t fancy what the DCs are having, I’ll have a ready meal when they are asleep.

I think you could do a lot worse but they have made added artificial ingredients than cooking from scratch. I guess it depends on what you are defining as healthy. To be in the count on us range they are usually relatively low calorie so if that is important to you they are good on that front but tend to be lower in veg than homemade dishes and have higher salt and preservatives. Could you compromise and buy the ready chopped stir fry packs with a sachet of sauce and rice noodles with some chicken, prawns or nuts? Or they do things like courgetti or butternut squash noodles with a ready made fresh sauce?
I guess I’d be looking to include some home cooked bu5 min effort meals, fritata, baked salmon fillets, stuffed mushrooms etc.

Why are they something you have to be for or against? They are simply an option. Everything in moderation is fine.

I don't think most modern ready meals have a lot of preservatives in. Not if we are talking things like the meals from the fridge/freezer in supermarkets. They do tend to be high in salt but so are things like pre-made sauces. It is bonkers to be frightened of ready meals and then suggest a pre made sauce as a better alternative.

That said, just because something is advertised as "healthy" it does not necessarily mean that it is. Healthy is subjective and has no legal definition. They are likely to be healthier than options like a pot noodle, chicken nuggets and chips, takeaway pizza, etc - but they probably won't be as healthy as a home cooked meal from scratch.

I have maybe 2-3 a month. Usually quick meals are similar to you I.e. soup etc.

By the time I get home from work if my partners working away there's no chance I'm going to make a full meal just for me.

I do quite enjoy cooking though so often batch cook things then freeze them so essentially have home made ready meals.

Thanks for your replies. I can see where the ready meals are processed but M&S state they well balanced meals.

I do sometimes have fresh chicken and fish but I find it all faffy, waiting for chicken breasts to cook in the oven and fish is quick in the microwave but never seems to make me feel full.

I have in the past done batch cooking but I find that I get paranoid about eating reheating food that's been cooked first and then frozen, especially chicken.

Would breaded fish and chicken be healthier than ready meals, they can be cooked from frozen and are also quicker.

I do like stir fries so that is an option. However, I don't have a hob that works at the moment so that is out of the question just now.

Just had a look at those M&S meals and they seem to have totally normal ingredients, nothing hugely alien sounding.

However if they're under 400 calories each I'd be starving.

I get paranoid about eating reheating food that's been cooked first and then frozen, especially chicken.

-- just saying - you do understand that this is what you are doing with a ready meal?

TBH I actually think most ready meals in the UK are pretty good and not that different from something you'd cook yourself. I really miss them now I've moved away.

I miss micro noodles they were my favourite go to micro meal lol

They're so unhealthy you may as well eat a slab of butter doused in sugar and salt

Really?

I had an M&S seafood pasta the other day. It had fresh scallops, salmon and prawns, decent amount of each, spinach and cherry tomatoes, some linguine, but not a huge amount, and a quite fresh tasting lightly spiced chilli sauce. It was delicious, filling and didn't seem particularly artificial. It was from the Balanced Choices range.

Stuff like that seems perfectly healthy to me. Just choose carefully, and look for the ones with visible fresh veg, fish, chicken etc and watch the calories as some of the cheesy pasta ones are quite high, but otherwise, you could do a lot worse.