A Closer Look at Ready Meals
Nowadays cooking is looked upon by some as a chore, some people don’t have time to cook, some people cannot cook, and some people just don’t want to. This is where the popularity of ready meals has taken off. The convenience of them is the main selling point. They are quick and easy to cook with most meals taking 8-12 minutes in the microwave, or 35 minutes in the oven.
A while ago ready meals used to be synonymous with bad flavour, this is because the freezing process tends to degrade the taste of the food. To compensate for this, companies were adding extra salt and fat (which of course isn’t too good for you). To stabilise the product for a long time companies usually use partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, this is usually in deserts and makes the food high in trans fats which affect a person’s cardiovascular health.
The concern from supermarkets about the standard of ready meals has risen as the NHS and Food Standards Agency (among others) have expressed how important it is to keep obesity in check for the countries children and teens. There has been a push by these supermarkets to start making these frozen meals more nutritious, lower in salt & fat and free of artificial additives. This is helped by having clear labelling on the packaging that displays all of this information, and also adding healthy options to their vast range of meals. This gives the consumer lots of choice as usually they sell 3 types of ready meals, the average market price for a meal, above the average price (as part of their best range) and below the standard price (as part of their budget range).
The advantages for ready meals do counteract the disadvantages though, as often the simple process of heating a meal wins over the customer. The meal itself has already been precooked cutting the risk of undercooking. As the market for frozen meals grows and grows the sheers range of meals available to increases with it. It is now possible to ready meals that are delivered to your door, that are nutritious, low in salt and fat and designed to suit your dietary needs. They have come a long way since the wobbly TV dinners that we used to eat.
Michael writes about the brief history of , their advantages & disadvantages Article Source: