"Healthy" Ready Meals

WhyTheFace

Hi,

I know it's a bit of an oxymoron but is it possible to consider M&S's "Count On Us" ready meals in anyway healthy?

They list their protein, fat, sugar and salt %'s on the front, all between 8-20% of RDA and all between 300-350 calories.

I tried a few for lunch (over several days!) as I was limited in options. They tasted fine and I was full until I got home in the evening.

Just wondering is there a catch?

Thanks

Wanderer19

If you don't have the time/facilities to cook then something like that is better then junk food or loads of bread.

runswithascript

Unless you really do not have the facilities to cook and freeze, or it is just absolutely not a possibility - I would urge you to avoid all kinds of ready meals, make the time to batch cook with whole ingredients. I started a few years ago and it is a great time saver. I cook 8 dinners at a time, and freeze them. This can sometimes take nearly two hours depending on what I am cooking, but it is very much worth it as dinner for the next week just takes 3 minutes cooking in a microwave, I know exactly what I am eating, it's produced in my kitchen rather than a factory, and it is tasty and healthy. If you get into it and you have the space you could start to keep another meal or two in the fridge so that you are alternating what you eat.

WhyTheFace

runswithascript wrote: »

Unless you really do not have the facilities to cook and freeze, or it is just absolutely not a possibility - I would urge you to avoid all kinds of ready meals, make the time to batch cook with whole ingredients. I started a few years ago and it is a great time saver. I cook 8 dinners at a time, and freeze them. This can sometimes take nearly two hours depending on what I am cooking, but it is very much worth it as dinner for the next week just takes 3 minutes cooking in a microwave, I know exactly what I am eating, it's produced in my kitchen rather than a factory, and it is tasty and healthy. If you get into it and you have the space you could start to keep another meal or two in the fridge so that you are alternating what you eat.

I have been batch cooking for years.

My question is, is there a catch to the M&S ready meals? The %'s for salt, sugars, fats etc. all seem low at the front of the box, almost too good to be true.

the M&S healthy ones seemed decent to me as well. and the musclefoods ones