Junk Food / Ready Meals M&S, Waitrose

[barry1010]

We are told that junk food and ready meals are bad for us and should only be eaten occasionally, so why are M&S and Waitrose ready meals considered to be better?

When an own brand ready meal is recalled very often it is recalled from many different supermarkets including M&S and Waitrose, proving it is no different (or not much different) from, say, Asda or Iceland

[douglas9401]

Would that mean it was a 'not quite ready' meal though, Maggie?

[Teapots1]

Look at the salt content of any ready meal, and if you have any sense you wouldn't touch them, not to mention the trash contents. Don't care who's they are.

[bednobs]

it probably depends on the age of the person too. My parents (to my knowledge) have never had a macdonalds. This is because to them, a culture of fast food is completely alien and it wouldn't even cross their minds if they were hungry while they were out to get a ready cooked meal; in fact they would have most likely prepared in advance and have something in their bags for that eventuality. At the very most they would go to a garden centre or cafe and order something that was freshly cooked or prepared. My daughter on the other hand might ask me if she can have macdonalds for tea at home(the answer is always no BTW) I am somewhat in the middle - most parents know if you are out with kids, macds is probably the cheapest lunch out in emergencies, have nappy changing facilities and so on and therefore will have taken them there numerous times. Also if you are in a hurry, it's fast.

[maggiebee]

douglas9401 - haha probably. But then very few "ready" meals can be eaten just as they come from the store.

[bednobs]

ps on the theme of aging, my parent's do sometimes have ready meals. They are at an age when they don't want to be chopping and cooking every night

[dannyk13]

For many years I have always cooked my meals but lately I have had ready meals a couple of times a week and find nothing wrong with them.

[douglas9401]

[barry1010]

The mention of age being relative to what one eats made me think of my mother. She'd be over 100 were she alive but her very favourite meal for a while in the 70s was a Vesta curry. She also had some sort of packet chilli con carne that you just added boiling water to - was it called Beanfeast?
Both junk food, in my view.

[bednobs]

but had she ever had a macdonalds barry :)

[barry1010]

Not as far as I know. She has had a tinned pie, though. The sort with the big puff pastry lid and a bit of mush in gravy

[bednobs]

fray bentos! I get them every year for harvest festival

[barry1010]

Never knew you could still buy them. Can you still buy those boil in the bag little squares of fish in parsley sauce?

[Arksided]

Yes you can Barry and better are the ones in Butter sauce.

Well I'm just back from the chippy first time since before lock-down-1 Wow! forgot what I was missing.
That was because Tesco delivery today and amongst the shop is Shepherds Pie, Cottage pie, Fish Pie, and something else all ready meals I not only like them but very handy as I live alone.

[dannyk13]

Arksided, do you find the Fish pie a bit on the generous side for one person?

[Arksided]

I do yes but I manage it :-) and I am considered medium stocky slim... not of the large variety.

[Chipchopper]

I rather like "My Goodness" meals from Sainsbury

[Vagus]

Bednobs, my parents would both be 101 this year if still alive, and their treat when they went into town was a Macdonalds. They used to joke about it...’Dad treated me to lunch out today, guess where??’
It’s made me smile remembering :)
They also loved Vesta meals, a total revelation for my Mum as she worked full time from when I was 12 and never enjoyed cooking at the best of times.

[Barsel]

Barry, my Dad used to work for a large bakery, and I can remember him saying that if the cake with the nuts on top was for M&S, the nuts had to be selected and put on the cake by hand and not by machine.
They do have different standards from a lot of other shops.
The ingredients may come from the same place, but the final meal will be different in some way.

[barry1010]

Thanks, Barsel.

[burlyshirley]

I love ready meals, a Big Mac from time to time and those tinned Fray Bentos pies (not mush at all) ! Each to their own, too many snobs about food on here ...