The short answer: It depends entirely on the ready meal. Some are genuinely nutritious. Others are barely food. The trick is knowing the difference.
Ready meals have a bad reputation, and honestly, some of it is deserved. The supermarket freezer aisle is full of sodium bombs with ingredient lists that read like chemistry experiments. But painting all ready meals with the same brush isn't fair - or accurate.
What Makes a Ready Meal Unhealthy?
The problems with some ready meals usually come down to:
- Excessive sodium - Used as a cheap preservative and flavour enhancer. Some meals contain over half your daily limit.
- Ultra-processing - Ingredients stripped of nutrients and rebuilt with additives.
- Poor protein quality - Cheap fillers instead of real meat or plant protein.
- Hidden sugars - Added to sauces and dressings to make bland food taste acceptable.
- Lack of vegetables - The "vegetable" portion is often just a few sad peas.
These aren't inherent to ready meals as a category - they're characteristics of cheap ready meals made with cost as the primary concern.
What Makes a Ready Meal Healthy?
A genuinely healthy ready meal looks quite different:
- Real ingredients - Things you'd recognise and could buy yourself.
- Adequate protein - 25-40g per meal from quality sources.
- Actual vegetables - Not just garnish, but a proper portion.
- Reasonable sodium - Under 600mg per serving.
- Balanced macros - Protein, carbs, and fats in sensible proportions.
"The ready meals I make use the same ingredients I'd use cooking at home - fresh vegetables, quality protein, real spices. The only difference is someone else is doing the prep work for you."
The Convenience vs. Quality Trade-off (That Doesn't Have to Exist)
The old assumption was that convenience meant compromising on quality. That made sense when "ready meal" meant a factory-produced frozen lasagne with a 2-year shelf life.
But the category has evolved. Chef-prepared meals, made in small batches with fresh ingredients, are a different product entirely. They're ready meals in the sense that they're ready to eat - but they're made like restaurant food, not processed food.
The Bottom Line
Ready meals aren't inherently healthy or unhealthy - it depends entirely on how they're made and what's in them. Look at the ingredients, check the nutrition label, and choose meals made with real food by people who actually care about what they're cooking.
What to Look For on the Label
If you're evaluating a ready meal, here's a quick checklist:
- Protein: At least 20g, ideally 30g+
- Sodium: Under 600mg (the lower the better)
- Ingredients list: Can you pronounce everything? Good sign.
- Vegetables: Are they listed near the top? They should be.
- Added sugars: Check for hidden sugars in sauces.
Or, choose ready meals from sources you trust - where you know how they're made and who's making them.
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