Have you found your tastes change?

[kentish maid]

Pre diagnosis as pre diabetic I used to buy a lot of ready meals, especially those that the larger supermarkets market as 'meal deals' Having had a couple of really stressful days I decided that I deserved a break so bought a chicken main meal, vegetables, and profiteroles. The carb content seemed Ok (ish) but I didn't really enjoy the meat and vegetables. Having mainly cooked from scratch these last couple of years I can only come to the conclusion that my tastes have changed. I would have had a far tastier meal (and probably cheaper) if I had cooked from scratch. The only consolation was the profiteroles 🙂

 

[grovesy]

Not a fan of ready meals myself , even ones from M&S that were recommended by a friend.

 

[kentish maid]

Not a fan of ready meals myself , even ones from M&S that were recommended by a friend.

The one I got was from M&S, thinking it would be better than some of the cheaper alternatives.

 

[PattiEvans]

I find a lot of shop-bought prepared items taste synthetic, even salad dressings in bottles.

 

[kentish maid]

I find a lot of shop-bought prepared items taste synthetic, even salad dressings in bottles.

I guess I never really noticed that until I started cooking from scratch. 50 years ago when I was first married I always cooked from scratch but over the years developed bad habits and bought ready meals.

 

[PattiEvans]

Yes, I’ve cooked from scratch for 50 years, but until diabetes diagnosis when I started avoiding higher carb items I would occasionally buy something for convenience. Or enjoy a bought cake when offered it. However back when I was working still and colleagues would bring in cakes for their birthdays I noticed how overly-sweet and synthetic they tasted, especially since I had been baking mine with ground almonds instead of flour and minimum sugar.

A few weeks ago I bought a bottle of blue cheese dressing and when I put it on my salad I noticed how vinegary it tasted. So I made my own with some crumbled St Agur, a couple of tbs creme fraiche and a couple of tbs mayo. OMG what a difference, sublime! I know it takes time, but it’s worth it.

We succumbed to an M&S steak pie last week when we were out for a day’s shopping as I knew we’d be home late. Not worth it! Not that I’d have made one myself that night, but it would have been easy to throw something else quick together e,g a stir fry, even if I’d bought a bag of ready chopped stir fry veg and some prawns.

 

[nonethewiser]

Not really as always enjoyed food, from cheap cafe meals to ones in finest restaurants.

 

[helli]

I eat the ready meals when I stay with my in-laws because my mother in law can't cope with my diet as she has meat with everything and does not eat fish whereas I do not eat meat.
I enjoy food with texture and find the vegetarian ready meals are all very soft with no crunch. I guess that is due to the ready meals all being precooked but it makes for very bland meals.
The fish ones are a little better - I am happy with a M&S fish pie but couldn't cook it everyday.

I also like spice and find ready meals very mild. I am contemplating sneaking a bottle of chilli sauce in my case next time I visit the in-laws to spice up my meals a little. Maybe I could take some seeds to sprinkle on the veggie meals to give them some crunch. Unfortunately, my mother-in-law would see it as an insult to the work she does to find interesting sounding dishes for me so I would have to be surreptitious with my additions.

At home, I cook from scratch and have a veg box delivered which gives me inspiration for something new most weeks.

 

[Felinia]

I have a slightly different taste issue. I haven't taken sugar in drinks for years, but now I find tea tastes too sweet, which I put down to the skimmed milk. Instead I have switched to proper coffee, as it is more bitter and counteracts the milk - or seems to.

 

[Leadinglights]

I used to find things not salty enough but now they are too salty. Stuff I would have always added sugar to, I can now eat without.
We do like spicy foods and I tend to use rubs or my own spice mixtures.
I agree a good texture of veggie foods is difficult to achieve.

 

[Gwynn]

Yes I taste more of the subtlties of salt, sugar, pretty much everything. And the textures are better too.

I haven't added any sugar to anything in a long time, although I have had a few treats that do have sugar in them, like icecream, flapjack.

I now cook all my own stuff from ingredients and wouldn't have it any other way. In fact food seems so much more satisfying than it used to.

At diagnosis I was putting 2 heaped desert spoons of sugar on my 2 weetabix ! For example. Scary. Not really enjoying it. Needed the energy but it never seemed to give me much.

 

[Deleted member 21371]

My taste's have definitely changed, but I made a conscious decision to move from sweet to savoury.
But, we're away in the motorhome for a few weeks, dinner tonight was a Thai curry with sticky rice, Singapore noodles, and a selection of crunchy nibbles, followed by cheese and biscuits.
Now, I couldn't have made those from scratch in a motorhome kitchen, so we'll enjoy the co op food.
And it was very good to be honest.
Farm shop tomorrow, local pies, sausages, and some fresh bread.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Yes, absolutely.

Before diagnosis I could not bear coffee without a sugar in it, now if I have coffee that way I can pretty much only taste the sweetness.

And many commercial or restaurant desserts are almost unbearably sickly.

There are somethings which are sweet that I still very much enjoy (a good bakewell tart for example) but this would be from a small bakery on holiday or something, rather than an industrial factory-produced one.

I’ve not had ready meals for years (since my youngest went vegan) but used to enjoy ‘heat it and eat it’ curries.