Ready Meals

[Martin.A]

If this is your main meal though then you’d be under for the whole day and week. Since most people wouldn’t eat red meat twice a day every day.

Saturated fat doesn't just come from red meat, though. Dairy, whether it be milk, cheese or Greek yogurt for example, or the often-recommended extra dark chocolate, are all high in saturated fat. I eat very little red meat but still struggle some days to keep my saturated fat intake below RDA. I've only managed it on 5 days so far this month and I'm putting it down to switching back to butter, eg in mashed cauliflower or celeriac, after using a plant-stanol spread previously. I've decided to revert back to what I was using before.

 

[AndBreathe]

I agree, that would be way too high for me

Recommendations from the WHO is 30% or less of daily calories from total fats, and 10% of daily calories as sat fats. To hit those 'average' 20g / 30g targets using the WHO's recommendations ...
- an average man would need to consume 2700 calories a day for a 'target' of 90g fat, of which 30g would be saturates
- an average woman would need to consume 1800 calories a day for a 'target' of 60g fat, of which 20g would be saturates.

Personally I mostly consume under 40g total fat with saturates very low.
Except yesterday .. I had a busy week and hospital visit on top. I wanted something nice last night and I went a bit crazy on cake / biscuits / snacks - result: about 50g fat (11-12g saturates) and 217 ish carbs 😳

WHO are not advising or even recommending for people with impaired metabolisms. The are going for Joe Public, but then Joe Public varies in all manner of ways

 

[Ditto]

I wanted to eat ready meals, they look fab and are easy but I saw a documentary where they were adding some kind of sludge as a filler. Never bought another since. 🙄

The M&S ones and the Slimmers World Luxury were yummy. Bit gutted really.

 

[Lucyr]

Saturated fat doesn't just come from red meat, though. Dairy, whether it be milk, cheese or Greek yogurt for example, or the often-recommended extra dark chocolate, are all high in saturated fat.

I don’t buy cheese or butter, I use semi skimmed milk in coffee and an olive spread.

 

[rebrascora]

I eat predominantly saturated fats (cream, yoghurt, cheese, fatty meat etc) and I don't consider them "bad" at all and I don't consider NHS dietary advice as particularly reliable, especially for someone who is following a lower carb way of eating.
Maybe the combination of saturated fats and processed carbs is bad, but I will take natural saturated fats over seed oils and those supposedly "cholesterol lowering" highly processed spreads, any day.... plus butter tastes a lot better, not that I actually eat much butter to be honest because I very rarely eat bread of potatoes.

 

[s'nic]

WHO are not advising or even recommending for people with impaired metabolisms. The are going for Joe Public, but then Joe Public varies in all manner of ways

and I never implied they were recommending for people with impaired metabolisms.

My post was purely in response to martin mentioning that the RDA is 30g for the 'average' man and 20g for the 'average' woman, and was to highlight that average does not exist and a better method is to base saturates as a proportion of the days food / calories consumed.
Because of course, joe public varies with or without an impaired metabolism.

 

[AndBreathe]

and I never implied they were recommending for people with impaired metabolisms.

My post was purely in response to martin mentioning that the RDA is 30g for the 'average' man and 20g for the 'average' woman, and was to highlight that average does not exist and a better method is to base saturates as a proportion of the days food / calories consumed.
Because of course, joe public varies with or without an impaired metabolism.

I don't think I said you did.

I agree wholeheartedly that, in that context "average" is a useless metric.

 

[Merluza]

Ready meals tend to contain hidden fats and sugars as well as assorted other things to improve the flavour and shelf-life and cut costs. You need to pay attention to the salt content, also in there to improve the taste. The information should be on the packaging, I always assume that these are their estimates and take it with at least a small pinch of salt 🙂.

Personally I don't touch these things because of the additives and I actually get pleasure from cooking. It's never too late to learn and not as difficult as you may think.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

As a newly diagnosed pre-diabetic who doesn't cook, I'm struggling to find best retailers for convenience meals and which specific meals to look for (my nearest are Tesco and Waitrose, though I could do others online). Some foods have high carbs but "including X [low] sugars"-is that ok or do the carbs then provide additional sugars? And what about snacks? Why on earth does the charity and NHS think we're all Nigellas!

Hope you are able to find some BG-friendly options that are easy to prepare for you, and are filling and satisfying.

You may find a combination of some of those pre-prepped vegetables/salads and meat/fish options are only a little more involved to cook than a full ready-meal… and are likely to be tastier, fresher, and lower in additives?

I think some who were exploring ready meals in the past found Wiltshire Farm Foods had some reasonable options? But I don’t have any experience of their range personally.

Hope you find some options that work for you 🙂

 

[s'nic]

I don't think I said you did.

I agree wholeheartedly that, in that context "average" is a useless metric.

Ah ok. My bad, seems I read your post wrong 🙂

 

[s'nic]

I wanted to eat ready meals, they look fab and are easy but I saw a documentary where they were adding some kind of sludge as a filler. Never bought another since. 🙄

The M&S ones and the Slimmers World Luxury were yummy. Bit gutted really.

I would 100% avoid any ready meals in the chilled cabinet. Take a look at some of the sell by dates, and ask yourself - how many preservatives, stabilisers and other additives have to be in that recipe for it to survive on the shelf of a fridge unit that long? 😱

I personally would only consider frozen ready meals which naturally need less additives for shelf life. I'd scan the ingredients list, if it reads like a chemistry experiment then I'd put it straight back.

 

[nonethewiser]

M & S meals are good, we bought those.for both our mums when they were getting on & unable to cook.

 

[Merluza]

That's how I discovered them. I thought they looked pretty good.

 

[s'nic]

As a newly diagnosed pre-diabetic who doesn't cook, I'm struggling to find best retailers for convenience meals and which specific meals to look for (my nearest are Tesco and Waitrose, though I could do others online). Some foods have high carbs but "including X [low] sugars"-is that ok or do the carbs then provide additional sugars? And what about snacks? Why on earth does the charity and NHS think we're all Nigellas!

Were you told what your blood test result was? Knowing how far into the pre-diabetic range would help with guidance a bit. It would be the HbA1c blood test result (42-47 is pre-diabetic).
If only in low figures then small tweaks to your diet may be enough.
Since the topic rambled a bit and I'm one of the culprits I'll summarise what info we have so far, and hopefully you can comment / ask further questions.

As others have said, the figure to watch is the back of pack info - Total carbs per 100g. You also need to remember to multiply this, eg 20g per 100g means 80g in total if the meal is 400g.

@sean123 suggested possibly using an air fryer.
If you have the worktop space for one they are good, they cook food faster and normally have a few different functions (eg bake, roast, grill, reheat, and air-dry).

@Lucyr suggested that if eating 2 main meals a day that 40g per ready meal would mean looking for meals with somewhere around 10g total carbs per 100 gram
Like Lucy I always kept veg in my freezer, and added it to a ready meal to make it more healthy.

@Lizajane10 suggested checking M&S ready meals and others have said they are good. Liza suggested checking carbs on items such as: meaty stews with dumplings, cauliflower cheese, or a pre-prepared meat sauce which just needs veg / salad with it

@everydayupsanddowns suggested a combination of pre-prepared meal parts which just need combining / finishing off at home.

I believe I'm right in saying that potatoes have less carbs than rice or pasta. Also small potatoes (new / baby ones) have less carbs than large/old potatoes. If bought mashed with carrot or swede then that potato mix should be lower carb than potato alone (check the 'per 100g' info to be certain).
It seems likely ready meals with potato may be lower carb than the rice / pasta ones. This would vary depending on the meal recipe.
I would definitely opt for frozen ready meals over the ones from the chilled cabinets. Chilled foods will almost certainly have more additives to extend shelf life.

A quick easy meal to do at home can be an omelette with meat, cheese, or some veg added, or served with a side salad. In addition to cauliflower cheese, broccoli cheese is often sold as a ready meal.
Breakfast type ready meals may be another possibility. You could check the carbs on those.
I often use my airfryer to roast a mix of veg with some chopped up chicken (I use swede and butternut squash as a potato substitute there).
Buying a bag of pre-prepared fresh veg to add to a meal is always an option. Ditto with salad bags.
If you only have one main meal a day then you could adjust the total carbs in that meal to allow for less carbs eaten over the rest of the day. So the total 40g in one meal isn't a hard and fast rule.

 

[silentsquirrel]

Were you told what your blood test result was? Knowing how far into the pre-diabetic range would help with guidance a bit. It would be the HbA1c blood test result (42-27 is pre-diabetic).
If only in low figures then small tweaks to your diet may be enough.
Since the topic rambled a bit and I'm one of the culprits I'll summarise what info we have so far, and hopefully you can comment / ask further questions.

As others have said, the figure to watch is the back of pack info - Total carbs per 100g. You also need to remember to multiply this, eg 20g per 100g means 80g in total if the meal is 400g.

@sean123 suggested possibly using an air fryer.
If you have the worktop space for one they are good, they cook food faster and normally have a few different functions (eg bake, roast, grill, reheat, and air-dry).

@Lucyr suggested that if eating 2 main meals a day that 40g per ready meal would mean looking for meals with somewhere around 10g total carbs per 100 gram
Like Lucy I always kept veg in my freezer, and added it to a ready meal to make it more healthy.

@Lizajane10 suggested checking M&S ready meals and others have said they are good. Liza suggested checking carbs on items such as: meaty stews with dumplings, cauliflower cheese, or a pre-prepared meat sauce which just needs veg / salad with it

@everydayupsanddowns suggested a combination of pre-prepared meal parts which just need combining / finishing off at home.

I believe I'm right in saying that potatoes have less carbs than rice or pasta. Also small potatoes (new / baby ones) have less carbs than large/old potatoes. If bought mashed with carrot or swede then that potato mix should be lower carb than potato alone (check the 'per 100g' info to be certain).
It seems likely ready meals with potato may be lower carb than the rice / pasta ones. This would vary depending on the meal recipe.
I would definitely opt for frozen ready meals over the ones from the chilled cabinets. Chilled foods will almost certainly have more additives to extend shelf life.

A quick easy meal to do at home can be an omelette with meat, cheese, or some veg added, or served with a side salad. In addition to cauliflower cheese, broccoli cheese is often sold as a ready meal.
I often use my airfryer to roast a mix of veg with some chopped up chicken (I use swede and butternut squash as a potato substitute there).
Buying a bag of pre-prepared fresh veg to add to a meal is always an option. Ditto with salad bags.
If you only have one main meal a day then you could adjust the total carbs in that meal to allow for less carbs eaten over the rest of the day. So the total 40g in one meal isn't a hard and fast rule.

You might want to edit a typo - 42 to 47 not 27!

 

[s'nic]

You might want to edit a typo - 42 to 47 not 27!

done thanks. I am great at typo's. The edit button is my friend, my BFF.

 

[Sowitzki]

My level is 44 but I'm hoping will be lower after my blood test on Monday!😱😱 But I'm still confused-

Cook's Veg & chickpea tagine is 18% carbs, Mex 3 bean chilli is 17% & Nut roast 15% - that's the stuff we're supposed to eat, right?

But Cook's Moroccan spiced lamb is only 8% carbs, Chilli con carne 8% & Beef bourgignon a mere 4.7%

So where does that leave us?.

 

[Leadinglights]

My level is 44 but I'm hoping will be lower after my blood test on Monday!😱😱 But I'm still confused-

Cook's Veg & chickpea tagine is 18% carbs, Mex 3 bean chilli is 17% & Nut roast 15% - that's the stuff we're supposed to eat, right?

But Cook's Moroccan spiced lamb is only 8% carbs, Chilli con carne 8% & Beef bourgignon a mere 4.7%

So where does that leave us?.

You need to look at the carbs for the portion you are going to eat as the %ages are per 100g so if you have 200g of the chickpea tagine that would be 36g carbs so you would have to consider how that fits in with the amount of carbs you personally have allowed yourself per meal. The beef bourgignon would be 9.4g carbs for that same amount. Anything with pulses is going to be higher than dishes which are mainly meat.

 

[Bruce Stephens]

But Cook's Moroccan spiced lamb is only 8% carbs, Chilli con carne 8% & Beef bourgignon a mere 4.7%

Yes, I think that's because the bulking up of many vegetarian dishes is likely to be a bit more carb heavy, so rather than lamb or beef you're getting chickpeas and sweet potatoes. That's my guess, anyway.

 

[Martin.A]

Yes, I think that's because the bulking up of many vegetarian dishes is likely to be a bit more carb heavy, so rather than lamb or beef you're getting chickpeas and sweet potatoes. That's my guess, anyway.

They all look very different carb wise if you look at the per portion numbers, too - 60g for the Tagine, for example.