One of the drawbacks of the proposed traffic light system for food labelling is that it has trouble distinguishing between ingredients & prepared products or meals
So Marmite (too salty) & cheese (too fatty) are bad
But apparently OK if purchased already mixed with, say, wholewheat spaghetti, sprouts & orange segments as part of an unimaginably disgusting ready meal
About 5 years ago now I slipped, for a while, into the habit of living mainly off ready meals, for the usual reasons – busy, too tired to cook
As it happened I was also keeping my own databases of nutritional & ingredient info from the back of the packs, so I had at least a general idea of what I was eating. There did not seem to be much that was objectionable, apart from hydrogenated fats. The additives, for the most part, especially in ‘superior’ brands, did not seem so very different from the kinds of thickening or raising agents I would use in home cooking
One thing I did learn is how often all the major brands & supermarkets change the recipe for standards such as spaghetti carbonara. I imagine this has more to do with reasons of cost & supply, rather than a constant striving for improvement
What really puzzled me about this diet was that I rarely felt well fed, in the simple sense of satisfied or full. Even when I took to buying, say, a near-500 gramme spag bol said to be enough for 2
It is difficult to make direct comparisons, but 1lb raw weight of spaghetti, mince, tomatoes & onion would be more than I could eat in a sitting
My curiosity was really aroused when tubs of mashed potato became popular
Mashed potato is one of my favourite comfort foods. Simple to make, yes, but the pan & the plate are a pain to wash, so I took to these tubs eagerly
Same problem. I just did not feel full. True, the texture was more wet & gloopy than I would make for myself, but there were no declared additives in any of the brands I tried
So unless there is some loophole in the regulations which allows (even encourages) a company so careful of its reputation as say, M&S, to get away with not declaring a particular additive, this could not be the explanation
I am left with the thought that it must be something to do with the texture of the food
Something in the cook → chill → pack → transport → reheat process destroys whatever it is that presses my FULL UP button
I have only a 50-year old GCE O level biology to guide my thinking in this, but I wonder if it could be something do with cellulose?
It must be something that takes a while to have its effect. It was never apparent to me before, nor is it now, when I just use ready meals as a welcome but fairly occasional way of having something good to eat at the end of a busy day
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