The FastDay Forum

[Debs]

Yes I have to concur @silverdarling, sometimes there isn't another option and when I am doing a fast while at work, I have bought a few ready meals so I can at least be sure I am getting the right calories. They are not my first choice, but sometimes they are the only choice and it's my only chance to get something vaguely edible!
Live and let live I say!

Having said that, today I created a fabulous three course lunch from scratch for friends, drank too much wine and it was lovely!! Hic.

I buy a lot of fresh produce from Aldi in the UK as it's one of the cheapest but I also use our local outdoor market as I am lucky and will still have one.

For those of us who work long hours (and who are trying to train for a new career in our spare time) frozen - or fresh - ready meals are a godsend. Not everybody has the gift of time to either shop or experiment - or even spend much time cooking - in the kitchen. Bought with awareness, ready meals can be excellent.

I think we are right to be concerned about our food. Thinking of @rawkaren 's difficulties finding good food to buy on moving to the States recently, as well as @Debs problems at camp, and other people who are in a similar situation.

But if there is one thing that 5:2 and the various fasting methods have taught all of us it is that there is no one way of eating / cooking / shopping, and as has been said elsewhere on the forum this morning, we are lucky to have the choice. If you are also lucky enough to have the time to shop, and then the time to look at websites / cookery books / etc, and finally the time to prepare food from scratch, well that is great, and it is fantastic to read about all the results that come out of this -@fatdog being the prime example. But please be aware that this is not the only way, and there are many of us on here who have the challenge of adapting fasting to much busier and more difficult lifestyles.

Be careful what you say and how you say it. I'll shut up now.

I guess time consideration is a component in our decisions to buy food available in the stores or restaurants. we all have free will to eat what we want. With a bit of forward planning one can churn out amazing meals in 30 minutes (thanks Jamie Oliver!).. however i know need at least an hour from go to wo and yes, 1 hour may not even be available. so i guess the ready prepared meals are an option but do it wisely that's all, ie. not every night.

Probably oversalted and too many trans-fats and more expensive for a satisfying meal. If one is working long hours then cost is probably not even a consideration as you are effectively buying someone's time and that's fine.

Unfortunately i know a few people who are not employed, little extra money and have all the time in the world and still reach for the freezer cabinet at woolies and coles. But as the world is made up of different people and different behaviours i shouldn't cast my judgement, but can have an opinion. Just one of those "wrongs in the world" that will always be.

I make some freezer ready meals by tripling a casserole recipe and then freezing meal size proportions for use later. Only thing is i have a tiny freezer so can only have about 5 ready meals at any time.

I feel empowered when i can cook from scratch and even cheat a bit with part of the meal prepared by someone else, often by the local takeout, Indian or sri lankan shops that do home cooking or the middle eastern shops that do fantastic charcoal chicken, hommous, tabhouli etc. so even without time to be in the kitchen, there are options to be explored beyond the expensive full meals by the big food companies. They have a place I guess though as the health conscious group grows the demand will be lower.

I guess its balance we need between natural food, food prepared at home, food from local restaurant-takeout and things that can be bought opening a frozen food cabinet.

I will shut up too now

For those of us who work long hours (and who are trying to train for a new career in our spare time) frozen - or fresh - ready meals are a godsend. Not everybody has the gift of time to either shop or experiment - or even spend much time cooking - in the kitchen. Bought with awareness, ready meals can be excellent.

I think we are right to be concerned about our food. Thinking of @rawkaren 's difficulties finding good food to buy on moving to the States recently, as well as @Debs problems at camp, and other people who are in a similar situation.

But if there is one thing that 5:2 and the various fasting methods have taught all of us it is that there is no one way of eating / cooking / shopping, and as has been said elsewhere on the forum this morning, we are lucky to have the choice. If you are also lucky enough to have the time to shop, and then the time to look at websites / cookery books / etc, and finally the time to prepare food from scratch, well that is great, and it is fantastic to read about all the results that come out of this -@fatdog being the prime example. But please be aware that this is not the only way, and there are many of us on here who have the challenge of adapting fasting to much busier and more difficult lifestyles.

Be careful what you say and how you say it. I'll shut up now.

Thank you Silverdarling!!! you took the words right out of my mouth!!
I for one love M&S fuller for longer ready meals, especially for fast days, am still loosing, am still here and haven't had any ill effects, I am healthy as can be!!
there, I said it, now i'll go away and shut up too, over and out.

For those of us who work long hours (and who are trying to train for a new career in our spare time) frozen - or fresh - ready meals are a godsend. Not everybody has the gift of time to either shop or experiment - or even spend much time cooking - in the kitchen. Bought with awareness, ready meals can be excellent.

I think we are right to be concerned about our food. Thinking of @rawkaren 's difficulties finding good food to buy on moving to the States recently, as well as @Debs problems at camp, and other people who are in a similar situation.

But if there is one thing that 5:2 and the various fasting methods have taught all of us it is that there is no one way of eating / cooking / shopping, and as has been said elsewhere on the forum this morning, we are lucky to have the choice. If you are also lucky enough to have the time to shop, and then the time to look at websites / cookery books / etc, and finally the time to prepare food from scratch, well that is great, and it is fantastic to read about all the results that come out of this -@fatdog being the prime example. But please be aware that this is not the only way, and there are many of us on here who have the challenge of adapting fasting to much busier and more difficult lifestyles.

Be careful what you say and how you say it. I'll shut up now.

Love this post and agree 100% I'm coming from this whole thing from a different perspective-I lost almost 60lbs with IF, while still eating the foods I liked-including fast food several times a week, Lean Cuisines, chips, cookies and other 'processed' foods etc. Not only did I lose the weight, but my blood panel also greatly improved, including no longer having a glucose level in the pre-diabetic range anymore. After all this happened I got swept into the whole 'clean' eating movement (really big over on MFP). I started labeling food 'good/bad' and 'clean/dirty'. I cut out 'processed' foods and only focused on foods that were approved by the 'experts' like Dr. Fuhrman and Dr. Caldwell etc. What happened was I began developing a very unhealthy relationship with food and I started going down the slippery slope of orthorexia. Changing the kinds of food I ate didn't do anything magical for my physical health, but it did really mess with my mental health. Finally, I had to step back and realize that this wasn't good for me, and I'm now back to being healthy AND happy again, eating all kinds of food I like

Now, I love going to the farmer's market in the summer and getting veggies and produce, and getting my eggs right from the farmer But, I also have no problem eating a frozen pot-pie (had that yesterday for lunch) or a serving of chips, if it fits into my calories/macros. I look at the big picture now-how my overall diet looks. That's one of the big reasons I love IF so much, it gives people the freedom to chose what kind of foods they want to eat, without any type of restrictions

I buy a lot of fresh produce from Aldi in the UK as it's one of the cheapest .

This has become a regular trip for me also because of both the quality + prices far better than my usual Tesco my Aldi fresh goods keep a lot longer than anything I buy anywhere else, and looking at my receipt would have pictured a health freek or similar because on each visit my trolley is full of fresh fruit, salads of every decription, and vegetables, including my new "ugly" varieties trying for low carb, fresh chicken breast fillets and fish OH I nearly forgot the little chocky bar treats I know that spoils the look but life's to short to go without forever.
I cut down drastically on processed foods about 5 years ago but whatever works for you is what's more important for me being retired I've got the time to spend in the kitchen others haven't and I'm sure the ready meals today are far better than they used to be they're certainly far more convenient + quick.

Not to flog a dead horse but i might run a poll one day about the number on the forum still use frozen meals/pies from the supermarket shelves regularly for meals.

not at moment as im doing the CC tally

I guess if people want to eat the stuff regularly and they still lose weight and they are healthy (relatively speaking) its a legitimate part of the food marketing industry. Sad but true. I think last time i bought a frozen pie was about 6 months ago and my daughter used to buy the ready made meals and that was 3 years ago. I will however always have frozen peas or frozen peas, carrots and corn in the freezer.

i remember she said to be satisfied, she needs two of the packets and it would cost too much.

She can get a meal ready after a long work day if i haven't done anything for her in like 20 minutes.. unfreeze minute steak under water, fry up with frozen veg, onions, capsicum. ive taught her well:-)

And if she really didnt have time, she would get some kind of takeout.

oh dear. this thread wasn't meant to be controversial at all, or to start people off taking sides. I think the point of the article is that *if* you've decided to make this change in your life, it can be overwhelming, so it gave advice about taking it a step at a time.

For people who rely on prepared foods (which is probably all of us at least some of the time), my guess is that some are more processed than others. The label says a lot. I'm in the dark quite a lot in Japan, since I can't read the labels (the rule is opposite for me: if I can't read it (i.e., kanji characters), it's probably a "real" ingredient; if I can read it (i.e., katakana, one of the phonetic alphabets), it's probably a chemical or additive) and labels don't always have as much information here. In general, though, I think already prepared foods are not as full of additives here--I'm guessing based on expiry dates, and certainly things like sashimi don't have anything added.