UK Eats 4-Times More Packed Food Than Fresh

While we love cooking – and are sure you do too – we won’t fib and say that we always manage to cook every meal from scratch. Sometimes life gets a bit too busy and we have too much to juggle to be able to face the thought of having to whip up a meal when we get home.

We can definitely all admit to, every now and then, heading down the supermarket aisle that contains meals that are good to go in a bid to save time and energy. Even though we know these aren’t as good as homemade, sometimes popping a packaged meal in the oven or microwave seems like the best way to end a long day.

You may only do this occasionally, either as a family treat or a last resort, but is seems that many people are choosing the packaged food option a lot more than fresh produce. In fact, the UK, on average, has been found to eat around four times as much packaged food as fresh!

New data from Euromonitor has revealed that the packaged food in our trolleys is quadruple the amount of fresh produce, with many people choosing convenience over health. The figures for Britain are similar to those in America and a lot of western Europe, suggesting that convenience really is king right now.

This change is being partly blamed on the fact that hectic lifestyles, longer working hours and added responsibilities are sapping our time. Not only does this mean that people don’t necessarily know what goes into their food, it also usually equates to eating more calories, neither of which is great for your health.

Ready meals and other convenience foods often contain more fat, sugar, salt and other things that you wouldn’t put in them if you were cooking from scratch, so we don’t always realise what kind of impact they could be having.

Euromonitor looked at data from 54 countries and revealed that the UK is the second worst culprit when it comes to buying high-calorie packaged food, with each person, on average, consuming 1,547 calories of packaged food per day in 2015. When it comes to fresh produce, the UK saw each person eating just 405 calories worth per day, placing it second to last in the table.

Health experts have warned that continuing on this route could lead to problems later on, such as obesity and diabetes, as packaged food doesn’t tend to be as healthy as homemade versions.

Although food and drinks companies are working to make treats a bit healthier over the next few years – you can read more about it here – experts are still suggesting increasing the amount of fresh food you buy in order to keep meals healthier.

This doesn’t mean you have to give up on all your favourites or that you suddenly need to become a Michelin-starred chef, as there are plenty of easy ways to cook up tasty and healthy meals quickly.

Use our ActiFry for mixing up everything from delicious, golden chips with just a spoonful of oil to the perfect bolognese. If you want something quick and easy, you can’t beat our Cook4Me, which takes you through recipes step by step and can have you serving up dinner in as little as 20 minutes.

You can also create your own ready meals by batch cooking food that is easy to whip up, such as curry or pasta bake. This means you’re able to freeze the extra so you have healthy meals that are good to go when you don’t have time to cook. We’ve got some great batch cooking tips here that could help you do this.

However you decide to make your family’s diet better, starting with more fresh food and fewer packaged options seems like a good idea to us!