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Ready-to-cook vs Easy-to-cook - An expert opinion
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Monday, 16 July, 2018, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Radhika Toshniwal
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Cooking has always been considered an essential skill for survival. Especially in the past, when there was no option but to cook your own meals. This task was relegated to the women of the family who would slog in the kitchen to cook three meals a day for the entire family. And earlier, there used to be joint families.
Our modern way of living no longer relies on this practice for our sustenance. Today we have at our disposal the option of having ready-made meals delivered to our doorstep. Eliminating the hassle of cooking three times a day, more and more people are opting for this to make their lives easier. With stringent hygiene checks and food policies, this option looks prettier by the day. Meanwhile, easy-to-cook meals which hardly take any time to prepare are also becoming quite popular with the crowd.
Pros and cons
But as with everything, ready-to-cook meals have their pros and cons.
They are incredibly convenient for working people who have crazy schedules and deadlines. After working 14-16 hours in the office, who has the energy to come home and cook food? In that moment, ready-to-cook meals seem like a lifesaver. All one has to do is remove the meal from the freezer and heat up in the microwave for the stipulated amount of time. It is definitely much quicker than cooking food, for which you need to buy the groceries, wash the vegetables, chop them up and then devote the time to cook them. And gods forbid if the dish turns out to be inedible in the end. Ready-to-cook meals do not have this problem. In fact, one major pro of this option is that there are hardly any dishes which need to be washed. One can have a variety of cuisine to eat everyday with ready-to-cook meals.
However, if we look at ready-to-cook meals from the perspective of health, then their appeal certainly dims down. With six months to one year of expiry, food cannot be expected to be healthy. These meals contain preservatives, colours and flavourings. Though these are approved by the food regulatory authority, consuming them every day is not good for health. These food stuffs also have high salt, sugar and oil/fat content. Since they are dehydrated and vacuum-packed, the natural waters and flavours are lost in that process resulting in loss of nutrition. There is no information about the method which is utilised to prepare the meal. Last but not the least, one does not have control over the portion size, and also you cannot leave leftovers overnight.
Colours and flavourings
Compared to this, easy-to-cook meals require more effort but are also much healthier and a convenient option in the longer run. The ingredients differ from recipe to recipe. These meals do not necessarily have preservatives, artificial colours and flavourings. You can regulate the amount of salt, sugar, oil or fat which goes into your food. The high point of this option is that the meals will be fresh, retaining all its natural flavour and nutrition. Washing, cleaning and cooking the food at the right temperature is in our control. Though these meals would have a shorter shelf-life, the leftovers will be edible for up to two days if refrigerated. Salad dressings can be made with oil, lemon, salt and pepper, mustard, yogurt, tomato puree, sesame seeds (tahina) and so on. One can use different seasonal ingredients to mix-and-match while cooking. Fresh seasonal vegetables and fruits are in any case less expensive than the cold storage ones. The amount of food which will be cooked is also in your hand. This reduces food wastage as well.
It is true that cooking takes time and effort which one may not have in abundance. But the health benefits outweigh the trouble any day. The good thing about easy-to-cook meals is that they do not take much time to prepare and cook. For as little as 5-10 minutes, you can have a tasty meal prepared to sail you through the hunger pangs. There are many methods to prepare these meals depending upon the resources at hand.
Limited shelf life
This brings us to the cons of cooking. One has to be aware of the items in the pantry at any given moment. Ingredients have to be brought regularly to replace the empty boxes. Fruits and vegetables have a limited shelf life. These add the healthy and natural options in our plate, but if not stored properly and consumed regularly, then food wastage will happen anyway as these ingredients start to rot. If one opts for this method of cooking, then it is important to make sure that all the fresh ingredients are bought in quantities in which they can be consumed. Proper planning needs to be implemented so that minimum ingredients are brought so that they can be easily utilised. When all is said and done, one ends up with the sink full of dishes which need to be washed and dried.
One favourite which stands out when it comes to easy-to-cook meals are one pot recipes which are not only nutritious but also fulfilling. These do not take much time to prepare, and also do not compromise on the taste. Pressure cooking is also another option which makes cooking quick and easy. It is also the healthiest way of cooking since the high temperatures and pressures in the cooker kills any/all bacteria and parasites in the food.
Safest and healthiest
A meal prepared in a pressure cooker is the safest and healthiest one as most of the nutrition is preserved while cooking. Cooking in an oven also offers a quick option in the form of baked meals. Rice dishes are very easily and quickly prepared. Automatic rice cookers make the process of preparing rice dishes like pulao even more convenient and easy. So the moral of the story is that one does not need to necessarily rely on a cooking range to prepare easy-to-cook meals.
There is no one way to make these meals. In fact, this is the beauty of easy-to-cook meals because there is as much variety as one can imagine. There is the option to experiment with the portions, ingredients, seasoning and even the cooking methods. Different recipes are available to prepare one dish and one can follow the method which suits them.
Easy-to-cook, quick meals
Easy-to-cook recipes are available widely on the Internet on platforms like Pinterest, Instagram and many other sites. It is a testament to the popularity of easy-to-cook meals that today there are dedicated recipe books which provide a whole plethora of easy-to-cook, quick meals in an array of cuisines.
In my experience it is always the better choice to cook for oneself, even if they are easy-to-cook meals. If you do not have the time or the inclination, then consider the option of getting someone to cook for you. In case that option is not on the table, then consider ordering in from a decent place. Prepackaged meals should be the last resort, if there is no other way to fill the tummy.
(The writer is food consultant, nutritionist and author)
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