Buying portion controlled/healthy eating ready-made meals
The Basics
Buying ready-made calorie controlled meals for a little while may help to get you into the right frame of mind for portion control. All supermarkets offer their own brand (in addition to main brands) of healthy or low calorie range of ready-made meals – use these as a guide to the portion sizes to aim for when cooking from fresh.
Healthy ready meals are handy to have in the freezer for those times when you don’t have the time (or really can't be bothered) to prepare a meal – however they are to be eaten sparingly – they can often contain a lot of salt. Though as part of an ongoing healthy eating plan they can be helpful.
Common Myths and Misconceptions
- “It’s low in fat and so I can eat more”. Not true - just because the packet says ‘low fat’ does not mean the food is low in calories. Portion control is important for all foods, even those claiming to be low in fat or calories. Check to see how many servings are in a pre-packed ready meal – if it seems small add vegetables or get yourself some fruit for dessert.
Tips and Tricks
- You don’t need to buy these meals forever – use them as a guide to serving your own controlled portions in the future.
- Ready meals for one often look quite small on the plate since most of them are missing vegetables or salad – so remember to serve a large portion of these alongside the meal.
- Keep a bag of mixed vegetables in the freezer (or the single serve ready-to-steam bags). Pop a portion into the microwave while you are re-heating your healthy ready-made dish to create a balanced meal in minutes.
- Not all ready-made meals are low fat – some are covered in rich and creamy sauces.
- Check the nutrition information labels of ready-made meals, as they may not be as healthy as you think (particularly with regard to sodium content). It is always best to go for the ‘healthy’ option. However, ones that have cream based sauces are usually higher in fat, calories and salt than other options.
- If there are no ‘healthy’ options – choose the best option – read the labels and find the lowest calorie meal you can and be creative with healthy side dishes.
We all like to be healthy and to be sure that we're doing the best we can for ourselves, and our families, health.
Join GetFit Nutrition and start leading a healthy life today. No joining fee and we're confident that you’ll find healthy ways to lose weight when you join, but for peace of mind, we'll refund your money within 7 days if for any reason you don't! Click here to join today...