What is the difference between..........

I think humans cook and machines process - therein lies the problem.

Jings I googled but couldn't blue the wotsit.
#notcleverlikeyou

I use machines. Food processor, mixer, liquidiser.

#justdontgetit

#iusemrsoopdoesthatcount

Processed food also has various additives to preserve and add colour/taste/bulk up etc. I dread to think what's in most processed foods.

Food is processed to meet a demand. Shelf life is extended, food can be eaten out of season and the ready meal industry was built on the needs of the working mother, single person, students, the elderly and people who simply don't want to cook.

Just read the ingredients on the back of the packaging if you want to know what's in there.

I fall into two of those two categories.

Processed has all those funny additives so supermarkets can keep them on sale longer but as soon as the air makes contact they start to detereate hense the best buy date on all fresh food stuffs.Well that my idea of it anyway don't know if it's right or not.

Even Waitrose and Marks and Sparks? I like ready meals.

Cook-chill products like lasagne and cottage pie start to lose quality once they have reached their best before date. Once opened they have to be treated like fresh food as bacteria can then multiply and contaminate the food.

Cooking means food is a pleasure, food processing means food as fuel.

Agree Flickety

It's not a pleasure for me. Tbh. Never has been.

Never been harmed by a ready meal.

Eating is a pleasure.

I find cooking a meal, eating it and having a glass of wine while dissecting the day with DH one of life's greatest pleasures!

Just been doing that myself

jo8 it is the eating that is the pleasure, not the cooking. I cook because I enjoy eating a wide range of different foods and flavours. I am always cutting recipes out of magazines and newspapers - and using them.

I have rarely enjoyed a ready meal.

I was only asking what is the difference........... Oh, never mind.

Processing means -- Food is to be prepared for cooking.

Cooking means -- Food is prepared and ready to Serve.

I find the vegetarian ready main course items very variable indeed. I usually try them all once and then only buy the ones that are worth having. I have not found a decent ready meal veggie lasagne anywhere.

I do use frozen soya based meat free, mince. I don't often read the lables though. Perhaps I should start.

I like cooking but it's not the same when I'm doing it just for me. When I visit the family, my DSs tend to take over the kitchen and sometimes do the same when they come to me. No complaints - they are both excellent and imaginative cooks. Veggie ready meals usually don't attract me - it's so easy just to cook some pasta and throw in some pesto and/or parmesan. That's my default position.

I think the main difference is that you know what is in the meal if you cook it from scratch but don't if you buy it ready made (processed) - your choice. Unless of course you are a chemist and then you perhaps do know what all those things in the list are.

Most of our meals are made from scratch but there is nothing wrong with the occassional ready made although it is always important to recognise that you usually get what you paid for.

jings...shoulders back, deep breath, onwards and all that...

but for people physically unable to cook themselves, how reliable are these food delivery services? Apparently cooked fresh then frozen, but is there some processing in between at some point?