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It’s lunch time on the East Coast, and if you’re getting ready to unwrap and zap a Lean Cuisine or Healthy Choice, you may not want to read this article. Today, Jezebel ran a totally disturbing gallery of images of actual frozen diet food. It’s a bit disturbing, and may make you consider your next lunch break.
Flipping through this Jezebel gallery made me wonder why these meals, which, to be fair, weren’t exactly elegantly photographed (I’m sure softer lighting and some creative angling could probably make them look less repulsive) are so popular. So popular, in fact, that frozen food has its own industry group, and that between diet pills and frozen meals, weight loss is a billion-dollar industry.
These tiny, plastic-wrapped plates of goo tend to run between $3 and $6 apiece (which is cheaper than eating lunch out, but not as inexpensive as making food at home), don’t look particularly tasty, and are rarely vegetarian-friendly. Why would anyone go this route?
I’ve met health enthusiasts who are also, say, busy moms or in the process of going back to school, and they swear by the latest lines of frozen diet meals, mostly because they’re quick and easy to purchase on the go. And when the next-fastest alternative is actual fast food, these frozen dishes start to look pretty appealing.
Additionally, they do tend to be fairly balanced, and recently many of them are shying away from the preservative-heavy recipes that used to traditionally be the standard. But–and perhaps this is as a result of many of these manufacturers trying to get away from lots of emulsifiers and stabilizers–quick, easy, and high in protein doesn’t exactly always add up to “healthy,” particularly when these meals are short on the important stuff, like real, actual veggies. Just ask Mark Bittman, whose TED talk illuminates the need of plants–and not just the nutrients in them.
Sure, these meals probably taste better than they look, especially if you eat them quickly and perhaps gussy them up a little with some Tabasco. But if nothing else, seeing them in this objective, pure form is definitely enough to consider skipping the frozen stuff and opting for lush, colorful whole foods, instead.
Image: Jezebel, whose brilliant gallery is a must-see.
Look, I can’t cook and since I’m alone and don’t like going in a restaurant
by myself, what else can I eat but frozen dinners? Besides, what’s wrong
with Lean Cuisine? Since they’re frozen, I don’t have to worry about them being bacteria-laden. Also, what Lean Cuisine I buy are delicious.
And fairly priced. I think you anti-Lean Cuisine people don’t know
what you’re talking about, in my opinion.
It’s bad, true. Sadly they are even cheaper than you tought though, on sale sometimes for as low as a dollar or a dollar fifty each. Why do folks keep eating them? Because they don’t know better, and they think they are doing the right thing. Also, that cheap factor. For many families they feel like they don’t have a choice.