Homemade Food vs Ready Meals – Which Really Wins?


 

Homemade Food vs Ready Meals – Which Really Wins?

We live in a world of convenience. Pop it in the oven. Ding the microwave. Eat. Done.

But is that convenience costing us more than just a few pounds?

Let’s look at homemade food vs ready meals — through the lenses of health, cost, sustainability, and long-term thinking.

🍳 Homemade Food

✅ The Advantages

1. You control the ingredients
Salt, sugar, fats, portion size — all in your hands. No hidden additives.

2. Lower cost per portion
A homemade chilli or pasta bake often costs half the price per serving compared to premium ready meals.

3. Less packaging waste
Fewer plastic trays, sleeves and films heading to landfill.

4. Better for your health
Many ready meals fall into the category of ultra-processed foods (UPFs). Cooking from scratch generally means fewer emulsifiers, stabilisers and preservatives.

5. Teaches skills
Cooking is a life skill. Like sailing or repairing a boat cover, once learned, it serves you for decades.

❌ The Challenges

  • Time after a long working day

  • Planning meals in advance

  • Washing up (let’s be honest)

But batch cooking on a Sunday afternoon can solve half of that.

🍲 Ready Meals

✅ The Advantages

1. Convenience
10 minutes and dinner is done.

2. Portion control
Can help avoid overeating (unless you add garlic bread…).

3. Accessibility
Helpful for elderly people, busy families, or those lacking cooking confidence.

❌ The Downsides

  • Often high in salt and sugar

  • Frequently ultra-processed

  • Expensive per calorie

  • Heavy plastic packaging

  • Can disconnect us from understanding food

From a sustainability point of view, the packaging alone is problematic. And as someone running a solar-powered home, it feels slightly ironic to power a microwave using sunshine… to heat food wrapped in plastic that will outlive us all.

💷 The Cost Comparison (Typical UK Example)

Meal TypeCost per PortionPackagingNutritional Control
Homemade Chilli~£1.50–£2.00MinimalHigh
Branded Ready Meal£3.50–£5.00HighLow

Over a year, that difference could be £1,000+ per household.

🌍 The Environmental Angle

Homemade cooking:

  • Lower transport footprint

  • Bulk buying reduces waste

  • Less plastic

  • Compostable scraps

Ready meals:

  • High processing energy

  • Individual packaging

  • Cold chain storage

If we’re serious about cutting emissions and waste, food choices matter as much as heating systems or electric cars.

⚖️ So What’s the Real Answer?

It’s not all-or-nothing.

Maybe:

  • 80% homemade

  • 20% emergency lasagne nights

Balance is realistic. Perfection isn’t.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

New Filtration Technology Could Be a Game-Changer in Removing PFAS “Forever Chemicals”

Image
New Filtration Technology Could Be a Game-Changer in Removing PFAS “Forever Chemicals”  PFAS – often called “forever chemicals” – have a nasty habit of doing exactly what their nickname suggests: they don’t break down , they build up in the environment, and they accumulate in our bodies. Used for decades in non-stick cookware, waterproof clothing, firefighting foams, food packaging and industrial processes, PFAS are now found in rivers, groundwater, drinking water – and even rain . The scale of the problem has felt overwhelming. Until now. A breakthrough from the lab Researchers at Rice University have developed a new filtration material that could dramatically change how we deal with PFAS pollution. Their peer-reviewed research describes a layered double hydroxide (LDH) material made from copper and aluminium that can: Absorb long-chain PFAS up to 100× faster than current filtration systems Target the most persistent and dangerous PFAS compounds Potentially destr...
Read more

Using Ecosia: The Search Engine That Plants Trees

Image
  Using Ecosia: The Search Engine That Plants Trees ( Click. Search. Plant. Repeat. ) Imagine if every time you googled something, you planted a tree. No, it’s not some kind of green-tech fantasy — it’s Ecosia , a real search engine that uses its ad revenue to fund global reforestation projects. And all it takes is changing your browser’s homepage. What Is Ecosia? Ecosia is a free, privacy-respecting search engine based in Germany. It works just like Google or Bing, but with a twist: They use 100% of their profits to plant trees. So far, they've funded over 180 million trees in places like: Brazil Burkina Faso Madagascar Indonesia Kenya All you have to do is search the web. That’s it. You search — they plant. How It Works Every time you search on Ecosia, the platform earns revenue from clicks on sponsored search results (just like Google). Roughly 45 searches = 1 tree . The money goes to vetted reforestation projects with a focus on: Native bi...
Read more

Insulation: Can You Ever Have Enough?

Image
  Insulation: Can You Ever Have Enough ? Short answer: almost certainly not . Longer answer: many UK homes have some insulation, but far fewer have the right amount, in the right places, installed to modern standards . This blog looks at the crucial difference between what you have and what you should have – and why that gap matters for your comfort, bills, and carbon footprint. What Most Homes Have If your house was built before the 2000s, typical insulation looks like this: 🏠 Loft 100–150 mm of mineral wool Often patchy, compressed, or missing at the edges 🧱 Walls Cavity walls : may have older blown insulation (or none at all) Solid walls (common pre-1920): usually uninsulated 🪵 Floors Timber floors with no insulation underneath Draughts coming up through gaps you only notice in winter 🚪 Windows & doors Double glazing, but with: Poor seals Thermal bridges around frames This setup was once considered “reasonable”. By tod...
Read more