When pre-prepared dishes appear on the New Year’s Eve dinner table, what will you choose?

Pre-prepared meals are popular among many consumers because they are convenient, delicious, affordable and adaptable to fast-paced lifestyles.

Now that the Spring Festival is approaching, major e-commerce platforms and supermarkets have launched a wide variety of pre-prepared food products, focusing on the theme of "a delicious choice that saves time and effort". Creative meal combinations, flavorful main dishes and snacks, as well as distinctive family meals have attracted the attention of many consumers.

Some people think that "pre-prepared dishes are a new trend in the catering industry. If they meet safety standards, you can choose pre-prepared dishes for the New Year's Eve dinner." Others think that "pre-prepared dishes have low nutritional value and poor taste, and may contain too many preservatives and food additives, so it is better to make the New Year's Eve dinner yourself."

But more and more data show that pre-prepared meals are appearing on New Year’s Eve dinner tables in large quantities. Faced with this situation, what would you choose?

1. What is pre-prepared food?

Recently, the discussion about pre-prepared meals has caused quite a bit of controversy online. First, let's take a look at what pre-prepared meals are. Pre-prepared meals are pre-processed (such as cutting, mixing, marinating, rolling, kneading, shaping, seasoning, etc.) or pre-cooked (such as stir-frying, deep-frying, baking, boiling, steaming, etc.) using standardized assembly line operations and are pre-packaged finished or semi-finished dishes.

Simply put, **any food that has been processed and cooked to a certain extent in a food processing plant or manufacturer can be called a pre-prepared meal. **Eight-treasure porridge, quick-frozen steamed buns, dumplings, rice balls, sandwiches, delicious pickled pepper chicken feet, Zhou Hei Ya, etc. in our daily life are all pre-prepared meals, and even KFC and McDonald's that we have eaten since childhood are also pre-prepared meals.

2. What are the categories of pre-prepared meals?

1. Ready-to-cook: Ready-to-cook ingredients have undergone basic processing such as washing and cutting during the production process, so that consumers can skip these steps when cooking and directly use ready-to-cook ingredients for cooking.

2. Ready-to-eat (pre-packaged food): eight-treasure porridge, canned food, ham sausage, and all kinds of snacks that can be enjoyed directly after opening the bag;

3. Ready-to-cook: semi-finished dishes that need to be heated and cooked, produced by major central kitchens; this model is mainly aimed at fast food, restaurant chains and other industries, providing convenience for kitchen operations and catering services.

4. Instant heating: quick-frozen products such as quick-frozen dumplings and glutinous rice balls, self-heating hot pot rice in supermarkets, etc.; also the New Year’s Eve dinner “cooking packs” launched by major brands. These “cooking packs” usually include a variety of vegetables, meats, seasonings, etc. Consumers only need to follow the instructions for simple heating and cooking to make a delicious New Year’s Eve dinner in a short time.

3. The rise and popularity of pre-prepared meals

What is the reason?

Faster pace of life: The pace of life in modern society has obviously accelerated. Many people are busy with work and study, and time has become a scarce resource. Pre-prepared meals can significantly save cooking time and meet the modern people's pursuit of convenience.

Increased work pressure: More and more people are facing work pressure. In order to better balance work and life, many people choose more convenient food solutions. The convenience of pre-prepared meals meets this demand.

The increase in single-person and small families: The increase in the number of single people and small families has made traditional large-scale cooking less practical. Pre-prepared meals provide suitable ingredient combinations and cooking solutions for this group of people.

Diversified consumer tastes: Consumers have increasingly diverse requirements for food, and the pre-prepared food market offers a wide variety of flavors and cuisines to meet personalized taste needs.

Technological progress: The continuous advancement of food processing technology and the application of technologies such as freezing technology and vacuum packaging have made food easier to preserve and process, providing a better production basis for pre-prepared meals.

Takeaway apps: The number of orders may increase significantly in a short period of time. Using pre-prepared meals can better cope with sudden surges in orders, ensure that the taste and quality of the food remain consistent across different orders, and improve customer satisfaction.

In general, the reason why pre-prepared meals are so popular is due to many reasons, such as changes in social lifestyles, the development of technology, and the diversity of consumer needs. As pre-prepared meals have become closely integrated with our lives, we need to have a deep understanding of their advantages and disadvantages to ensure that we make more wise choices.

4. Pre-prepared meals need to be viewed rationally

Pre-prepared meals, due to their time-saving, convenience, and variety of flavors, have adapted to the needs of modern fast food and provided a convenient cooking solution for busy lives, allowing us to enjoy delicious dishes in a shorter time. These advantages of pre-prepared meals do provide great convenience for our work and life, but we must also understand their possible disadvantages.

1. Nutritional loss: Pre-prepared meals usually undergo normal cooking processes during the preparation process, and also include high-temperature sterilization or frozen storage steps, which may result in some loss of nutritional value.

2. Food additives: Some pre-prepared dishes contain additives and preservatives for a special taste and longer shelf life, which poses potential risks to health.

3. High salt and high sugar: In order to enhance the taste, some pre-prepared dishes may contain high salt and sugar, which may not be ideal for people who pursue a healthy diet.

4. Loss of the fun of traditional cooking: For example, New Year’s Eve dinner is usually a time for family reunion, and the traditional cooking process is also a way for family members to interact and share. Using too many pre-prepared dishes may lose the fun and intimacy of traditional cooking.

Although some steps in food processing may have a certain impact on the nutrition of food, the modern food industry usually adopts advanced technology to maximize the nutritional value of food. At the same time, the convenience and long-term preservation of pre-prepared dishes provide real convenience for busy lives. In a short period of time, people can easily enjoy delicious dishes, making the use of pre-prepared dishes in special occasions such as New Year's Eve dinner a reasonable choice.

Therefore, the deliciousness and convenience of using pre-prepared dishes in the New Year's Eve dinner should not be overly criticized. The key is to eat in moderation. As long as you don't rely too much on pre-prepared dishes and maintain a balanced and diverse diet, potential problems can be avoided.

So, friends, are you going to cook your own New Year's Eve dinner this year? Or have you already ordered a pre-made meal? Come to the comment section to discuss with Tadpole Jun~

References:

[1] Yang Zhaokui. Pre-prepared dishes “take over” the New Year’s Eve dinner table, can you accept it? [N]. Workers’ Daily, 2024-01-29(004).

[2] Ma Jia. Frozen food companies are entering the pre-prepared food market[N]. China Business News, 2022-08-11(006). [3] Zhang Lili, Zhang Chuchu. Food safety risks and governance measures in the pre-prepared food industry[J]. Cereals, Oils and Food Science and Technology, 2024, 32(01): 201-208. DOI: 10.16210/j.cnki.1007-7561.2024.01.026.

[4] Li Meng. Why are pre-prepared dishes still popular? [J]. Guangcai, 2023, (12): 9.

[5] Jin Liang, Wang Xilong, Ding Xiangjiang, et al. Research on consumers’ perception of pre-prepared meals: based on the analysis of 277 online questionnaires[J]. China Business Review, 2023, (19): 95-99. DOI: 10.19699/j.cnki.issn2096-0298.2023.19.095.

Author: Xiaojuan is not a volume

Master of Food Science and Engineering, Henan University of Technology

Image source: Qianku.com