Ready meals for rug rats

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Posted at 11:15AM, 08 July 2008 by Carol Wilson - food writer

I'm sure I'm not alone in noticing the amount of food advertising aimed at children. Companies spend millions of pounds bombarding kids with adverts for foods that are often high in fat, sugar and salt. A whole range of popular breakfast cereals, for instance, feature favourite cartoon characters and free toys are often included as an extra incentive.

But it's not just children that are being targeted, it's parents too. A huge market has grown up in children's ready meals, as manufacturers successfully tap into parents' concerns about their children's health, by offering an ever increasing range of brightly packaged frozen, chilled, organic, 'healthy' meals. The ages targeted range from 6 months to 15 years, with meals including cottage pie, Lancashire hotpot, lasagne, curry, pasta, risotto and exotic desserts made with mangoes, guavas and pomegranates.

Why do we need special foods for kids anyway? Why do we think that children won't be happy to eat the same foods as adults?

TV ads try to convince us that ready-made meals are much better than anything we could make at home; but - think about it - given that many of these are mass-produced in factories, is this credible?

Why do we need special foods for kids anyway? Why do we think that children won't be happy to eat the same foods as adults? After all, until Gerber created baby food in 1927, babies ate a puréed version of what adults ate and 'children's meals' didn't exist at all until the late 1970s.

The rest of Europe expects children to eat the same meals as the grown ups, whether in a restaurant or at home. In France, Spain and Italy, the evening meal is a time for the whole family to sit down together and talk about their day.

In Britain, some enlightened restaurants do offer smaller portions from the adults menu, but there are lots of 'family restaurants' offering special children's menus featuring the usual uninspiring fish fingers, sausages, burgers, chicken nuggets, et al.

I was in a smart restaurant in Italy recently, when a large family group arrived - children, parents, grandparents and a very young baby. The staff welcomed them with smiles and cooed over the baby in his basket. There was no special menu for children. The children aged from about two to 12 years, ate exactly the same as the adults, just smaller portions. No one made a fuss - they just enjoyed their meal together as a family.

As a mum myself, my experience is that children who grow up with fresh, home cooked food develop a love of food and enjoy tasting new foods. A survey by Dairy Farmers of Britain revealed that many children have no idea where their food comes from and has launched a campaign to reconnect children with their food. Let's hope it succeeds.

Comments

smitty

8 July, 3:51PM
smitty

I'm a working mum and don't have much time to cook so buy organic childrens ready meals. They are expensive but save so much time and I'm sure I couldn't cook anything as good

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june

8 July, 4:39PM
june

I'm lucky as my 2 (Under 8) will try anything and love having the same as mummy and daddy. When going out for dinner they love ordering from and same menu and just getting a smaller portion. Why do same places think little ones only want chips. When in Ireland about 6 years ago nearly all the restaurants offered half portions, something which we should start asking for more over here instead of Chicken nuggets.

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Chris Pakett

8 July, 5:04PM
Chris Pakett

How I would have loved ready meals for kids. When I was school, my mum (bless her sole) was the world's worse cook, spoiling everything. Even Instant Whip turned out lumpy. My brother and I loved school meals. As the old joke goes "The dog was soon cured of begging".

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kipperelli

8 July, 6:03PM
kipperelli

I agree with all the comments. There seems to be a mentality that chicken nuggets, smiley faces etc are a rite of passage for childhood plus I certainly wouldn't choose them so why should I give them to mychildren. However there's nothing wrong with some of the ready meals they can be healthy options and time savers. I try to make sure we all eat toghether so we all eat the same if we can't because of swimming karate etc healthy ready meals or things I've made in the freezer are great standby's they can be just as easy as nuggets!

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Tom secrets!

8 July, 10:19PM
Tom secrets!

Is not part of the point of childrens ready meals to provide alternate nutrition, such as having less salt as to not be so harmful??

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igglepiggle

9 July, 10:19PM
igglepiggle

Why do we need ready meals for children or adults???

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Duncan

10 July, 1:45PM
Duncan

We live in China and the concept of separate meals for children just doesn't exist. Kids eat the same as the whole family. Dishes are placed in the centre of the table and the whole family takes what they want. So our kids usually eat the same as us. There are times however, when time is short and the kids are hungry that ready meals are a life saver, but these meals are never designed specifically for kids and are usually reasonably healthy.

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LizMacau88

12 July, 8:49AM
LizMacau88

Duncan, I live in China too and agree with wht you say, despite the fact that restaurants can get very noisy indeed! As a child I never had a ready meal, we all ate the same at the same time. As Carol says at the beginning of her article, many of these ready meals contain salt, fat and sugar which, many people do not realise, are addictive. Can't you just see the boardroom scenario: Brainstorming meeting to plan new meals -- "how much fat, salt and sugar can we get into our next creations to make sure that we hook the kids and sell more -- and then make more profit" That's the bottom line for these companies so don't be fooled by all these healthy claims. Sure, some are OK, but the majorit not and any child can eat the same food as an adult as previous posters have stated.

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StormyRaincloud

12 July, 3:24PM
StormyRaincloud

I have 7 children and none of them even know what a ready meal is. I have had a look at some of these 'healthy' ready meals, and am absolutely appalled at the amount of salt in them. Some have more than an adult should have per day. My youngest is 15 months old and has had the same foods as us since he was weaned. Even spicy curries. Using the excuse of working is just that, an excuse. I have worked and still managed to feed my kids healthy decent meals. A lot of meals take just half an hour or lessto prepare and cook. What's half an hour? A lot of people just don't care what they are shovelling into their kids. Quick and easy meals that are healthy are so much easier than ruining my children's health, leading them to an early grave!

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JaneR

12 July, 6:51PM
JaneR

I agree with StormyRaincloud (great name!). My little boy eats what we eat, always has done. He is 4 and eats just about everything. I worked full-time when he was a baby, and he has never had anything like a "ready-meal" other than a batch of home-made bolognese sauce or similar from the freezer. I hear other parents moan all the time that their children will only eat rubbish, as if it's just what children do. But whose fault is that?? Do them a favour and cook properly for them - I believe it is our duty as a parent and you are severely letting them down nutritionally if you don't and also educating their palates to be used to "fake" food.

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Hebby

12 July, 8:06PM
Hebby

Its all about striking a healthy balance, both my husband and myself love cooking in fact some of our biggest fights have been because we both want to cook!!but I do admit to buying ready made pies as a treat .At work this week two of thw younger staff asked if I could be their mum for a week as theirs had rarely cooked a meal from scratch.

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samsfood

13 July, 6:11PM
samsfood

I love cooking a variety of food for my children but have one who will eat practically anything and the younger who is incredibly fussy (even though they were weaned exactly the same!) I definitely believe that children should eat what adults eat. My two don't like 'ready meals' - their decision not mine - which actually causes some inconvenience when out as all childrens food seems to be of the nuggets/chips variety! I totally agree that restaurants should provide small portions of adult meals whenever possible. We ate out today and the 'posh' pub refused to let us order simple ham and bread for our three year old (despite offering both of these separately on the menu) All the childrens meals were with chips which he won't eat. Needless to say we won't eat there again.

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nathan77

14 July, 3:30PM
nathan77

Our 2 year old will eat almost anything put in front of him (with the exception of sprouts - but everyone's entitled to dislike them!). I think we're lucky in that he's not fussy, but I also believe this is because we've never given in to the baby meal fad - we've fed him smaller versions of our meals from day one - this ensures he has a varied diet, it encourages him to try new foods, and has the added bonus of making us more conscious of salt and fat contents. As parents we need to go back to the way things were - my mother never once fed me anything ready-made, aside from angel delight, and I take some pride in knowing that I'm doing everything I can to give him a healthy start in life.

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Sarah-Emily

20 July, 7:32PM
Sarah-Emily

I was brought up by a single unemployed mum, ready meals in our house would have been a luxury she couldn't have afforded, so I ate whatever she ate-or else I didn't eat!! However harsh that sounds, I owe her a lot for it, I am happy to say that there is really not much I wouldn't eat now. Even things I don't really like, if they were put on front of me I would give them a go. I remember when I was a child ( I'm only 25 now so it really wasn't that long ago!) being taken out for dinner by my mum and her partner for a treat and all that was on the menu for me was:pizza, sausages,chicken nuggets and fish fingers (I believe this was before they actually contained fish) all served with chips and a choice of peas or beans! I didn't want this, what I really wanted was the lasagne but even after pleas from my mum they refused point blank to allow me to have even an adult portion! That whole even still bothers me today!

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