Convenience Foods: Benefits and a Word of Caution

In today’s fast paced life, where both the parents are always on the move, reliance on Convenience Foods for kids is on the rise. In fact, kids are fast becoming one of the main targets of the rapidly growing Convenience foods' Industry. In developing countries although the ready to eat cooked meals are still in a nascent stage and currently consumed by a small group of consumers in cities, instant snack products like noodles have achieved popularity by a large section of the population.  Many international players like Uniliver and Nestle are making huge investments in view of expanding their presence in the food industry in these countries.

Convenience Foods may be classified as Canned Foods like Baked beans, fish, meat products, fruits, vegetables and soups; Frozen Foods like packed off-season vegetables, pizzas, potatoes chips; Fully Processed or ready to eat foods like spaghetti in sauce, fried rice, noodles and curries and Semi-processed foods requiring some preparation at the time of serving such as one minute noodles, idli mixes and cake and bakery mix products.

Why are parents resorting to more and more Frozen Foods? The follwoing are some of the advantages of frozen food;

• These foods are quick, convenient and ready to use, ideal for families where both parents are working.
• Packed and processed foods have shelf value and can be conveniently stored for longer than fresh foods.
• Kids are beginning to exercise their choice with respect to food and some microwable products (like cup noodles or one minute popcorn) are so simple to prepare that even kids can make them at their convenience. Similar is the case with cereals and confectionaries.
• With finicky kids around, resorting to ready to eat food helps the parent offer a wide variety to the child to choose from.

In view of the above factors, more and more companies are introducing products targeting the little consumers. McCain Foods, no stranger to kids has added Dinosaurs & Things Fries to its line of frozen potatoes. Similar other products are the Superfast Smiles fried potatoes and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Pizza. These and many others are commonly seen in the supermarkets today.

However, parents resorting to Convenient foods should stuff their  kitchen shelves with caution. A lot of these products contain unhealthy amounts of fats, trans-fats and sugars. Products containing addictives, artificial colourings and preservatives are not suitable for regular consumption. On the other hand, choosing frozen vegetables, fruits or whole grain pastas are a healthier option as certain foods frozen straight from harvest can retain more nutrients than stored fresh food. For example, fresh peas can lose 10-20% of their vitamin C within one day of harvesting.

It is, therefore, important for parents to be intelligent and enlightened consumers while choosing food for their kids.