The way we eat and prepare meals has not changed too much over the last few decades. How could it? The ingredients are nothing new and the way we cook them are virtually the same. With the addition of the microwave and the way it is packaged and the convenience of the way we get our meals already prepared are the biggest ways it has changed.

I can flash back like it was yesterday when the tv dinners were small, flat tasting with small portions packaged in tin trays. Me and my brothers heated them up in the oven when my mom was out of town and we had little other options. It was a way to get a complete meal but without many options for main courses and little portions. Now there is an array of sizes as well as options of what you can eat and can microwave it in a few minutes. A dieter can even go the route of a Nutrisystem or Healthy Choice. With a measured meal and no room for overeating it can be beneficial to use these when cutting the fat. There also is the option of buying the prepared meals in bulk which they have many many options at Sams Club.

While in my teenage years when the parents were gone and with four brothers we were stocked with bags of buffalo wings, breaded chicken tenders, quesadillas, steak sandwiches, frozen vegetables (usually fries) and a dozen other options. To say the least we weren’t small and malnourished. Til this day the folks keep the freezer stocked for visiting family memebers on a quick visit. Looking back without the options and without the great food so readily available, we would have never went to the trouble of making any of it from scratch. The naysayers scream of processed foods and how high the cholesterol and fat content of all that type of food is to eat on a regular basis. I have to say there is some truth to that but what isn’t processed these days and how much butter and salt do you use to make everything taste better while cooking anyhow?

With the easy access of a Applebee’s at every corner, who will waste their hours preparing full course meals and reading recipe books and coming up with new ways to prepare the endless ways to make chicken. A young buck wanting to get out and lift weights and chase girls is going to watch Rachel Ray and perfect their souffle? I think not. I am reminded of a friend in college who bought 10lbs. of hamburger a week and made it all into single patties wrapped in aluminum foil. He had only burger patties in his freezer and a 12 pack of Busch in the fridge. He was from some rural place with just one McD’s and evidently ate just hamburgers plain because for lunch and dinner all I seen was burgers on the grill and a beer in one hand. Amazingly he was ripped to the bone and a physical specimen. My point being with a little genetics and packaged food, that is packed with protein albeit, it is possible to stay lean and look athletic. I know your saying, how unhealthy is this? But really, take your vitamins and eat a vegetable here and there and what else does the body require? Do we really need extra starches or the added cholesterol? I like to think of it as a caveman. Did you ever see a picture of an obese caveman. A fat dinosaur or any animal for that matter? That’s far fetched I know but think about it. The best way is to combine prepackaged meals with bulk cooking. I like to prepare a few chicken breasts or hamburgers and wrap them up and freeze them and have them throughout the week by cooking them on the George Foreman Grill or a gas grill. It’s much easier to prepare your foods ahead of time all at once and freeze them and to space out the meals for the times I do have a few minutes to cook. It’s easy to cook this way. Cooking a vegetable on the grill to go along with the meat is a great option and it cooks without the added grease and butter.

The older people I talk to can’t help but say, oh the damn internet and oh the damn chain restaurants and prepackaged foods. And how it’s all going downhill. I believe humans evolve and the things that change and stick are here to stay for a reason and that reason is because it just makes sense. The other day I was given a jar of pickled quail eggs and instantly thought of HBO’s 24/7 with Mayweather vs. Marquez and it showed Marquez eating raw quail eggs and they noted they were better for you than chicken eggs. It is a matter of time I predict these will be as readily available alongside the chicken eggs in grocery stores because it just makes sense. There is nothing to hide with the FDA monitoring what’s in the stores and no hidden dangers anymore. The prepackaged foods are just the better way. Who wants to spend half their life cooking and cleaning up their mess. Who wants to worry with counting their calories when we can just read it from the label on the box and see what exactly we are eating. If the fat and cholesterol is noticeably too high, that’s easy, go look at another healthier brand of who makes the exact same thing with less additives. At one time, everyone who wanted eggs and chicken to eat had to raise their own and someone got the smart idea to have a little extra and sell them to their neighbor. It is a new world out there, so why not enjoy the convenience of letting someone else make your dinner.