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Grocery Industry Confronts a Problem: Only 10% of Americans Love Cooking (2017)

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Re: Grocery Industry Confronts a Problem: Only 10% of Americans Love Cooking (2017)

#121

Post by Symbiote »

uoaei wrote: post #104
baroffoos wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Almost all foods seem to get destroyed in the freezing process and lose their texture. I have found that at my supermarket they sell refrigerated meals that just need to be microwaved and they taste outstanding. As long as you make sure to stir them half way through so they don't dry out at the top you could literally serve it at a restaurant and I don't think people would notice.

I have a feeling there are more than a few restaurants which do basically exactly this.

There are plenty of places in the UK where this is done. I'm sorry when visitors eat in these places, and either don't realise £6.50 for a meal means it can only be microwaved from a box, or get ripped off and pay £12 for it.

This is a major supplier.

https://www.brake.co.uk/meal-solutions/multi-portion-prepare...

Re: Grocery Industry Confronts a Problem: Only 10% of Americans Love Cooking (2017)

#122

Post by Animats »

petra wrote: post #115
Animats wrote: post #99

The article mentions "microwave assisted thermal sterilization". That's useful. Most of the advantages of food irradiation without the PR problem. This apparently came from US military R&D, which is now able to get sandwiches and pizza into MREs. Most foods can now be packaged for a long shelf life.

True. The real question is: why aren't we seeing products yet ?

One company has a patent monopoly, they're not a big company, and they're not licensing it to a big company. You have to use their equipment. Their last news update was in 2018, a bad sign.

Amazon Fresh was talking about it last year, but didn't go that route. Amazon/Whole Foods has been fooling around with meal kits, but meal kits turned out to be a dud business.[1] What people in the US seem to want is ready to eat delivery. And there's already frozen food, after all. There's interest in Asia and Australia, where the cold chain for frozen food is more of a problem.

The military thinks it's great, though. They can offer a lot more food variety to troops in the field. Not so much for preppers, though. Newer MRE products only have a useful life of 3 years. The military doesn't need to store them forever, after all; they just need something that can survive a long, slow supply chain.

[1] https://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-meal-kits-blue-apron-...

Re: Grocery Industry Confronts a Problem: Only 10% of Americans Love Cooking (2017)

#123

Post by bad_user »

This is why we are obese. We eat ultra-processed crap designed for overconsumption.

Food cooked at home is made of fresh whole foods, meat and plants, high in protein, potassium and all things good for your health. Whether you prefer high or low carb doesn't even matter, what matters more is quality.

Also if you need a surrogate metric for whether you're eating a healthy diet, try to measure for a few days what you're eating via Cronometer. If you don't eat enough protein or you're having trouble meeting the recommended potassium intake (the one by WHO at a minimum, which is 3500 mg per day, ideal being the US one of 4700 mg / day) ... then your diet is crap.

Not that supplementing potassium will magically improve your diet, it won't, but this is the best surrogate marker I found for everything that's missing from the standard diet.

Re: Grocery Industry Confronts a Problem: Only 10% of Americans Love Cooking (2017)

#124

Post by chmod775 »

JMTQp8lwXL wrote: post #39
sonofaplum wrote: post #24

I've been seeing a nutritionist to try to help with weight loss and his emphasis has been on a healthy plate, which is a plate that is half vegetables, a quarter protein, a quarter starch or grains. Even at nice restaurants, it is extremely difficult to order meals that fit these proportions, and, as you move down the quick service spectrum it gets harder and harder. By the time you arrive at fast food, its difficult…

I never understood why vegetables are difficult to get as a "fast food" format. With salt pepper oil and heat, they can be very tasty. There has to be a huge market for Jack in the box equivalent for healthy eating. Most of the existing fast casual chains miss the mark. Chipotle comes to mind, but it's still mostly grains and protein and still lacking in vegetables, beyond the optional pico de gallo for your burrito.

The single most popular fast food in Berlin is Döner Kebab, which is about 40% fresh vegetables, 25% bread, 30% grilled meat and some sauce/spices.

It's not super unhealthy as fast foods go.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/94/Doener_K...

Re: Grocery Industry Confronts a Problem: Only 10% of Americans Love Cooking (2017)

#125

Post by me_me_me »

dexwiz wrote: post #36
sonofaplum wrote: post #24

I've been seeing a nutritionist to try to help with weight loss and his emphasis has been on a healthy plate, which is a plate that is half vegetables, a quarter protein, a quarter starch or grains. Even at nice restaurants, it is extremely difficult to order meals that fit these proportions, and, as you move down the quick service spectrum it gets harder and harder. By the time you arrive at fast food, its difficult…

Traditional American cooking seems to be a Protein + 2 sides. On the surface most vegetarian options become 1) replace meat with tofu or 2) a salad. Both of which get boring very quickly. For vegetarian dishes it’s helpful to look at non European cuisines. Curries and soups both have a huge variety and don’t require a meat to be complete. Chickpeas also make a great protein substitute besides Tofu. Dumplings are othe…

>Finally, cooking with spices makes vegetables much more varied. Americans seem to think spices and rubs are only for meat and vegetables need to be plain. A well spiced vegetable dish is delicious.

No, you are wrong. And that a pitfall that for some reason a lot of people fall into.

ALL dishes need spices to make food taste better. All meat is seasoned when cooked. Why people cook vegies without seasoning and complain its bland is strange to me.

Re: Grocery Industry Confronts a Problem: Only 10% of Americans Love Cooking (2017)

#126

Post by dreamcompiler »

JMTQp8lwXL wrote: post #106
dreamcompiler wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Brussels sprouts and cauliflower, to name just two, are outstanding when cooked this way.

If you want to bring your brussels sprouts to the next level, add bacon and maple syrup.

I'm amused that we're talking about recipes on HN but then after all recipes are algorithms.

Re: Grocery Industry Confronts a Problem: Only 10% of Americans Love Cooking (2017)

#127

Post by chrisseaton »

nradov wrote: post #87
chrisseaton wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A quarter protein? That's insane. You only need about 60 grammes of protein a day. Why are you eating a quarter of your food in protein?

That's like the bare minimum to avoid obvious nutritional deficiency. For optimal health and athletic performance most people can benefit from significantly more.

It's not the minimum it's the recommended.

Re: Grocery Industry Confronts a Problem: Only 10% of Americans Love Cooking (2017)

#128

Post by xattt »

braindeath wrote: post #88
xattt wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is. Nasogastric and percutaneous gastrostomy tubes are commonly used for various reasons in hospital settings. Now ask your self, will you really get surgery for convenience and productivity sake only? Any sane person will say no.

> Now ask your self, will you really get surgery for convenience and productivity sake only? Any sane person will say no. That's a bit of an unsubstantiated and far-reaching statement. Why not? People get surgery literally for appearance sake only. A great deal of orthopedic treatments are for convenience and productivity only. You can make this argument for just about any elective procedure. Yes, some people have bo…

There is an “ick” factor about having a medical device without necessity that requires occasional maintenance that cosmetic surgery does not. In a case of medical necessity, the “ick” factor is overridden by the individual desiring some degree of quality of life.

Taken to the extreme, the programmer truly devoted to coding productivity can equip themselves with a PEG, a feeding pump, a Foley catheter and a Dignicare device to manage all bodily functions.

Re: Grocery Industry Confronts a Problem: Only 10% of Americans Love Cooking (2017)

#129

Post by awesomekid1234 »

nradov wrote: post #77
dexwiz wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Traditional American cooking seems to be a Protein + 2 sides. On the surface most vegetarian options become 1) replace meat with tofu or 2) a salad. Both of which get boring very quickly. For vegetarian dishes it’s helpful to look at non European cuisines. Curries and soups both have a huge variety and don’t require a meat to be complete. Chickpeas also make a great protein substitute besides Tofu. Dumplings are othe…

Chickpeas are tasty but the protein quality as measured by DIAAS score is significantly worse than red meat. In particular they are deficient in tryptophan.

Isn’t tryptophan the thing that makes you sleepy.

Re: Grocery Industry Confronts a Problem: Only 10% of Americans Love Cooking (2017)

#130

Post by mam2 »

sonofaplum wrote: post #24

I've been seeing a nutritionist to try to help with weight loss and his emphasis has been on a healthy plate, which is a plate that is half vegetables, a quarter protein, a quarter starch or grains. Even at nice restaurants, it is extremely difficult to order meals that fit these proportions, and, as you move down the quick service spectrum it gets harder and harder. By the time you arrive at fast food, its difficult…

> emphasis has been on a healthy plate, which is a plate that is half vegetables, a quarter protein, a quarter starch or grains.

a little off topic but emphasis should be on reducing the calories. eating healthily helps feeling full and thus can help achieve this but it's not the actual lever

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