Healthiest ready meals from Tesco and Aldi revealed – the best food to make in minutes that won’t bust your waistline
READY meals are often packed with salt, fat and sugar – but not all of them will bust your waistline.
In fact some are pretty high in protein and relatively low calorie, so ideal for those who are watching their weight.
Experts have crunched the numbers to reveal the top 10 pre-packaged dinners to help you make informed nutritional decisions.
In at number one was Tesco’s calorie-controlled chicken roast dinner with a score of 85/100.
The 380g serving, which costs £3, comes with gravy, potatoes, carrots and peas and contains 249 calories.
In second place, scoring 83.8/100, was sweet and sour chicken from Slimming World, available in Iceland for £4.25.
The 500g dish contains 300 calories and boasts 39g of protein.
And the bronze medal went to the calorie controlled tomato and basil chicken offering from Tesco.
It costs £3, contains 286 calories and scored 80/100.
The rest of the list was made up of chicken and steak meals from Aldi, Tesco and Slimming World.
All had fewer than 90 calories per 100g, were fairly high in protein and low in saturated fat and salt, and scored above 67/100.
Chef and nutrition coach Lisa Marley while not as good as preparing meals from scratch, ready-made ones don’t have to be unhealthy.
“If someone isn’t able to cook for themselves, then yes, a healthy ready meal is better than a takeaway,” she said.
“For instance, an elderly person who isn’t able to shop locally or cook regularly would benefit from a nutritious ready meal.”
She also said that keeping an eye on nutrition labels helps give shoppers a good understanding of how valuable – or not – a meal is.
“Things to look out for are the amount of saturated fat,” Lisa said.
“This number is important for a number of reasons, including heart health.
“Foods with 1g or less per serving are considered low in saturated fat.
“For overall health, it’s best to avoid trans fat. Look for foods with 0g of trans fat.
“Try to avoid items with hydrogenated oils as they can contribute to obesity and disease.
“Hydrogenated fat in processed foods is the main source of trans fats in foods.”
The data, analysed by Chemist4U, is correct as of March 2023.