Ready-Made Meals in Stores – What to Pay Attention to When Buying Them

Don’t have time to cook every day, but are concerned about eating healthy? Store offerings are increasingly responding to consumers’ search for healthy, ready-made meals. Before buying them, however, it is worth knowing the most important rules for choosing valuable ready-made products!

29 January 2025

Ready-made meals from stores vs. healthy eating

Until a few years ago, the vast majority of ready-made meals available in stores were far from the ideal of healthy eating. Today, however, the food market has changed a lot. These are no longer the days when ready-made meals were synonymous with fast food. You can find really well-balanced meals among the ready-made products bought in stores.

In recent years, the range of ready-made meals has expanded significantly. Refrigerators full of products to be eaten cold or reheated already contain almost every type of meal: from classic Polish pierogi (dumplings), through pasta and salads, typical fast food such as pizza or burgers (also vegetarian), to sophisticated Asian dishes and wholesome bowls. The increasing variety of ready-made and off-the-shelf meals makes it easier to plan a healthy menu, especially when we are away from home.

Ready-to-eat or reheat meals include:

salads,
pasta (spaghetti, penne, pasta salads),
dishes with groats (groats with hummus, quinoa salad),
soups,
ready-to-cook foods (pierogi, kopytka, noodles, stuffed cabbage, chops),
ready-made sandwiches,
ready-made tortillas and wraps,
sushi sets,
Asian cuisine dishes (pad thai, spring rolls),
bowls,
fast food (pizza, burgers),
vegetarian meat substitutes.

Popular chain stores also cooperate with diet catering companies which deliver fresh, ready-made meals daily. These range from oatmeal and fit desserts, to elaborate salads, to salmon bowls or healthier interpretations of classic Polish dishes.

The “ready-made” category can also include some semi-finished products, which on their own may not make a whole dish, but can definitely be a healthy snack. This includes, for example, ready-made hummus, guacamole, smoothies and shakes.

Manufacturers are increasingly responding to the needs of consumers, who pay attention not only to convenience, but also to the nutritional value of the products they buy. Among highly processed dishes with questionable composition and macronutrient distribution, there are real gems that are not inferior in composition to meals prepared at home. The key, however, is to choose the right ones – it is worth knowing how to tell the difference between a healthy option and a mediocre product with low nutritional value.

What to pay attention to when choosing ready-made meals?

Although the range of ready-made meals available in stores is expanding and you can find among them really healthy offerings, not every ready-made meal will be properly balanced. Always read the composition and look at the macronutrient table before buying. Here are a few elements you should always pay attention to when choosing this type of meal:

Salt content

High salt content is one of the main drawbacks of many ready-made meals. Even if the product is well balanced in terms of macronutrients, it may contain too much salt. According to WHO guidelines, daily salt intake should not exceed 6 grams. Unfortunately, Poles often consume much more of it – even up to 15 g a day. Ready-made, processed foods do not allow to easily control the salt supply in the diet, so it is a good idea to carefully check the salt content in the table on the packaging. Pay attention to this – if a single serving provides 3 g of salt or more, there is a high risk of exceeding the daily limit.

People who are overweight and obese, as well as those suffering from high blood pressure should pay special attention to salt. In contrast, athletes and very active people who lose more sodium (the main mineral in salt) with sweat during workouts can tolerate a slightly higher salt content in ready-made meals.

Total fat and saturated fat content

When choosing ready-made meals, be sure to check the macronutrient table and pay attention to the fat content per serving – especially saturated fat. Food manufacturers are required to provide accurate data on this on the packaging.

The supply of saturated fatty acids should not exceed 10% of daily dietary energy. Their excess in the diet promotes heart diseases and lipid disorders – it can raise total and LDL cholesterol, for example. If your requirement is about 2,000 kcal per day, saturated fat should not account for more than 22 g in the menu. Pay attention to this when choosing food products. If your ready-made lunch already contains approx. 10 g of saturated fat – and this is only one of several meals you will eat during the day – it will not make it easier for you to reduce these acids in your diet.

It is worth reaching for ready-made products containing only small amounts of saturated fatty acids. In practice, this often means avoiding products with fatty sauces or lots of cheese based on cream, bacon or coconut. Also pay special attention to vegan meals! Although saturated fatty acids are usually associated with meat-based meals, vegan meat and dairy substitutes with coconut and palm fat can also provide significant amounts of saturated fatty acids.

Degree of processing

Not every low-processed food is healthy, just as not every processed food is unhealthy. The degree of processing, however, can help choose ready-made meals. Ask yourself, how close to the natural form are the foods you reach for? As a rule, less processed products contain less salt, artificial additives, colourings, emulsifiers and thickeners.

Although you won’t find an indicator on the packaging that clearly reflects the degree of food processing, in most cases all you need is common sense and a moment’s reflection. Are you holding in your hand a vegan meat substitute moulded into the shape of chicken nuggets? It is in all likelihood an ultra-processed product. Do you choose a pasta salad with pesto, mozzarella and cherry tomatoes? Most of the ingredients are in their natural form – so they are less processed.

Protein content

Protein is one of the key macronutrients you should pay attention to when analysing the labels of ready-made products. Do you want a meal that is balanced, nutritious and satiating for longer? It must contain enough protein. If a serving of the product contains more than 15 g of protein, it can be considered a sufficiently nutritious meal. However, for active people, this amount may not be enough, so it is worth adjusting it to individual needs.

Ready-made meal from the store – what can you choose?

The range of products in stores varies so much that it is difficult to say unequivocally that, for example, all sandwiches or salads have a good composition, and all pasta is inadvisable. It depends on the specific manufacturer, the product line, and sometimes even the specific flavour version! Here are the key aspects that will make it easier for you to choose the healthiest ready-made foods from the given product groups.

Salads

Pay attention to the composition of the dressing – olive oil or a light vinaigrette sauce, for example, will be desirable. Less valuable will be mayonnaise, cocktail or garlic sauces.
Reach for salads that contain a specific source of protein: mozzarella, chicken or tofu. If there is no added protein in the salad, you can buy it separately and add it to the salad portion.
An additional advantage is to enrich the salad with superfoods, such as seeds, nuts or grains.
Choose salads that contain a wide variety of fruit and vegetables.
The different coloured ingredients in a salad are usually indicative of the richness of polyphenols and antioxidants. They are definitely desirable.

Pasta

Most ready-made pasta dishes are dominated by white wheat pasta, which can be part of a healthy dish. However, if the dish uses wholemeal pasta or pasta made from legumes – that’s definitely a plus!
The biggest role in evaluating the healthy properties of a ready-made pasta-based dish will be played by the sauce used. White, creamy sauces tend to be higher in fat and less desirable. Tomato sauces usually have a better composition and macronutrient distribution.
Ready-made pasta usually contains vegetables, but they are token amounts. So it is worth eating it with an extra serving of vegetables, such as sprinkling it with arugula or adding a tomato or fresh peppers.

Sandwiches and wraps

Pay attention to the type of bread (or tortillas) used. Avoid toast and “buttery” bread. Choose sandwiches made of whole-grain and wholemeal bread (preferably rye) as well as whole-grain wraps.
Even if there are vegetables inside the sandwich or wrap, there is usually not enough of them. So as a snack, eat an extra vegetable, such as carrots cut into bars, cucumber or cherry tomatoes.
Ready-made sandwiches and wraps usually contain a lot of sauce. Pay attention to what its base is. Mayonnaise or cocktail sauces will increase the calorie content of the meal, without contributing specific healthy properties. A sauce based on tomatoes, hummus or avocado is a healthier and valuable choice.
Also check the protein content of the selected product. If there is not enough of it, choose drinking yoghurt or buttermilk and thus supplement the protein content of your meal.

Bowls

They are usually one of the healthier and more balanced choices among ready-made foods.
Carefully analyse the composition and macronutrients to compare several products to one another. You can use the Nutri-Score to choose a better product.
Reach for bowls with a high content of fruit and vegetables.

Shakes and smoothies

Not all products in this group are based on fresh fruit and vegetables. Less nutritious will be those made from concentrated juices.
Smoothies and shakes with added vegetables will be a better choice than those made from fruit alone.
Most shakes available in stores will not create a balanced meal (they lack protein and healthy sources of fats), but they can be a supplement.
An example composition that can be called a balanced meal is a shake + skyr + a handful of nuts.

Flour-based ready-to-cook products

Opt for products with good, simple composition. The market for ready-to-cook products is so competitive that you can easily find products with natural ingredients.
A high-calorie trap in ready-to-cook products, such as pierogi (dumplings), potato pancakes and noodles, is the high fat content. Read labels and pay attention to calories.
Do not treat a single ready-to-cook product as a complete meal. A serving of dumplings alone is unlikely to be a balanced meal (even if they have good composition). You can pour yoghurt over them and eat them with a healthy salad – then you will create a healthy composition that follows the principles of a healthy diet.

Sushi

Choose sushi sets with healthy fish and seafood in unprocessed form, such as salmon, tuna or cooked shrimp.
Avoid sushi in tempura and other fried ingredients.
Do not use too much soy sauce – it has a lot of salt.
You will judge the quality of a sushi set in part by the protein content of the rolls – better and healthier sets will provide a significant portion of valuable protein. Inferior quality sets will contain a lot of rice and less valuable extras, such as “crab” sticks or fish pastes full of fatty fillers.