Convenience food: Encyclopedia - Convenience food

Convenience food

Convenience foods or tertiary processed foods are foods which are designed to save consumers time in the kitchen, reduce costs due to spoilage, and reduce costs using economies of scale. These foods require minimum preparation, typically just heating, and are packaged for a long shelf life with little loss of flavor and nutrients over time. They were developed specifically to preserve the oversupply of agricultural products available at the time of harvest in order to stabilize the food markets in developed countries.

These products tend to be criticized because:

• Typically they are manufactured from almost inedible agricultural products
• They typically are high in fat and calorie contents
• The reduced time cost and nutritional content associated with these foods is specifically blamed for obesity
• Sometimes Genetically Modified (GMO) Foods are used
• Sometimes an irradiation process is used
• Preservatives are almost always used

These products tend to be used because:

• Cost. TV dinners still only cost about $1, the original price of the TV Dinner, in the US.
• Time Costs. Convenience foods reduce the time it takes to prepare dinners significantly.
• Variety. Due to packaging techniques such as canning and freezing, foods are available at all times of the year.
• Food Safety. Packaging and processing techniques, such as canning, freezing, and irradiation, reduce spoilage and the presence of bacteria in the consumed products.

Although many point to the Feminist movement, unchaining women from the kitchen, as the motivation for the development of these products, it is more likely that urbanization, industrialization, and a reaction to feed the post war population explosion after World War II was the true cause.

Studies show that by 1965, 27 to 30 percent of US households had significantly incorporated convenience foods into their diets. By the 1990s, convenience foods in the US and UK comprised a large portion of the average diet. In the US, several studies indicate that many families diets consist entirely of convenience foods and fast food. By the 21st century, nearly every US household uses convenience foods in one form or another.

These food items take many forms, from Kraft Dinner, to whole turkey breasts. The TV dinner is a good example of a convenience food.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Convenience food", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki