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But why are the ready made meals unhealthy? It’s not because they’re ready made rather than fresh cooked.

Ready made meals are usually higher in sodium and fats than fresh cooked meals.

Edit - https://www.consumerreports.org/food-shopping/supermarket-pr... The article doesn't call out higher amounts of fat in prepared food, but does mention higher cost and added preservatives.

I don't know the exact reasons why, but food made in large batches tends to be less tasty than food made in smaller batches at home. if the food is made in large batches and it's not fresh, it takes another "tastiness" penalty. adding excessive fat and/or salt is an easy hack to make ready made meals a bit more palatable.

I suspect it would be very difficult (ie expensive) to make ready made meals anywhere near as appealing as home cooked without using these tricks.

That explains why we buy ready-made meals, but not why we buy unhealthy rather than healthy ones.

"Laziness" - non-explanation word is not an explanation.