Guest Writer--James Kim

A career woman’s dream comes true in The Prepackaged Diet

We all know how little time we have left after a day at the office, then the endless list of household chores, children to bath, homework to check, the list seems endless! The prospect of even considering our own health needs is seldom more than a passing thought at a traffic light.  The health food industry has developed a solution to this problem, taking the pain out of Meal planning and helping you to remain health conscious!

Lean Cuisine started to address the problem of meal planning with their prepackaged but “healthy” foods which you could purchase at the local supermarket.  They worked with Weight Watchers and labeled their products with the points allocated to the meal inside.  Although these foods are very low in calories, fast and easy to prepare, they are not as healthy as they seem - containing unhealthy preservatives and additives.  These meals also often have a calorie count which is too low for most people, so the dieters resort to snacking as the meal does not satisfy them.

Although Lean Cuisine targets the career mom, who would like to eat healthy, yet simply does not have the time to cook like Martha Stewart, their meals are not a healthy alternative to properly prepared fresh meals.

There are a few companies now offering prepackaged meals which are indeed healthy alternatives to cooking yourself.  Some companies like Diet-To-Go, Freshology or Fresh-n-fit, to name a few, offer this service as a delivery in their localized areas, the food is prepared fresh and delivered to your home.  Other companies like My Fit Foods and Snap Kitchen provide the service as a collection plan where you can collect freshly prepared meals en-route home.  These services provide food which has not been frozen and does not need to be frozen, therefore the preservatives required to keep frozen foods fresh are not used and they are able to make claims like “reset your metabolism” as they retrain your body to process food quickly.

Although these companies do not use high levels of artificial sweeteners, sodium or fructose corn syrup, the service they offer does come with a price! Diet-To-Go will cost approximately $158.00 for one week of meals, and Freshology, which some celebrities use, charge approximately $45.00 a day.  This is even more expensive than organic foods!

Perhaps nothing is better than slaving away in the kitchen at the end of a busy day, but if you can stretch your budget, there is no harm in trying this new diet plan.  Order your weeks meals, and maybe take the 30 minutes or more it would take for you to prepare a meal from scratch and spend them with your family for a change!

James Kim is a guest writer for foodonthetable.com.  Food on the Table is a company that provides online budget meal planning services.  Their goal is to help families eat better and save money.