You see them all the time on the supermarket shelves - just add water, cooks in no time, delicious, nutritious, the labels read. Sounds tempting, right?

Fact is, as everyday living becomes more hectic and as the North American culture becomes more ingrained in our lives, so does the need to embrace what comes easily, and more and more consumers are embracing food items that demand little or no time in the kitchen.

It started here with canned items - chicken soup, canned red peas, canned coconut milk - and today, available is everything from pre-seasoned meats to full meals that can be ready to eat in a half-hour or less.

There are various items available to make the cooking experience easier and nowadays most things - including callaloo, breadfruit and ackee - are available in cans locally and overseas. And from chicken wings to flavoured meals, meals for vegetarians, fish fingers, stewed peas, oxtail, pork and beans - pre-packaged meals stock most supermarket shelves.

And though microwaveable/frozen foods have failed to attract local consumers as substantially as it has in the US, many persons here are sopping up the easy-to-make items from supermarket shelves, and offering no apologies for it.

Siblings David Campbell and Yolande Sealy picked up a Rotisserie chicken for Sunday dinner. (Photo: Petulia Clarke)

"I'm not sorry that I buy my Lean Cuisine meals in a box, I have no time to cook," said shopper Michelle Bell, seen at MegaMart on Sunday. "I buy apple pie, Stouffers lasagna, Homestyle, pizza, anything that takes me 15 minutes or less, and I make no apologies for it."

According to the store managers, the frozen dinners - actual meals made and frozen - are taking a while to catch on here, but items like the Rotisserie chicken, made and sold in the stores, are very fast sellers for individuals who just can't bother or are too busy to cook their own.

Everett Welch, store manager for the Liguanea branch of Hi-Lo, told Thursday Life that the Rotisserie chicken has proved to be a favourite of Jamaicans.

"Rotisserie chicken is very popular, some days, we do three or four batches," Welch said. "We usually do between six to 12 [chickens] in each batch."

On Sundays, when to eat 'till the belly full' is the norm for many, Welch said that the demand for the succulent Rotisserie chickens gets extremely high.

The same applied at MegaMart Sunday afternoon, where Thursday Life caught up with siblings David Campbell and Yolande Sealy, who had picked up a Rotisserie chicken for dinner.

Sealy, a student, said that she has no time to cook on Sundays, after going to church, and then to study group. Campbell said that he cooks a lot and needs a break sometimes - hence the purchase - and the Rotisserie chicken not only tastes great, but comes with the luxury of already being prepared.

He explained the discomfort with buying say, pre-packaged stewed peas and other items available, as while he sees the chicken being prepared and can verify that it's prepared that same day, the same assurance doesn't come with frozen dinners, which he is yet to try.
Others aren't so reluctant.

Aileen and Dan Hogan were seen buying Rainforest Seafood's fish fingers for daughter Sarah, a snack Aileen said that the child loves.

"She refuses to eat anything else," she explained.
Welch said that the price is a challenging factor for most people when considering whether to buy frozen dinners.
Prices go as high as $800 for the foreign foods.
"It's usually expensive, and frozen dinners usually serve just one person," he explained.

Locally, brands have been competing with traditional foreign brands like Lean Cuisine, Healthy Choice and Stouffers, and companies like Rainforest Seafood and Homestyle products can be seen on the shelves alongside these. Homestyle offers products like pre-packaged stewed peas, with a tempting microwave time of less than 10 minutes.

And luckily for consumers, this is one of the cheaper brands being marketed.

"For between $200 and $300, you will find the local brands," Welch said. "It moves a bit faster because it is a little less expensive."

Welch explained that treats for children like Hot Pockets also have a brisker sale pace.

Store manager for MegaMart Rosalyn Holmes agreed, saying that only a 'few' will buy the pre-packaged meals but "anything for the kids will go fast".

One customer, Mark, seen at Lee's Food Fair, admitted to buying the pre-packaged meals once in a while.
"Well, mi like the [frozen] pizza dem still, but yuh know how it go, mi have a small salary so mi jus haffi manage wid wat mi have."

He said, however, that occasionally he manages to splurge on these meals.

Because of sluggish sales, store managers usually stock fewer of these items - Welch explained that the stores will only stock a few cases on a weekly basis. Palmer added that the store stocks the products on a demand basis but not necessarily in bulk.

According to Wikipedia, frozen dinners, as well as canned soups and broths, are often criticised for having an overabundance of sodium, usually in the form of table salt or soy sauce. "Stabilising the product for a long period of time typically means that companies will use hydrogenated vegetable oils, which are high in trans fats, that can adversely affect cardiovascular health. Due to market demographics, only a slim percentage of frozen dinners border on anything near nutritious," the online reference guide said.

Local doctors agree that cooking your own meals may be healthier than resorting to the frozen foods. The indication is that when preparing your own meals, you can see exactly what you are putting in it.

"Anything that is fresh is better than frozen," one local doctor said.

Meanwhile, the North American-based Centre for Science in Public Interest (CSPI) stated in findings published in a recent nutritional health magazine that one of the main problems with these meals may be that the portion size, sodium and fat contents, as examples, may exceed the recommended daily amount. Also many of these meals do not come with vegetables, so it's essential to supplement these to ensure good bowel movements. The CSPI gave Healthy Choice Sweet and Sour Chicken and Turkey Breast high marks.
-Additional reporting by Petulia Clarke

Trousers in Denim

Cream of the 'Crop'

Cheeky's World