St. Louis' Best Healthy Premade Meals
Families and professionals living in St. Louis today are, overwhelmingly, busy. We work more, we exercise more, we commit to more events, and we try to do better with meal prep and planning. When you’re going all day long, it’s all too easy for local folks end up eating premade meals that aren’t exactly healthy.
According to one recent study, the #1 reason American families opt for less-than-healthy premade meals is simple: a lack of time. We get it: the kids are hungry, you’re exhausted, you’re juggling a lot of balls in the air. Sometimes, it can be all but impossible to get a great meal idea into the oven and on to the table in the timeframe needed. We’ve all been through the drive-thru line because of having absolutely no time or energy or both.
The Problem with Most Premade Meals
The types of ‘premade meals’ available today are as varied as the types of cuisines on the market. You can get virtually any kind of premade meal you want -- from pizza dishes to Chinese food to tofu.
If there are so many available options for premade meals, why then, does the data show them to be less than healthy?
Let’s dissect some of St. Louis’s most popular premade meals:
Frozen Premade Meals
Frozen meals, which truly became popular as the famous ‘TV dinner’ way back when, are an old standby when it comes to eating on the fly. You can pick them up in the grocery store and stow them away in your freezer so they’re ready on a rainy day -- and heat them up in just a few minutes. The appeal of frozen premade meals is obvious, so what’s the downside?
To be honest, we could probably write a textbook about the downsides of frozen premade meals. So as not to bore you, here’s the problem with the frozen aise, in a nutshell: sodium, empty calories, and less nutrients than in fresh ingredients.
Our vote? Two thumbs down.
Restaurant Premade Meals
Another option, especially as we enter the age of Grubhub and UberEats, is to simply have restaurant ‘premade’ meals when you’re lacking in the time and energy to prep your meals. Sounds good at first glance, especially as St. Louis does have a plethora of healthier and healthy-ish restaurants to choose from.
The problem with restaurant premade meals? Again, we could write a textbook on the pitfalls of eating out at restaurants (or eating restaurant food at home) too often so we’ll keep it brief: even so-called healthy restaurant meals aren’t always the healthiest. Take the popular smoothie bowl, for example: if you order this at a restaurant, it’s all too likely that you’ll end up with a dish that’s loaded in sugar (and calories) because everyone has different preferences and restaurants have to ensure they are making the average consumer happy (it’s how they keep the doors open, afterall).
Again, sodium is a major concern with these kinds of meals. Restaurants love salt because salt enhances flavor. Customers love salt because salt enhances flavor. Your body does not love salt because salt can lead to serious issues such as high blood pressure, strokes, and heart attacks -- yikes.
If you’ve been relying on local St. Louis restaurants to prepare the majority of your meals, it might be worth your time to investigate under the hood -- ask about nutrition content and exactly what is going into the meals you eat.
Fast Food Premade Meals
Do you eat fast food more often than you’d prefer? If so, you’re not exactly alone in that -- hold on to your seats for a big number from the Center for Disease Control: 1 in 3 Americans eats fast food every single day.
If you’ve ever seen the film Supersize Me, about a man who eats only fast food to prove or disprove that fast food diets are not healthy, you already know that too much fast food is never a good thing. The major problems with too much fast food are as follows: it’s not good for your heart, it can increase your risk of developing Diabetes Type 2, may increase risk of Cancer -- and scores of other health issues.
Buyer, beware. 
Healthy Premade Meal Options in St. Louis?
There is light at the end of the tunnel -- so don’t despair. Businesses are listening to what Americans want: truly healthy premade meals that make staying healthy and staying full easy.
New services today such as meal box kits and even meal delivery are picking up some slack (however, not all meal delivery services are healthy so use caution). If you are looking for healthy premade meals in St. Louis, you may want to consider a quality service such as the one we offer here at Pure Plates.
We serve the greater St. Louis area with one singular mission: bring high-quality, healthy, and convenient food to busy folks and families throughout the area. We specialize in turning a variety of different diet choices and restrictions into delicious meals -- from Keto to Paleo to to Diabetic to Gluten Free.
We make eating healthy easy - and you can pick up these up at one of our locations or you can have your meals delivered directly to your door. Every meal we make is ready to heat and eat in a BPA-free and recyclable container. ""
Bottomline?
Disease rates in America are on the rise, and more and more the data is indicating that a major culprit of all the rise in disease are the foods we eat.
If you live or work near St. Louis, you don’t have to settle for premade meals that aren’t nutritionally sound. Nobody wants to eat meals that aren’t healthy, but all too often life gets in the way and we have to make hard choices at the end of the day. Meal delivery and prep services such as Pure Plates are able to stop the stress and replace it with delicious and good-for-your-body meals.