Potato
This has a topping of mashed potato.
White sauce (milk, water, wheat flour, rice bran oil, salt, pepper, herbs)
These are standard ingredients for a white sauce if you made it yourself.
Smoked fish (12 per cent) (fish, salt, wood smoke)
According the the packaging, this smoked fish is New Zealand kahawai and it certainly tastes like it.
Mixed vegetables (peas, carrots, corn)
There is quite a showing of these veges in here and they are even a little bit crunchy, not mushy like so many processed foods with added veges.
Onion
Cheese (milk, salt, rennet, cultures)
These are the ingredients used to make cheese.
Butter (cream, salt)
This is what makes butter.
Rice bran oil
This oil is extracted from the outer brown layer of the rice grain and has a high smoking point, which means you can cook at high heat without it starting to smoke. It is high in antioxidants and is believed to benefit those with high cholesterol.
My recommendations
The test I always apply to processed food is, could I make this at home from the same ingredients? And the answer, for once, is yes. I wouldn't have to find preservatives, humectants, flavourings and colours, I'd just need some real ingredients.
I've since stocked my freezer with these as they make a great nutritional meal that is light at just 1290 kJ or 309 calories. It is also refreshingly low in salt (you'll notice salt isn't listed as a main ingredient) so it tastes great, not overpowered with salt as so many processed foods do.
My only advice, which is also given on the packet, is to remove the food from the plastic packaging and put in your own oven-proof dish to heat.
As I said a month ago, the not-for-profit independent Food Packaging Forum found that 175 chemicals used in food packaging are defined by international classification bodies as "chemicals of concern", because they have been linked to cancer, reduced fertility, genital malformations and hormone disruption. Yet these are legally used to pack our food.
Food processors will tell you that without plastic packaging there would be a huge reduction in food hygiene and an increase in food poisoning cases. They will also tell you that it is legal to use these chemicals, which is sadly true.
There are strict rules about using these substances for toys, paints, textiles and medical equipment but these rules do not apply to materials coming into contact with food.
Highlights
• Uses the same ingredients you'd use if you made this at home.
• Tastes like it would if you made this at home.
• Comes in plastic, but easy to heat in your own container.
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