Iceland and slimming world
- Thread starter willfitskinnyjeans
- Start date
Pommette
Trying - very!
I'm disapointed in SW. OK they are saying "Encouraging our members to cook healthy, filling meals from scratch and cooking tasty, slimming meals for the family is, and always will be, at the heart of Food Optimising. However, lots of our members have told us they'd love to have satisfying meals to hand which are more convenient, for those busy days when there just isn't time to cook."
Balderdash - a) it's more profitable and b) it's to combat WW who they are losing out to big time at the mo
OK - I don't mind the profit aspect but at least choose a supermarket where the ready meals are already good.
Big Shame.
I live in Spain and we now have an Iceland near us which I use occasiionally to get my NAS squash (only place I can get it here).
I've tried their ready meals once or twice, and they have been pants and now refuse to buy any of their packaged products.
Balderdash - a) it's more profitable and b) it's to combat WW who they are losing out to big time at the mo
OK - I don't mind the profit aspect but at least choose a supermarket where the ready meals are already good.
Big Shame.
I live in Spain and we now have an Iceland near us which I use occasiionally to get my NAS squash (only place I can get it here).
I've tried their ready meals once or twice, and they have been pants and now refuse to buy any of their packaged products.
skinnyminnycow
Half a pound at a time.
Not sure how I feel about the ready meals. They HAVE to be loaded with salt etc like the WW ones are. I worry it will encourage people to become lazy with the plan. Just seems very contradictory of SW's ethics.
Its all about choice. I wont use the ready meals but then again I dont eat pasta n sauce, mug shots etc which are no better than a salt laden ready meal.
I never ate ready meals with ww and wont be starting with sw. Happy to cook from scratch. Eating healthy to me is more than just about weight loss
I never ate ready meals with ww and wont be starting with sw. Happy to cook from scratch. Eating healthy to me is more than just about weight loss
lentil2
Gold Member
This ^^^^ 100%
Whilst SW may promote healthy eating, cooking from scratch etc, they have always had ready 'food' such as the above in their plan.....more so now than ever.
As already said, it's about choice. You can buy and eat what you want. For some it may be a life saver when they can't be bothered or have time to cook, for others, like myself, I will continue to cook from scratch because I always have done.
As well as the food companies making money, lets not forget the dieting world is a huge business too making money out of the 1000's of us that attend group each week.
Willbeslimjen
Gold Member
I think that these will he handy to have in the freezer for those emergency situations say when you are ill and really CBA to cook, or when you are just back from holiday and have nothing in. But I wouldn't use them all the time and from sw post I don't think they intend you to
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Sent from my iPhone using MiniMins.com
willfitskinnyjeans
Gold Member
willfitskinnyjeans
Gold Member
willfitskinnyjeans
Gold Member
Because the quality of produce of Iceland is not good in my opinion the total rubbish the shop sells speaks volumes for how little they care about health and nutrition.
The ratio of good healthy food to bad Is very high the meat content of meat produce I'd very low.
They might aswell join up with
McDonald's now and be done with it.
Ill be thinking long and hard now whether I put my
Money into sw now.
AngelicBee
Silver Member
I make really great meals from scratch using ingredients from Icelands, I have hope lol 
jogirl
Silver Member
I agree with this. I can't remember the last time I had a ready meal (a long time before I joined SW) and I won't be using them, but if it helps other people to stick to the plan then it is all good. Yes, Iceland sell a lot of what I would consider to be "rubbish" foods, but then so do all the other supermarkets.They are there to be used and if members want to use them all the time then they will.If someone finds it easier to do Slimming World and loss weight using them then it's surly only good.
As a previous poster said, SW already "promotes" mugshots, pasta'n'sauce, mullerlights etc. I don't use any of those either, but they are a lifeline for a lot of people.
Cheekypasterfield
Rather comfy here
Personally I do wonder why SW is moving to including ready made meals; however over the years of being on this site I've seen plenty of people voice the choice of ready made meals so I'm guessing SW are responding to consumers choice.
Would be interesting to see what they consider is a portion size and will it include 1/3 superfree?
I do have the odd ready made meal (only M&S CoU range) as I think it's good quality
Would be interesting to see what they consider is a portion size and will it include 1/3 superfree?
I do have the odd ready made meal (only M&S CoU range) as I think it's good quality
willfitskinnyjeans
Gold Member
1/3 super free is good point and we've also been told jar sauces are coming in shortly after and knowing that sauces are hard to make syn free I do wonder how they will achieve this.
I have however just seen that Iceland also have an exclusive deal with Greggs to sell their products to so that to me says it all but we will see
AnnaFaraday
..
Totally mystified as to why they decided on Iceland, which has such a small share of the market. Why, I wonder, didn't SW choose a manufacturer which would have enabled them to sell in all supermarkets, instead of limiting their sales to one very small chain?
Also, Iceland has such a resolutely "downmarket-and-proud-of-it image", and smug, irritating and condescending advertising ("that's why mums go to Iceland" - for heaven's sake!!!). And the company chairman's comments on the horsemeat issue were ridiculous and insulting. It's not the image I would be looking for in a business partner!
Also, Iceland has such a resolutely "downmarket-and-proud-of-it image", and smug, irritating and condescending advertising ("that's why mums go to Iceland" - for heaven's sake!!!). And the company chairman's comments on the horsemeat issue were ridiculous and insulting. It's not the image I would be looking for in a business partner!
Pommette
Trying - very!
I'll be sticking with SW - but just sticking to cooking from scratch.
And like willfitskinnyjeans I too have serious concerns about the quality of many Iceland own label products.
Quite often the meat %age is low, the quality of the meat used is poor (often VERY fatty), and a lot of their products are high in salt and sugar.
Yes I've worked in the food industry and one supplier may well provide the raw ingredients to many other manufacturers.Do you know who provides the ingredients for Iceland,Heinz,Tesco,Sainsburys?
Do you eat yoghurts? Because I worked in a factory that provided the fruit for yoghurts and they were put into well known brands.The only difference with each batch was the customer wanted different amount of flavour,colour etc.So Iceland does not make the whole product they get there spice mix,flavours etc from other companies.
My OH works in Food manufacturing and could tell you some stories about what we eat.
But they are a base supplier - not an end-product manufacturer.
Most supermarkets don't produce their own packaged foods - they will develop the recipe originally and then give it to one of the big cook/chill or frozen food manufacturers to produce for them.
One manufacturer will often make a similar product for several supermarkets, but the recipe for each will be slightly different (it has to be to keep each client satisfied) and what will vary is the taste, and this is achieved by the differing amounts of salts and sugars that get added.
So if you check out the salt and sugar levels in similar products available in say Sainsbury's and Tesco they are almost certain to be different.
I worked at Geest for 6 months auditing their quality control on behalf of a consortium of supermarkets. Yes they all bought their fruit and veg from them but the specification that each wanted in terms of size and quality was quite different.
Another time, I spent a while checking out the production line in a well-known company who make Cook/Chill meals.
They made a beef bourgignon that went to M&S, Sainsbury's, Tesco and Safeway (now demised).
M&S specified no more than 5% fat and it had to be good quality beef steak. Sainsbury's and Tesco weren't quite so demanding (10% fat content) and Safeway didn't give a fig about fat content or meat quality, so they got the least choice cuts.
Yes it was reflected in the price on the shelf (Safeway charged about 1/2 of what you paid in M&S), but it also reflected in the taste and quality.
I know times have moved on (as it's been a while since I worked in the food industry) but I suspect the theory is still the same.
Unfortunately Iceland do not appear to consider healthy eating at the top of their priority. It is all about relatively cheap, lower quality stuff.
I'll be interested to see what it looks like though and whether I am seriously jumping the gun. Whether I will actually buy one and try it is another matter.
willfitskinnyjeans
Gold Member
I have images of production ops in the factory painstakingly removing all visible traces of fat like we do at home to make it healthy.
