Teacher thread on convenience foods (def: a food, typically a meal, that has been pre-prepared commercially & so requires minimum further preparation). Tonight son is fending for himself. He can cook but so he doesn't have to I have found a curry in the depths of the freezer. /1

The curry includes chicken (unknown provenance but the shop suggests they have reasonable animal welfare policies), onion, tomatoes, rapeseed oil, yogurt and spices. Cost (£3.99) for ingredients, processing, distribution & packaging (part recyclable but not easily reusable). /2

Now let's create a similar meal from scratch eg dhal. The lentils & spices are imported (high food miles) but we grow our own onions, tomatoes & garlic. Hours planting, harvesting & storage mean these are labour intensive. Then an hour to make the dhal & energy to cook it. /3

We have our own chickens. But no one in the house really wants to kill one to eat & they are very good at providing eggs. But we should all appreciate the life cycle of a chicken that is served up in plastic-wrapped trays in the shops. It probably wasn't a very happy life. /4

So...
Pros of convenience foods: easy & quick to prepare, industrial scale reduces manufacturing costs so they are relatively inexpensive.
Cons of convenience foods: waste packaging, animal welfare concerns, higher amounts of fat & salt. /5

Now, ask pupils where a chicken curry comes from they will probably say 'the supermarket'. Question deeper and you might find they have very little understanding or appreciation of the full picture. This helps to explain the 10 million tonnes of wasted food per year in the UK. /6

This is why I introduce the idea of Zero Hunger #SDG2 and Responsible Consumption #SDG12 in my science lessons. Without understanding how much effort and energy food production requires how can we expect people to take action?
#TeachSDGs.
You've got to know your onions /end