"meals" news and stories

Easy meal prep is hot right now. By this, I am referring to the make-and-freeze dinner businesses that are thriving all across the US. With names like Dream Dinners, Super Suppers, My Girlfriend's Kitchen, Supper Thyme USA, What's for Dinner and Dinner by Design, all appeal to the "busy family demographic, where people want to have home cooked meals but don't necessarily feel that they have the time to do it themselves. These businesses offer kitchens with lots of partially assembled meals and ingredients that you can put together in combinations that your family will like. Typically, meals are prepared for a week or two in advance and everything can be frozen. Heating instructions (and any other cooking suggestions, if needed, are included.

The trend is so popular that it is starting to spread out of the US. In London, a chain called Dinners Made is springing up and gaining popularity with those who are looking for food to make in advance and freeze, and also with those who want to entertain and don't have time (or perhaps the ability) to cook everything from scratch without some assistance. Using Dinners Made means that the recipes are included, prep is done and cleanup is taken care of, as they are at every similar easy meal prep shop. Combining the convenience of working in the store with below-restaurant prices, a flexible menu and fresh ingredients, it's not hard to see why the idea is spreading so rapidly.

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While we're all busily listing the best restaurants we've eaten at in the last year, Adam Platt, from New York Magazine, already has a list put together of where to eat in New York during the next one. He gives his picks for the best eateries in fifteen different categories: Vegas on the Hudson (Buddakan, Del Posto), The Out-of-Towners (L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon), Neighborhood Chic (The Little Owl), Haute Italian (Café Boulud), Haute Barnyard (Telepan), Real Barnyard (Daisy May's BBQ USA), Gourmet Bar Food (Degustation), Makeover Madness (Tocqueville), Designer Steaks (Craftsteak), Nightclub Chinese (Shun Lee West), The Great Lunch (Adrienne's Pizza Bar), Brooklyn Ramble (The Farm on Adderley), Breakfast Ramble (Zucco: Le French Diner), Cocktail Madness (Employees Only), Dessert (Russian Tea Room, Pinkberry and Chikalicious) . And there are many more listed in each category!

Individual and themed picks aside, there are also lists of the ten best new restaurants in NYC (all contained in the above list), the ten most decadent dishes in town, the best up and coming chefs and the five best egg dishes in New York.

Take Platt's advice and you'll be eating out every day for the rest of the year. But if his picks are on the money, you probably won't mind one bit.

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The single biggest factor that prompts people into overeating is portion size, and when more and more meals are eaten outside of the home, it is restaurant portion size that can cause a problem. Not only are the portions often huge, but they set a benchmark that distorts what people perceive as an appropriate amount of food.

An obesity researcher at Penn State University had 300 chefs from fine and casual dining restaurants take a survey that asked what things influence what size they make their portions. 4 out or 5 served more than the recommended portion sizes. 70% said that presentation was the biggest concern, getting a "wow" factor into the dining experience that might cause a customer to return. Value and portion size are often connected in the minds of the consumers, so larger servings come into play more than the actual plating. 65% said that cost influenced how much food they served, and 52% cited "expectations, which was primarily true of chain-restaurants and categories (like steakhouses, for example) that are known for being generous. Only 16% considered calories.

Chefs are not necessarily dieticians and their job is not to tell you what to eat or how much of you plate to clean before taking the rest home. It does make you wonder, however, if our priorities and theirs are in the right place when a 1-pound "serving" of pasta starts to look normal.

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Today is National Dessert Day. It doesn't seem like we really need a whole day to celebrate dessert, but any excuse is a good one, right? Even though it is considered to be a traditional part of a dinner, only 14% of families regularly sit down to it, as opposed to 24% only two decades ago. But this number may be a little misleading because studies show that younger people, under the age of 45, eat dessert foods more often, occasionally having them in place of regular meals instead of only in that window of the day traditionally reserved for dessert.

Another reason that people seem to be eating fewer desserts is that "75% of adults said they were trying to cut down or eliminate fat from their diet," so fewer people are going for the huge dessert servings that are offered at some restaurants. This has helped to fuel the trend for smaller desserts, including cupcakes, which may pack in the same calories, but seem much smaller and more manageable than a large piece of cake or creme brulee.

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Breakfast might not be that important after all, as some scientists and nutritionists are beginning to question principles that have been the mainstays of diet and health for years and years. The doubts are arising from the fact that there is little to no scientific proof - just anecdotal evidence - that eating breakfast is definitely better for you. As Marion Nestle put it in What to Eat, " What you eat - and how much - matters more to your health than when you eat." Some even notes that there are more than a handful of people who would do well to skip a meal or two once in a while.

There is no proof that skipping breakfast is better for your health either, however, and studies show that many people who skip breakfast are likely to binge later on in the day, with snacks or overly generous lunches. People who eat breakfast are less likely to have certain nutritional shortfalls in their diets, since breakfast foods are often high in fiber, calcium, iron, protein and frequently include fruits, which provide many other nutrients. "There isn't any downside to eating a healthy breakfast," said Joan Salge Blake, a registered dietitian and assistant professor at Boston University specializing in weight management.

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