Joe used to sit next to my cubicle.
Back in 2005, in Louisville, Kentucky, USA, he was a good friend and colleague.
Lunch time, he would invite me to the Chipotle or Wendy's (fast food joints) around the corner.
And I would show him my "dabba" carrying reheated store-bought pre-cooked paranthas with a pickle.
Must say it did not catch his fancy!
Over coffee, we would talk about it.
I would describe what and how we used to eat at home.
Those paranthas were the only pre-cooked items I ate, because I had to get to work at 8 am.
The rest of our meals were cooked by us at home.
And he'd be shocked and say, "I am not going back home and start cooking!!"
That was the US then.
This is India today. Increasingly so.
Most families find it cheaper and convenient to buy food - pre-cooked and ready to eat.
Cooking at home has gone out of vogue.
Why would you need a kitchen at home?!
Look at the trends.
1. Swiggy & zomato made it convenient to eat out.
2. Processed food companies are happy to provide food ready-to-eat.
3. The Blinkits and Zeptos make it even more quicker to get them.
4. Food regulator FSSAI focuses more on Prepared (hotels, restaurants, etc.) and Processed (packaged, ready-to-eat) foods.
5. To top it all, influencers are riled up about labels on the processed foods. They want us to read labels carefully.
So whatever happened to good old home-cooked meals?
Meals cooked from scratch. Just the way our parents or grandparents used.
Lost in transition!?
Home cooked meals are:
1. Safer - because you control the quality of the ingredients (rice, atta, dal, oil, spices, etc.), more so, if they organic!
2. Tastier - because you enjoy the genuine flavours of the ingredients, more so if they are organic.
3. Healthier - because you control the quantity of oil used, for instance
Not that we recommend not eating out or snacking on a new chocolate bar.
But how much? That is the question.
That is where our PPC Ratio comes in.
What is your proportion of:
Prepared food - precooked, store-bought, ready-to-eat dishes/meals
Processed food - prepackaged, ready to eat or ready to cook items (snacks, bread, pasta, noodles, etc.)
Cooked at home - cooked from scratch, using ingredients bought by you (rice, wheat, dal, oil, spices, etc.)
For us at home, we are at 5-5-90
5% Prepared foods - mainly eating out at a restaurant, one meal a week (5% - 5 meals in 100 @3 meals a day)
5% Processed foods - very occasional cheat meals including bread, pasta, noodles, ice-cream, etc. (adding up to say 2 meals/month)
90% Cooked at home - almost the rest of the meals (including a fruit breakfast every day)
Ok that is us at the age of 60. Buying almost all items of groceries and fresh produce from Bio Basics.
What about you? What is your PPC Ratio?
Our recommendation? Target at least 80% of your meals Cooked at home.
