prepared food

[david_dv]

Can I refer to some food that we can prepare by putting in the microwave? For instance some prepared pizzas, prepared soups and...?
Thank you!

 

[Crockett]

I think people would usually call these types of meals, 'frozen dinners.' Or frozen pizzas, burritos, etc. I don't think a native speaker would know exactly what you were talking about if you said "prepared meal."

 

[Copyright]

I believe that prepared foods are foods that are prepared and ready-to-eat and sold to you by an establishment or vendor -- so that a pizza you buy from a pizza shop and take home and eat, or reheat and eat, would be prepared food, but a frozen pizza you've purchased at the grocery and need to bake in the oven before eating would not. And soup you purchased ready-made from a delicatessen and reheated in your microwave would be prepared, but soup from a can would not.

Prepared food often has a legal definition, such as this one from Ontario, Canada:
Prepared Foods
Definition
For RST (Resale Sales Tax) purposes, prepared foods include the following items sold by eating establishments for consumption on or off the premises:

• meals, hot foods, sandwiches, salads and fruit
• prepackaged individual portions of snack cakes and pastries
• hand-scooped or machine-dispensed ice cream (machine-dispensed ice cream is a tax-exempt food product when dispensed in quantities of 1/2 litre or more)
• sundaes and milk shakes
• non-alcoholic beverages, such as coffee, tea, milk and juice.

 

[natkretep]

The term that I am familiar with for what you are referring to is ready meal.

Here is a British website on ready meals, for example:

At Chef on Board we make a delicious range of handmade frozen ready meals, using great quality local meat and free-range Herefordshire chicken.​

The term might not work in AmE - we'll have to wait for AmE input on this.

 

[枫十二]

I am still a little confused, is the following question native:
Do you often eat fresh food or prepared food?
I don't understand "fresh" here, according to the defination here, prepared food can also be fresh.
Thanks in advance.

 

[Copyright]

You might mean, "Do you usually eat fresh food or prepared food?" There is also a distinction to be made between prepared and processed food. Do you mean "prepared food" as we've been discussing it? I ask because you can certainly have "freshly prepared food."

 

[枫十二]

Well, it was an oral test question from some English-teaching school in China, a friend asked me for help and I think the teacher who asked the question didn't understand "prepared food" well. Am I right?
Thank you, copyright. I knew for the first time there is a difference between often and usually.

 

[PaulQ]

Can I refer to some food that we can prepare by putting in the microwave?

Unfortunately, your English is not idiomatic, and thus your question is ambiguous.

I can buy meals that are pre-prepared. These meals have usually (but not always) gone through some sort of cooking process and are sold in plastic or aluminium containers. They are either fresh (to be sold within, say 8 hours of being made) chilled (to prevent decay, and saleable for about 3 days) or frozen (to prevent decay, and saleable for about 3 months). In all cases, the purchaser "prepares" them by re-heating them.

Fresh, chilled and frozen food in plastic containers can be reheated in a microwave or a standard oven; food in aluminium containers can only be re-heated in the oven.

For instance some prepared pizzas, prepared soups and...?

This type of food is usually referred to by the method of preservation:
Fresh pizza/soup
Chilled pizza/soup
Frozen pizza/soup

As a generic term, as natkretep says, in BE these are called "ready meals" by the customers and, more broadly, as "convenience foods" - again they can be (but not always are) divided into "frozen, chilled and fresh".

 

[枫十二]

Unfortunately, your English is not idiomatic, and thus your question is ambiguous.

I can buy meals that are pre-prepared. These meals have usually (but not always) gone through some sort of cooking process and are sold in plastic or aluminium containers. They are either fresh (to be sold within, say 8 hours of being made) chilled (to prevent decay, and saleable for about 3 days) or frozen (to prevent decay, and saleable for about 3 months). In all cases, the purchaser "prepares" them by re-heating them.

Fresh, chilled and frozen food in plastic containers can be reheated in a microwave or a standard oven; food in aluminium containers can only be re-heated in the oven.
This type of food is usually referred to by the method of preservation:
Fresh pizza/soup
Chilled pizza/soup
Frozen pizza/soup

As a generic term, as natkretep says, in BE these are called "ready meals" by the customers and, more broadly, as "convenience foods" - again they can be (but not always are) divided into "frozen, chilled and fresh".

Thanks, PaulQ, it cleared all my puzzles.