The rush and lack of time can cause us to not cook as much as we would like, although nutritionists insist that we must make the effort, since home cooking is still much healthier than pre-cooked food. Very occasionally, nothing happens if we turn to a ready-to-eat dish, like lasagna at the supermarket, but is there any establishment that sells one better than the rest?
This is what the Organization of Consumers and Users (OCU) wanted to find out in its latest study, for which it analyzed ten refrigerated Bolognese lasagnas packaged in individual portions that are prepared in the microwave. To answer whether they fulfill the function of a complete meal and whether they are delicious and healthy, different aspects of these products have been looked at, such as the calorie content, saturated fats, carbohydrates, proteins, sugar, salt and additives.
The lasagna studied correspond to those sold by Alcampo, Aldi, Carrefour, Dia, El Corte Inglés, Lidl, Mercadona and Eroski, and another 2 are from general brands: Casa Más and Dunany.
After the analysis, the agency has observed that they are very caloric products, rich in carbohydrates and, in some cases, sugars. The amount of salt is also high, as is the amount of additives, which in these precooked lasagna appear in the form of emulsifiers, preservatives, acidifiers, antioxidants, colorings and texture agents.
"Reading the label we see that there are a large number of industrial ingredients, those that are rarely used in the home kitchen: modified starch, aromas, dextrose, lactose, glucose syrup, dyes, phosphates. These ingredients reveal the high degree of processing of food," adds the consumer organization.
After a panel of expert chefs tested them, the OCU has indicated that most of the products taste good. But there is an exception, Dia's lasagna, which gets the worst comments for having a very thick and hard pasta, little filling and very doughy. The one that obtains the best marks in this phase of the study, however, is the lasagna from El Corte Inglés, which stands out for its good filling in flavor and quantity and for its good béchamel.
These are the three lasagnas that have achieved the best score and that, according to the OCU, are tastier:
To conclude, the organization points out that packaged fresh lasagna is a convenient solution, like other prepared meals, "but in general they have many additives and industrial ingredients and are oversalted: on average, one serving provides 66% of the maximum salt which is recommended in one day," they say.
