Shelf-stable meals are getting famous day by day. This is mainly due to their convenience in storage and preparation. At the same time, shelf-stable meals save a lot of time and money in the long run.
Here are some more reasons why most people prefer shelf-stable meals:
1. Convenience of Storage
Stable meals are considered convenience mainly due to their easy storage. You don’t need extra equipment and effort to store shelf-stable meals. These foods are passed through several processes to make them resistant to spoiling and maintaining their quality, such as the following:
- Stable food manufacturing companies pass the meals from several advanced processing methods, such as freezing, drying, canning, irradiation, high-pressure processing, and thermal processing. In this way, all the factors, such as micro-organisms and enzymes, are eliminated from the food.
- The next way to maintain the quality of food in the long run is the addition of preservatives and antioxidants. These chemicals will prevent the oxidations, rancidity, and browning. In this way, the spoiling of food is avoided or delayed for a specific period.
- Another method to store shelf-stable meals is smart packaging. They use three main types of packaging: modified atmosphere packaging, active packaging, and intelligent packaging. The main purpose of these types of packaging is to provide the ideal conditions for the food to prolong its lifetime.
- Some manufacturers use functional and fortified ingredients for stable meals. Such meals are not only resistant to deterioration but also have several useful nutrients. In this way, every type of shelf-stable meal is considered convenient to store and use.
Moreover, there are DIY kits of shelf-stable meals for every type of customer. In these kits, you can customize the size, flavors, formats, and combinations of foods.
2. Cost-Effectiveness
Shelf stale food is considered a cost-effective option for food for several reasons. As this type of food doesn’t spoil, you can buy it in bulk quantity. This saves a lot of your budget that is spent on multiple market trips. At the same time, you don’t need extra refrigeration for shelf-stable food.
3. Flexible Options
As the shelf-stable foods are stored and packed, it doesn’t mean that these have fewer taste options. Shelf-stable foods have several types of tastes. Some of the most commonly used tastes in shelf-stable foods are savory, sweet, spicy, nutty, tangy, and smoky.
Moreover, some stable food manufacturers ask their customers to make customized tastes for them. At the same time, they make customized shelf stable food kits for different customers. The amount of nutrients and types of tastes depends upon the requirements of the customers.
4. Emergency Use
As you can eat and consume shelf-stable meals easily and quickly, these are considered the best options for emergency cases. That’s why these types of foods are used in hospitals, schools, traveling, and old age homes.
If you want to prepare them for eating, you just need to unpack them, add a small amount of water to them, and heat them for a few minutes. After this, they are ready to consume. You don’t even need to heat some types of shelf-stable foods.
