Fresh food ideas,

With one major company providing 50 million meal kits to Kiwi doorsteps over the past six years, it’s heartening to hear accounts of food habits changing for the better.

Once-uncertain cooks are saying their confidence has soared since jumping on board with meal kits — flipping the way they and their families prepare and consume food at home.

One of the pleasing spin-offs is healthier food is now being put together in more kitchens, rolling back the surge of convenience and highly processed meals which swamped New Zealand in recent decades.

It seems some stockists of fastmoving consumer goods have something to learn from these can-do Kiwis. An in-depth snapshot this week of packaged food sold in New Zealand supermarkets found too much of it is unhealthy, with nearly 70 per cent classified as ultra-processed.

The authors of the inaugural New Zealand State of the Food Supply report want Health Star Rating labels made compulsory, and for the government to set food reformulation targets.

Food is a big player in our lives. Report author Dr Sally Mackay says: “A poor diet is the leading cause of early death in Aotearoa New Zealand, accounting for nearly 20 per cent of illness and premature death.”

Positively, the report found most of the country’s top food manufacturers and retailers are committed to reformulate products to lower sodium levels, and many to lower sugar in some categories.

“But for any substantial change to happen across the food supply, we need the government to take real action by setting targets to lower salt, sugar and saturated fat content,” says Mackay.

Meanwhile, we have the option to readily make this shift at home for ourselves.

Most fast-food options — considered poor choices, certainly when eaten too often — are ready at the touch of a phone. But so too is healthy fare from your local cafes and delis.

All in all, New Zealanders have never had so much choice. Bon appe´ tit.