THE PARABLE OF THE TV DINNER

There was once a man who only shopped for and ate, TV dinner meals. They came frozen so it was simple to store them in his freezer. And, when he wanted one, all he had to do was take it out of the freezer and pop it in the oven for 25 minutes or so.

Quick and easy - the TV Dinner!

It came out, on its special compartmentalised extruded plastic tray, piping hot and all he had to do was to put it on a larger tray, pick up his knife and fork, season it just a smidgeon and then, eat it! In front of the television. It wasn't especially tasty or nourishing but it was quick and easy and did not require much aforethought.
He did this for many years without giving it a second thought until a friend asked him if had ever considered creating an evening meal from a recipe using locally sourced ingredients and cooking it with care and consideration.
"No" He laughed. "That's not for me. I prefer the modern way. Why should I have to go to all that extra trouble of preparing meat and vegetables and sauces and then cook them when I can get it all from my freezer in one easy go and 25 minutes later it's ready to eat?"
But his friend persisted and, eventually, the man borrowed a recipe book from his local library, researched a dish, shopped for the ingredients and cooked it himself. It was, he thought, somewhat laborious but he immediately felt a glow of pride at his resourcefulness and proceeded to cook the dish (actually, it was a neat little concoction of grilled squid strips with prawns dipped into a home made tempura batter).

"a neat little concoction of squid and prawns".....

After a short time the dish was ready and he sat down (at a table) to eat it. It looked  (he thought), so amazing. The colours were more vibrant than he was used to and it smelt heavenly. Tucking in he found it was as delicious as it had looked and smelt. It was, he grudgingly admitted, much more satisfying than his TV suppers which now appeared even more bland and tasteless to him.
Of course, he reasoned, it was a shade more effort to plan and prepare but it did force him into thinking much more about what he was going to cook and eat. He decided that the whole experience was just so much better than the TV dinner thingy.
"I shall always go for the real food option from now on". He vowed.
And, so he did. He never bought another TV dinner and his culinary repertoire increased enormously. He felt healthier, fitter and better for it also.
He never ate a ready made meal after that.