Prefabricated food, also called instant food or instant food, refers to the food that can be eaten directly or processed slightly after certain processing.

prepared food is prepared in advance. They are usually made in factories, packaged and frozen to prolong the shelf life and keep their nutrition and flavor. These foods can be eaten directly after being heated at home or in restaurants, thus providing a convenient and quick cooking choice.

There are many kinds of prepared dishes, including vegetables, fruits, meat, seafood, cakes and pasta. Perhaps the most common prepared dishes are traditional Asian dishes such as quick-frozen dumplings, spring rolls and fried dumplings. However, prefabricated dishes also have some disadvantages and potential dangers. For example, preserved vegetables usually need preservatives and other chemicals to extend their shelf life, which may affect their food safety.

There are four main categories of prefabricated dishes:

1. Instant food

refers to prefabricated conditioning products that can be eaten directly after opening. This includes instant snacks (such as instant feet-soaking chicken feet) and canned food, which belongs to the retail category.

2. Instant food

refers to food that can be eaten only by heating. There are generally two ways to preserve this kind of food after processing: cold storage and normal temperature. Quick-frozen dumplings, instant noodles, instant hot pot and other foods are also used in this kind of prefabricated dishes, which mainly belong to the retail category. The fast food package, which has been very active in the market in recent two years, also belongs to this kind of prefabricated dishes. Its main service target is catering enterprises, and it is also very common on e-commerce platforms at present.

3. Ready-to-cook food

refers to raw materials and necessary condiments that are packaged in portions and stored in cold storage or normal temperature, and can be put into the pot immediately for conditioning. This kind of prefabricated dishes belongs to the category of semi-finished products and has a certain market share in the retail industry and catering industry.

4. Ready-to-eat food

This kind of food can also be called cooking raw food or semi-finished clean food, which refers to semi-finished raw food with side dishes after preliminary processing such as cleaning and cutting.