Are Ready-Made Meals High in Sodium? An Essential Guide to Healthy Choices

October 25, 2025 •

5 min read

According to a May 2025 report by Action on Salt, over half (56%) of ready meals assessed in the UK were high in salt. This statistic underscores a critical nutritional issue, prompting many to ask, "Are ready-made meals high in sodium?" The reality is that while these convenient meals save time, they often come with a hidden nutritional cost, particularly concerning their high sodium content.

Quick Summary

This guide reveals why ready-made meals often contain excessive sodium, explaining its roles in preservation and flavor. It also covers the significant health risks associated with high sodium intake and provides clear strategies for finding lower-sodium alternatives by carefully reading nutrition labels. It emphasizes making informed dietary choices for better health.

Key Points

Prevalence of High Sodium: Many ready-made meals are high in sodium due to its use as a flavor enhancer and preservative.
Significant Health Risks: Excessive sodium intake from ready meals can lead to high blood pressure, increasing the risk of heart disease and stroke.
Label Reading is Key: Always check the nutrition facts panel and look for products explicitly labeled 'low sodium' or 'no salt added' to make healthier choices.
Watch Out for Hidden Sodium: Sodium is often present in non-salty-tasting processed foods like breads, sauces, and baked goods, and can quickly accumulate.
Use Natural Flavoring: Incorporate herbs, spices, garlic, and citrus to add flavor to your meals and reduce the need for salt.
Rinse Canned Foods: Rinsing canned vegetables and beans can effectively reduce their sodium content.
FDA Health Standard: As a benchmark, aim for ready meals that contain less than 600mg of sodium per serving to meet FDA guidelines for a 'healthy' meal.

The convenience of ready-made meals is undeniable in our fast-paced modern lives. They offer a quick and effortless solution to dinner, eliminating the need for extensive cooking and preparation. However, this convenience often comes at a nutritional cost, primarily due to their typically high sodium content. Understanding why manufacturers add so much salt and learning how to navigate the supermarket for healthier options is crucial for anyone looking to maintain a balanced diet while still enjoying the benefits of ready-to-eat foods.

Why Are Ready-Made Meals High in Sodium?

Manufacturers add sodium to ready-made meals for a combination of reasons that serve to improve the product's taste, texture, and shelf life.

Flavor Enhancement: Salt is a powerful flavor enhancer. In processed foods, it is used to mask bland flavors and create a more palatable, impactful taste profile. Many consumers have become accustomed to the high level of saltiness in these foods, expecting a similar taste experience with every purchase.
Preservation: Historically, salt was a primary method for preserving food by inhibiting microbial growth. While modern refrigeration and packaging methods have advanced, salt remains a key hurdle in the 'multiple hurdle' method of preservation, extending product shelf life and ensuring food safety.
Texture and Functionality: Sodium also plays a functional role in the food production process. In some items, it controls the stickiness of doughs, contributes to the texture of processed cheeses, and helps to improve the stability of sauces and dressings.
Masking Flavors: In reheated and ready-to-eat meals, sauces and seasonings are often used to prevent or mask "warmed-over flavors," which can be a side effect of reheating processed meats and other components. The sauces that achieve this are often high in sodium.

The Health Risks of Excessive Sodium Intake

Regularly consuming too much sodium can have serious health consequences, particularly when a single ready-made meal can contribute a significant portion of a person's daily recommended intake.

High Blood Pressure: Excess sodium in the bloodstream attracts water, increasing the total volume of blood. This puts more pressure on blood vessel walls, leading to high blood pressure, or hypertension.
Increased Risk of Cardiovascular Disease and Stroke: Hypertension is a major risk factor for heart disease and stroke, making a high-sodium diet a significant long-term health concern.
Kidney Issues: The kidneys play a critical role in filtering waste and excess sodium from the body. An excessive sodium load forces the kidneys to work harder, which can lead to kidney disease and, in the short term, contribute to the formation of kidney stones.
Bloating and Fluid Retention: One of the immediate effects of consuming too much salt is fluid retention, which can cause bloating and puffiness, especially around the face, hands, and feet.

How to Choose Lower Sodium Ready Meals

Despite the prevalence of high-sodium options, it is possible to find healthier alternatives by becoming a more diligent shopper. Always check the nutrition information before purchasing.

Read Nutrition Labels: The Nutrition Facts panel is your most important tool. Compare the sodium content per serving and choose products with the lowest amounts.
Understand 'Low Sodium' Claims: An FDA regulation sets specific criteria for front-of-pack claims.
- Low Sodium: Must contain 140mg or less of sodium per serving.
- Reduced Sodium: Must contain at least 25% less sodium than the comparable regular product.
- No Salt Added / Unsalted: May still contain naturally occurring sodium, so checking the label is still important.
Use the 600mg Benchmark: For a ready meal to qualify for the FDA's 'healthy' label, it must contain less than 600mg of sodium per serving. This can serve as a useful benchmark when comparing options.
Be Mindful of Portion Sizes: A ready meal may contain two or more servings, meaning you need to multiply the listed sodium content by the number of servings you consume.

Making Smarter Choices: A Comparison

To illustrate the difference, here is a comparison of typical high-sodium and lower-sodium ready meal alternatives.


Feature	High-Sodium Ready Meal (e.g., standard frozen lasagne)	Lower-Sodium Ready Meal (e.g., reduced-sodium pasta dish)
Sodium Content	Often over 1,000mg per single-serve portion	Typically 600mg or less, depending on the brand
Flavoring	Heavily reliant on added salt and processed flavorings	Uses herbs, spices, and other natural seasonings for flavor
Ingredients	Often includes processed ingredients, fillers, and additives	Prioritizes whole, recognizable ingredients like vegetables, whole grains, and lean protein
Health Impact	Contributes significantly to daily sodium intake, increasing health risks	Lessens the sodium load, supporting heart health and blood pressure management

Practical Tips for Reducing Sodium

Adopting healthier habits can help offset the high sodium levels in processed foods.

Rinse Canned Foods: For canned goods like beans or vegetables, rinsing them thoroughly can remove a significant portion of the added sodium.
Use Herbs and Spices: Flavor your food with natural alternatives to salt. Herbs, spices, garlic, onion, and citrus juice can add depth and flavor without the sodium.
Cook at Home More Often: Preparing meals from scratch gives you complete control over the ingredients, including the amount of salt added.
Look for 'No Salt Added' Options: When using canned or packaged items like stock or tomato sauce, always opt for the 'no salt added' or 'low sodium' versions.
Introduce Lower-Sodium Foods Gradually: If you find lower-sodium meals taste bland at first, mix them with regular versions to slowly retrain your palate. Your taste buds will adapt over a few weeks, and you will begin to appreciate the natural flavors of food.
Eat High-Potassium Foods: Increasing your intake of potassium-rich foods, such as bananas, potatoes, and greens, can help mitigate the effects of sodium on your blood pressure.

Conclusion: Balancing Convenience and Health

In conclusion, the answer to the question "Are ready-made meals high in sodium?" is often yes, but not always. While many convenient options are packed with excessive salt, the market is expanding to include healthier, lower-sodium choices. The key is to be an informed consumer. By understanding why sodium is added to processed foods and actively using nutrition labels to compare products, you can significantly reduce your intake of this hidden ingredient. For those seeking maximum control, cooking at home remains the best option, but for times when convenience is necessary, making smart, label-conscious decisions is a simple and effective strategy for protecting your long-term health.

For more information on reducing sodium in your diet, consider visiting the official Heart.org guide on the topic: How to Reduce Sodium in Your Diet.

Frequently Asked Questions

A single serving of a ready meal that exceeds 600mg of sodium is generally considered high, according to FDA guidelines for a meal to qualify as 'healthy'. You should aim for options well below this limit if you are actively managing your sodium intake.

Yes, rinsing canned foods like vegetables or beans under running water can remove a significant amount of the added sodium, often by as much as 40%.

Not necessarily. While a meal labeled 'healthy' must meet a specific sodium limit (less than 600mg for an entrée), some options can still be on the higher end of that range. Always check the full nutrition label for the exact sodium content.

Excessive sodium intake can increase blood pressure, which is a major risk factor for heart disease and stroke. It can also cause fluid retention, bloating, and place extra stress on your kidneys.

Sodium is added to enhance flavor, act as a preservative to extend shelf life, and improve the texture and functional properties of the food. It also helps mask less-desirable tastes that can develop during processing and reheating.

Yes, research shows that your taste buds can adapt to a lower-sodium diet over a few weeks. By gradually reducing your salt intake, you will eventually begin to taste the natural flavors of food more distinctly and may no longer crave salty tastes.

No, sodium levels can vary widely across different ready-meal categories, brands, and product lines. For instance, some 'healthier' ranges are specifically formulated with less salt. A UK study found significant variation, indicating that healthier reformulation is possible and some brands offer better options than others.

Other significant sources of sodium in a typical diet include deli meats, bread, certain breakfast cereals, packaged snacks like chips and crackers, sauces, soups, and pizza.

Look for explicit claims like 'low sodium,' 'no salt added,' or 'reduced sodium.' Additionally, check the percentage of the Daily Value (%DV) for sodium on the Nutrition Facts panel, aiming for options with 5% DV or less per serving.