I saw these in Sainsburys and immediately twittered about them, because I just think it's a convenience food too far. We can all think of items where life is just to short to prepare them from scratch, or where we have a lacuna in our talents, but I must draw the line a long way before omelettes.
Some work-related thing a while back, we had to come up with some pictorial analogy for what we do, and via the iphone, we emerged with 'Solving problems you didn't know you had'. And I think there are a lot of products on the market that exist only to solve non-existent problems.
But, I'm a little bit torn on this one. I know that I often spot things in catalogues that fall out of the Radio Times which make me say 'Just what I've been looking for' whilst slightly mocking the other products that are clearly and obviously useless.
I suppose Ready Made omelettes are like this. I've even found a website that explains how wonderful they are. Their justifications include:
- Great Shell egg taste without the mess
My problem is that, either they're citing non-existent problems or else they are providing solutions where the obvious and easier solution is - use eggs, make omelette.
I have thought about it and I concede that if you are living in a bedsit or caravan, either permanently or on holiday, and you only have a microwave, then the ready-made omelette is probably the only way you can get an omelette. But I would think an even better solution would be to get a Baby Belling or maybe just an electric frying pan. Or if you're on holiday, I would think that maybe you should just think more laterally and concede that home-cooked omelette is not essential!
The attraction is that they're freezable, so if you really fancy an omelette butty after getting home from a night out after the egg-selling shops are shut, this is your perfect solution. But solution to what - that you're organised enough to think ahead to the fact that you might conceivably need a ready-made omelette but not sufficiently organised to buy fresh eggs for the larder?
I'm not suggesting that Sainsburys should be banned from selling ready-made omelettes nor should people be banned from buying them. I'm not exactly a fan of untrammelled capitalism, but a free market also leaves you free to say 'no'.
Even though I mock it, I have outlined various situations where there is a use for a ready-made omelette. Which is the nub of my problem, I guess. It just feels so wrong; it's finding a solution from the wrong direction. But, yet, isn't that the point of innovation and invention, to eliminate ever having to think laterally and to allow every desire instantly to be gratified.
And of course, this whole thinking is shot-through with double-standards and hypocrisy. There is so much processed and convenience-food shizzle in my house. So, I can explain why I draw the line long before ready-made omelettes and pre-grated cheddar, but why do I think therefore that my standards ought to be universal?
