Sometimes it isn't possible or perhaps isn't practical to produce freshly cooked food to eat. In such cases, one can resort to packaged food, but packaged food can be bulky and is often considered unpleasant.

Food processors, while not providing a quality of meal as good as freshly cooked, generally do provide better meals than can come out of a can. They are, essentially, 3D printers for food; using “elements” of food such as fat, sugar, protein, and other such components.

These elements come in small packages that are loaded into the machine. The inside of one of these machines resemble the insides of a Coke Freestyle machine, such as:

Typically, the machine will dispense a bowl or plate into the print chamber, and then proceed to more or less extrude the food onto the plate while the chamber stays at the optimal tempurature for the food being produced. The end result is usually pretty passable for the 'real thing', and the machine is capable of making many meals. It can, of course, have software updates to support more menu options if desired.

Food processors are often accompanied by recyclers; one can put one's scraps in a recycler and they can be broken down for future use or sale at a space station. Typically, one can't take things straight out of a recycler and put them right back into the food processor; however, what comes out of the recycler is the raw materials used to make food processor packs. And so it can be a bit of a circular economy with ships getting “rebates” for turning in their recycled food.

The stuff that the recycler makes can also sometimes be used as lubricants or for other industrial purposes.

Recyclers often have a facility for washing the dishes as well; if the recycler is part of the food processor unit, then the plates are automatically returned to the processors' internal stock.

As a final note, printed foods can be used as ingredients by cooks on a ship. Either to augment fresh food with supplies that have run out or weren't obtained, or even by combining multiple printed ingredients to produce a finished product.

Generally speaking, people do like printed foods more than canned foods. The flavor is usually pretty close to correct for the meal, however the texture is sometimes 'off'. Often the texture, especially of meats which tend to be quite variable when 'real', are too consistant when printed. However, other items can have minor texture problems as well.

Mentioned above, cooks can use printed foods as ingredients. A skilled cook who knows his 'ingredients' well can often compensate for the problems of printed foods in the course of preparing a meal.