Ready to eat. These are in the refrigerated section and are ready to go. Just heat and serve. Only lentils and sea salt as the ingredients. Good source of iron. Dried lentils are pretty easy to make, but its so handy to have these and just instantly toss into soups, with veggies into a tortilla wrap, or salads. I make a tabouli salad and then add a pack of these lentils for a nice healthy tabouli lentil salad. Handy and healthy.