Is removing the mint metapackage a bad idea?

[strypey]

I recently uninstalled Thunderbird from my LMDE 2 system (64-bit with Cinammon). When I did, it said it was also uninstalling a mint metapackage. I had done this before, and it didn't seem to cause any problems, so I did it again. Just wondering what this metapackage is, and whether I might have set myself up for some problems down the line by removing it?

[all41]

You're good to go. The actual packages are not removed, just the old TB reference to them.

[Pjotr]

Metapackages are just shopping lists. When your groceries have all been bought, you can throw away the shopping list....

[Tim-int]

Although this is LMDE, just to note that I removed 5 Thunderbird packages from Mint 18.2 and it didn't remove meta packages.

[Termy]

Metapackages are just shopping lists. When your groceries have all been bought, you can throw away the shopping list....

Careful, some shopping lists are marked as required and essential, like the init one. I suppose it's possible that it can be removed without damage, but I daren't assume as much.