Decent ready meals?

If youre used to cooking from scratch then i dont think any ready meals will be satisfying tbh. if there is a chance you could batch cook and freeze that would certainly deal with the time issue.

Shame about m&s - their "cook" range is good. Seafood casserole is my favourite. We have "cook" food once or twice a week in peak nightmare at work season. I think some of their food is freezable, so if you can get there, might be worth it.

We like veg moussaka from waitrose - with green beans - a really quick meal.

I can sympathise - we have to be careful meal planning or we eat stupidly late or survive on cheese on toast. And I work from home with only one child who is mostly at nursery so you are so much better than me.

For children, they are expensive but the Little Dish ones are ok. We've used very rarely.

Adults - the best I've found for ready foods are Covent Garden cartons of soup and bread. I think they might do a risotto thing too which is probably ok.

?

No shame in saying that I like the Iceland £1.50 ones. Have Italian meatballs, 'meat feast', Chicken Bhuna and Cantonese Beef in the freezer at the moment (that's a fortnight's supply BTW).

No, nothing like making your own. But I do think they're a reasonable facsimile of an average take-away.

Are any of these shops near you? They helped a friend of mine when she ran out of pre cooked freezer food following child birth

https://www.cookfood.net/shops

I agree with Nick, really. Do you have a farm shop/farmers' market where you could get decent pies/soup to freeze etc?

I'm trying, we're just ending up eating the same things over and over, I'll make a vat of tomato sauce and use it for a variety of things, casseroles, chilli etc etc I always make 3 times what we need and freeze some, but I'm not finding it easy at the moment to get into the kitchen to batch cook - it's a stupid kitchen, with no room for a toddler to play while I'm cooking, andthe sitting room is on another floor (Clearly the answer to my problem is to move house!)

Sophie,

Actually we have a fantastic farmers market, but it's mostly raw ingredients, there is a good soup stall though, so I must pick some up on Saturday.

Thanks

ONE. I don't think we have an Iceland.

Not the cheapest but I like the Waitrose Easy to Cook range for the occasional can't-be-arsed meal. Loads of variety and they come in foil trays ready to slam in the oven. Not strictly speaking ready meals but probably better for the conscience.

The Waitrose ones are pretty good. What I normally do is buy side dishes, so say a piece of Salmon and shop bought dauphinoise. I find full on ready meals a bit too horrid. For me they are handy to have in the freezer for the times when I can't be bothered and I'd otherwise reach for the take away menu.

Tha's useful to know, will look at what they've got. Thanks

I can totally sympathise, I've only got one child but on the days i'm working it's a nightmare and the slow cooker has become my friend but it means we're eating curries/bolognese/chilli a lot of the time which is boring the arse off me.

I'm not ashamed to admit I love the large cumberland/shepherds/cottage pies that M&S do, they taste much better than mine, maybe because I haven't had to do the cooking lol! I'm sure Tesco/sainsbuggers etc. do the same sort of thing.

TF - to add, we've found that the rice cooker has been really great for this.

Takes about 5 mins to add various ingredients and then around 20 to cook it up - pretty much one pot...

(eg, rice plus peas, chopped smoked haddock plus some stock - you could add boiled egg or cream, or if you browned some chicken first and add to rice plus frozen mixed roasted veg and some oil/stock...)

KB3, that looks great, but the nearest is 32 miles away - that said I need to head out that way in a couple of weeks so I'll check it out.

Zeb, I haven't made kedgeree in ages, and it's quick and easy and J loves it, so I'll add it to the list. Thanks!

I buy Tesco Finest or frozen branded ready meals (like birds eye for instance). I know that they get slated on here but I am out 13 hours a day, single parent with family and at weekends I have housework etc to do and I have to have a bit of a rest at some point! I do try and do a couple of things at weekends that will last more than one day so it is not ready meals every day, but they do eat ready meals for part of the week, I think you have to weigh up the constraints on your time and the finite amount of energy that you have, it's no good if the freezer is packed full of home baked meals and you are in bed ill from exhaustion!

I can't help with the ready meal question but have you got a slow cooker? I find this is really good for cooking food from scratch without too much effort as you can mostly just bung it all in and leave it to cook.

My husband swears by the Lloyd Grossman jars of sauce which might be an idea. He adds chicken to the curry one or we just have a tomato-based one with fresh parmesan. Pasta and rice can be done in a flash while the children are being put to bed.

Dare I suggest pizza?! I don't eat it but Sainsburys do the Pizza Express ones which go down well here for a treat.

How about one-pot oven casseroles? couple of handfuls of barley, can of toms, couple of handfuls of frozen endamame/soy beans, handful of frozen or fresh spinach, tin of aduki/cannellini beans, dried chilli and oregano (plus pinch of smoked paprika if you have it). throw all in dish, in the oven for an hour at 180ish. done.

we eat a variation on this about once a week, requires no prep or tending to at all.

Pizza is acceptable, but I think I'd be facing divorce if I tried putting jarred sauce in front of my husband ?.

I have a slow cooker, and use it occasionally but have got out of the habit as things taste better oven cooked. (It's fab for making stock though!)

TF, I sympathise - I've been living on insta-food these last few weeks due to extreme 1st trimester crapness!

I have found that Waitrose own-brand ready meals are usually pretty decent. Not the same as home cooking, but nowhere near as vile as some I've had in the past. They have a variety of ranges, including reduced fat and traditional British food. Their pizzas are quite good too. There are the 'ready to cook' things, but I've not tried those yet - even that's too much effort just now! ?

Good luck, and don't feel too bad - needs must.

? sounds fab, as was Lowkey's barley stew on Friday. Must get that recipe too.

Waitrose has a good range of curries/chinese ready meals, and the ready to cook ones. It also does fresh pasta sauces and things, I believe. I think they've probably got a good enough variety for you, if you mooch

L
xx

Would using a steamer help? new potatoes, carrots in first, 20mins ish (it's electric not hob so i leave the room) then put a couple of salmon fillets in, 5 mins or so, (with some pepper, salt, lemon juice) then at the end pour in some frozen peas and sweetcorn. one pot meal which doesn't involve much kitchen time.

otherwise we have jacket pots with salmon, or a pork chop cooked in the george, or a poached egg, plus beans or peas/ sweetcorn. i've heard those steamfresh bags of veg are good.

I usually hate ready meals - they all have a horrid plastic taste and are usually OTT salty.

However, I do love the range from Cook! and always have a few in the freezer for lazy days. I think they do mail order for some items? They aren't cheap but IMO worth it.

Also, I have discovered ASDA curries. They really are very good and I usually wouldn't touch a supermarket curry with a bargepole as I never like the quality of meat in them. They are the ones from the Deli counter and they also sell them ready boxed.

The other thing, if you're eating your dinner once the children are in bed, is to learn how to make a really good omelette. So yummy and really good for you, and takes 10 minutes if you make a salad too.

Foxy - that stew sounds very virtuous. Is it nice?

Is it worth rethinking what you cook, to go for quick to prepare stuff rather than ready meals? Can't really talk much now but stir fries, cook in foil bag stuff, and chuck in the oven and forget about it stuff all good

Just to add to this, that shop is fabulous and not too pricey considering! There's one near my mum and dad and they sometimes get one as a takeaway to save them cooking - cheaper and healthier than a curry/Chinese. The delivery charge is a bit much though, better if you can get to the shop really.

"....but I think I'd be facing divorce if I tried putting jarred sauce in front of my husband."

Then why can't he cook his own bl00dy dinner?! ?

Seriously though, you do have a small child, can't your H help out by cooking a few meals from scratch, then you won't feel so guilty on the nights you have ready meals?

I find that the best ready meals are the ones that you get in the big bags - the ones that call themselves 'takeaway' and you get rice, a couple of meals and some nanns. They seem to be cooked in-store in most places.

A few easy things I cook are:

Beanie - Loads of different canned beans ( I use about 4), tinned toms, garlic oil and smoked paprika - In a rush just heat on the stove but it's best left to bake in the oven for 45 mins

Fire rice - Boiled rice, fried in a pan with waitrose frozen bean mix (soya beans, green beans and another bean I can't remember), handful of cashews and some Sharwoods Thai five spice and fresh coriander.

Pasta - I'm not a fan of jars so i just do pasta tossed through with truffle oil and then serve with a warmed up tin of cherry tomatoes with garlic oil and balsamic added and parmesan to serve. It's really lovely, quick and cheap!

Egg curry - This is from about 20 years ago but it's gorgeous! You saute onions in butter and add 2 teaspoons curry powder, the stir in 3 tbs flour and cook off as if making a rue. Then add in 450ml milk. One thickened and cooked add 3 tbs mango chutney and handful sultanas and simmer for 5 mins. It should be like a thick cheese sauce. Serve with the halved boiled eggs and rice.

My quickest things when absolutely pushed for time are:

- fresh pasta and pesto (both from supermarket)

- fresh ravioli or similar (either supermarket or deli) with butter and parmesan

- pork pie (bought from butcher), salad

- pasta aglio olio

- omelette, bread, salad

The first few are ready meals in a sense because it's all pre-made stuff but they don't feel like you're eating some hideous microwave crap. The other things are just super-quick- really don't think a ready meal would be quicker. I do sympathise with the batch cooking thing- I do a lot of it and it's utterly soul-destroying after a bit to be stuck in a cycle of bolognese/chilli/curry/stew- there's never enough time to cook twenty different batches, so as to give yourself variety (and anyway, unles you have a zillion outbuildings for chest freezers, where do you put it?)

Ooh, there's a make of pie I've heard people rave about that you can get at supermarkets but I now can't remember the name...it's a chap's name and they do all sorts of different ones. Haven't tried them personally though. I do think things like pies (if well made) are a better bet than grim stuff like individual microwave dinner for one-style things.

Do you have the speedy Nigella book? May be worth a look (although I've had it for over a year and have never cooked anything from it ?)

Ooooh, you can buy Pie Minister pies online and freeze them. Yum.

They sell them in various Waitrose/Sainsburys round here now. Limited range though. Mind you Tilly is close enough to get the real thing - the shop is right by where we go to Kindermusik.