"Cheat" products that you love?

[DomesticSlobbess]

As much as I love cooking, there are the odd occasions when dinner comes "pre-prepared" in some form.

Products I love and would recommend are...

Colman's sausage casserole mix
Swartz roast chicken gravy

What are your recommendations for jars/packets/ready meals etc that you love to use?

[BitsinTatters]

Chopped onions / garlic / ginger / chilli

Either in a jar or frozen

[RayPurchase]

Bisto best gravy
Waitrose pesto
Frozen garlic and ginger
Canned chickpeas/ cannellini/ borlotti beans
Fresh filled pasta (ravioli/ tortellini etc)
Aunt Bessie's swede and carrot mash is very good as are Asda frozen roast parsnips.

[BikeRunSki]

Sausage/chicken casserole mix
Frozen mash ( handy for doing small portions for the dc)
Jus Rol pastry
Heinz tomato soup


One of the meals that is guaranteed to be eaten this house - pasta bake made with pasta, tin of tom soup, tin of tuna, tin of sweet corn, handful of frozen peas... No effort on my behalf at all!

[mrspremise]

EAZY tinned fried onions. Pots of fresh crushed garlic and ginger. Ready rolled puff pastry. Ready baked sweet pastry cases. Frozen parathas.

[ItsTheOnlyWayToLive]

Sliced leeks, Asda, great for casseroles.

YY to Colmans sausage casserole mix. very handy :)

Bitsintatters, where do you get your chopped chillies and ginger? Are they in packets/packs? Never seen 'em..

[DomesticSlobbess]

Is the chopped onion finely diced or is it big chunks? I only ever use a little bit of onion when cooking because I don't like it much so have thought about buying it chopped so I only have to grab a teeny bit when I need it. But I hate eating large bits of onion so prefer mine finely chopped.

[feelinlucky]

Schwartz shepherds pie mix. Love it!

[BitsinTatters]

The frozen stuff is diced small. That's why it's good for us fussy children

[ItsTheOnlyWayToLive]

"Either in a jar or frozen"

D'er just saw this..:s

Please ignore.

As you were ...

[Felix90]

I've recently started buying frozen diced onion and it's amazing! Only a quid from asda and you get loads. So much easier to grab a handful of frozen than stand and chop a load.

[DomesticSlobbess]

Oh yes, Heinz tomato soup for sure. I've made various soups from scratch before but none of them are as good as Heinz tomato. Probably all the yummy sugar!

[kissmyheathenass]

I got frozen crushed ginger in cubes - Sainos yesterday. I am a recent convert to frozen onions, garlic and shallots, bloody brilliant. cant think why I waited so long to try them. Also love frozen mash.

I always do gravy granules. Dcs wont eat 'proper' gravy.

[StrawColoured]

Frozen sliced mushrooms. And the jars of chopped garlic, ginger and red chillies. Peppadew pickled peppers in a jar.

[kissmyheathenass]

and frozen Yorkshire puddings - cant forget those.

[Goldmandra]

Frozen diced onion.

Thickening granules (you can put them straight in hot liquids)

Jus-roll pastry.

[Felix90]

Straw those peppers in a jar are so delicious!

[DomesticSlobbess]

I would also like to add Seeds of Change bolognese sauce and also Ragu smooth bolognese sauce to my list for the times where I really fancy spaghetti bolognese but feeling really lazy.

[Taffeta]

Really lazy ginger
All butter puff pastry
Waitrose Hoisin sauce
Chinese supermarket chilli paste type stuff
Frozen berries to add to crumbles etc

[HuevosRancheros]

Microwave brown rice, cannot be bothered to boil it for 40 minutes!

[BikeRunSki]

Those microwave pouches of rice. Great for work lunches.

[WilsonFrickett]

Microwaved rice pouches. I can cook rice but have had so many disasters of the years, so much easier to just grab a sachet.

Frozen chillies. Garlic puree. Ready made pastry. Aunt Bessies mid-week roasties (DH and I both obsessed but cook them for longer than the stated 20 mins to get them crunchy). Canned beans. Had a pouch of puy lentils the other day too which was fab but prob too pricy for everyday use.

Meringues. Eton mess the only pudding I ever make.

[Destinysdaughter]

Pataks curry pastes are very good. I cook onions and peppers, add chicken and tin of tons. Lovely curry and v adaptable!

[noddyholder]

Frozen onions ready chopped.

[realhousewifeoffitzrovia]

Definitely frozen garlic, chillies and ginger (from Waitrose or Ocado).

[DomesticSlobbess]

I've used Sainsbury's own microwave rice before but it has a taste and texture to it that isn't like ordinary rice. Maybe I should try a better brand.

Used Dolmio bolognese sauce tonight and it was good! I haven't used a jar bolognese in ages but I was feeling lazy and now I'm wondering why I bother with the hours of faff when DS didn't notice and wolfed the whole thing down.