Do restaurants really serve microwaved 'ready meals'?

[AtleastitsnotMonday]

As it says really. This has come up several times on threads about eating out recently. Basically people saying they are not paying restaurant price for microwaved food. Is this really true? What's the point in having chefs if it's a case of sticking things in a microwave? Surely they wouldn't get away with it. It's often mentioned in discussion about pasta dishes in Italian chain restaurants, surely buying in ready made meals would cost them a whole lot more that cooking a bit of pasta and sauce anyway.

M&S food in Costa?

My sister in law waitressed at a fairly pricey restaurant across the road from where I trained a solicitor. All the solicitors used to go there and rave about the food - but she had told me it was all bought in from places like Costco

Practically all food in Costa is M&S now.

DS works there and I have a freezer full of (expired) M&S ready meals.

Well not all do no. We’ve got independents where you can see the food being cooked. And cafes where they are grilling bacon and poaching eggs.

if you’ve never been to a chain restaurants I’m impressed.

I use to work in a supermarket cafe. I remember having to explain to a confused customer that although we were serving cooked breakfasts which included fried eggs cooked on a hot plate we had run out of his usual omelette which came in frozen and was microwaved. The kitchen didn't contain equipment like a frying pan or saucepans.

Big of course I know that I am not just paying for the food ..but my point is that if I want to eat a 'ready meal' I am more than happy to do so in the comfort of my own home ... all too often the 'service' isn't that good anyway, I did a course in hospitality & culinary skills years ago & worked in high quality restaurant and royal palaces and I can assure that many of the people serving in restaurants these days ( and yes, my Uni student DS is one of them) have not been properly trained in customer service skills.

I have, was just saying not all are like that

I think there must be somewhere like Brakes for cakes in my local area as although so many places pass them off as home baking they nearly all have identical tray bakes and sponges and none of them have any taste . It’s a sort of hobby of mine to find anywhere local that does proper home baking as someone who is rubbish at baking themselves and I do love a nice sponge or chocolate tray bake .

Agreed. If i went to somewhere like whetherspoons I would assume it was a microwave meal at those prices.

But there's something deceptive about a pricey "independent" dressing up microwave meals as chef cooked food

I occasionally use Forman and Field for home meals, and they supply restaurants. It's all fancy homecook ready meals, and it's between 75-99% ready to eat.

It's not all microwaved - lots of it needs oven or pan finishing, but is basically most of the way there.

Plus chef microwaves are a bit fancier than your average home deal.

Have you eaten there? They're really nice restaurants, clearly freshly cooked food.

I'm really shocked at all this. It's. It isn't something I've ever thought about but it's obvious now reading this thread.

Yes I am very gullible and makes perfect sense.

Surely you didn’t think they were cooking macaroni cheese fresh to order at Costa

Chains do it for consistency. Most of them buy from the big caterers like Brakes, and yes, pinged in the microwave, freshly cut parsley on top.

I don't mind a freezer to fryer meal out occasionally. Better than stinking my place up with the oil.

Yes

I don’t think I’d go to many (if any) chain restaurants for the surroundings and service, tbf, and convenience...well I’d rather just pay for the ready meal itself which is much cheaper and also convenient!

What did you think it would be? It’s Costa

If I find myself in one of these sorts of places, I tend to go for something like scampi and chips, as that would be frozen and fried pretty much wherever you went (and I would do it that way at home!)

Yes, they do. It’s one reason we don’t eat out much.

I would expect chain restaurants to use centrally prepared food which is reheated or finished on site. It's how they can ensure that you get the same experience no matter which branch you eat at.

I’ve stopped making deep fried chicken at home. Don’t want the mess or the smell, even every so often. So if I lived near a Korean restaurant I’d definitely be going there for that/ordering it in!

They’ve been doing a crossover for a while. It’s an improvement on their previous offerings - nice pasta salads, kids’ meals, and macaroni cheese.

Bigger chains have dedicated kitchens for the longer cook ingredients. My local pub let me buy 3 duck legs of them that come in beats but they are cooked for them (and the rest of the chain)

Ive worked in several chain pub kitchens. The biggest kitchen had 1 grill, 4 deep fryers and 16 microwaves. The beep beep beep every 2 seconds still gives me nightmares. Super high powered tho, they could melt cheese in 10 seconds.