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.

And between @tillytoodles1 and me, you can see the difference of approach. We have very different expectations of eating out. And one is not superior to the other. We choose and get what we want to pay for.

A lot of chains cook in a central kitchen and then send out vats of ready made sauces so their products are extremely standardised.

We asked for spaghetti bolognaise at Zizzi. We were told we couldn’t have it as it hadn’t come in on the lorry.

The " fried eggs " are done in like a press,.it's very weird like the dry cleaning press . How the yolk gets runny I'll never know. They don't fry eggs In a pan. I've had the poached egg and ive never a runny yolk

You find out pretty quickly if you're a coeliac as most places can't do any sort of substitution. And I don't know whether it's something to do with freezing or transporting better but flour seems to make it's way I to all sorts of things where it shouldn't be - I've been to more than one hotel/restaurant where the eggs aren't gluten free. Ditto things like bernaise sauce.

I have recently decided to stop eating meat. Only since the New year.

What's apparent is that the veggie choices are all shit

Maybe it's because they are bought in. Maybe it's because they are not that arsed because most people eat meat.

At home in making a conscious effort to cook from scratch with nice veg. Loads or variety or I won't stick to it or I will get bored.

I buy some things pre prepped like breaded mushrooms but I make them to go with pasta etc. it's all lovely. And fresh. Im not missing meat at all because it's all nice. The veggie stuff in most places is crap. Lots of stuff I'm making is vegan. Not by choice it just is naturally within whatever I am making.

It's such a shame meat eaters and vegan are not
Given equal menu choices. It's easier a lot if the time to make a vegan dish for me and then incorporate meat onto it for the rest of my family.

Restaurants are missing a massive trick here in my opinion

What about food served in prisons?

They don't have a choice.

I can't name but the chain that went bust with the loud mouthed youngish chef at the helm....99% was bought in.....boil in the bag stuff...
Another chain with Italian sounding name also does bought in...only thing made fresh are the pizza but from frozen dough....at least the toppings are fresh...!!
all chain places use brake bros....all the desserts taste the same wherever you go...!!...i only eat out at a fish resturant and its all fresh.

@tillytoodles1 perhaps the difference between you and I is that I don't actually even think about the staff being friendly. They are perfectly fine, as long as they are competent. I dont want to be friends with the waitress. Nice, yes, of course, but friendly, no, or at kindest, not bothered. I pay the bill and tip 10%.

If the service is good/competent.

The food served in prisons is probably from Brakes and thus the same as any average chain restaurant! No need to tip but no chance of a glass of wine with one's meal either.

Actually, some prisoners learn catering in prison I think? Some of them open to the public too sometimes. So perhaps the food is on some occasions better than that served in a chain!

We are very fortunate and have a local College within east walking distance. They train catering and hospitality courses in an in-house restaurant. Wonderful food, all cooked from scratch, great service at a low price. Such a shame if after all that training the students end up microwaving ready meals.

DS, chef, reckons that about 40% of people in catering arrive there via their experience of being detained in prison and getting into the kitchen. Professional kitchens are really tough.

We had brunch at a really upmarket place recently. I ordered pancakes and bacon but was told they didn't have any pancakes. As they had eggs on the menu and could be cooked anyway you wanted I couldn't understand why the chef couldn't mix up eggs, flour and milk. I guess the pancakes were pre made. Yuk

I know nothing about prison catering but given that the Ministry of Justice appears to be incapable of providing decent working conditions and a living wage for all involved in running courts I would be amazed if they had a generous budget for prisoners' food. I'd expect them to given the cheapest possible food they can get away with. Maybe someone here with direct experience can say whether I'm guessing right.

@slamwich, being unable to whip up a batch of batter for pancakes indicates the restaurant doesn't have a clue. My DS could make pancakes in five minutes at eight years old. It's not hard.

I had a really lovely prawn chilli spaghetti at a well-known Italian restaurant chain (not Pizza Express) and it tastes very fresh. But the fact it was served pretty quickly and the restaurant was very busy on a Saturday meant that it probably was partly microwaved at some point.

I don't mind if this is the case as it was delicious anyway, and also because I've enjoyed extremely fresh and haute cuisine food at places like Raymond Blanc's Le Manoir aux Quatre Saisons and similar places, so I've been fortunate to be served amazing food that wasn't mass produced.

OTOH, I'll eat anything so I see food and eat it... I'm not fussy 🤣

I know wetherspoons are portioned into trays and put in the microwave. Heron foods sell what they have an excess of the meals and other frozen food in clear packaging. Some like fish and chips are bagged and obviously cooked in a deep fat fryer. I only know because I know a lad who works in our local one. I am sure they will provide other chains as well. There was a lad that got the sack for posting videos on social media of him preparing wetherspoons meals.

Doesn't surprise me about Jamie's Italian. I once complained about an Eton Mess in the one in my city. I mean, it's one of the easiest desserts to make, it takes no skill but it's the ingredients which make it. Which Jamie used to bang on and on about. But I was served something that clearly had tinned strawberries in. You can tell by the texture and appearance. I complained and it was taken off the bill. But really, it's no wonder it closed down. When you have a famous chef on telly emphasising the quality of ingredients being the most important thing in a dish, you don't serve tinned strawberries in an Eton mess. Just take it off the fecking menu and say there was a problem getting strawberries.

One of the very small independents near me I know uses a lot of fresh stuff. Because I've seen one of the owner/managers buying stuff fresh bits of salad etc in our local supermarket, and in quantities which suggested it wasn't for his own house.

I've been a waitress for years and quite a few things are made fresh that day but microwaved for the customer.

Such as lasagna, beans, meats such as roast beef, lamb shrank and turkey and ham (mostly microwaved in stock to keep moist). Where I used to work would freeze then microwave the vegetarian lasagne as we only sold it once every few days.
Also most desserts such as apple crumble, brownies, sticky toffee pudding and custard.

If you think some food takes hours to cook and would go dry if left under a heat lamp or that, so they are covered in clean film and microwaved. I think the braised beef took 4 hours in the last place I worked.

Most restaurants don't have the space, equipment or staff to have loads on pots and pans on the go at once and the customer won't wait for hours for a meal. So there really isn't much choice.

Years ago I ordered macaroni cheese off of the children’s menu at TGI Fridays. Was £5ish. Recognised it straight away as the stuff you buy in a tin!

Ready made omelettes? That sounds horrible, cant imagine what they're like. No, thanks, I wont be ordering one to find out.

I think it depends where you eat. It seems like the chain restaurants are the culprit. I like to eat in Turkish, Greek, Lebanese, Indian restaurants etc. and I’m not a vegetarian, but I often opt for their vegetarian menu and it’s been faultless.

There is a difference between something being reheated that has been made in the kitchen and frozen, and something that has been bought in or supplied centrally.