If you DIDN'T cook from scratch what did you have for dinner?

[listsandbudgets]

Feeling tired of seeing all the amazing meals cooked every day on mumsnet. I often cook from scratch but I've been so stressed and run down this week.

If you've been taking short cuts / been lazy cooking for whatever reason come and tell me what you did

Last night we had fish fingers, chips and beans and today Ikea meatballs, frozen mixed veg, mashed potatoes (made a batch a while ago and froze) and a jug of bisto

A bit short on greenery so I suppose I'd better just feed them broccoli and sprouts with a good splodge of cabbage tomorrow

Old El Paso enchilada kit. Could not be arsed tonight.

half and half today pork chops done in the oven frozen peas, frozen yorkies packet stuffing and fresh potatoes roasted in the air fryer, and gravy granule gravy very little prep a minimum from scratch bit peeling and cutting the spuds, only two of us so two minute job (dont like frozen roasties)

Just Eat McDonalds. I do usually cook from scratch but no Sainsbury's delivery today and couldn't face the kitchen anyway.

Sainsbury's lentil and tomato soup with half a tin of butter beans.
Part baked ciabatta roll done in air fryer with Lurpack melted in.

Llidl strained Greek yogurt with pomegranate molasses and a warmed up ginger cookie from Thomas the Baker.

Few glasses of red.

Used a simply cook set and had Korean caulliflower with rice, pickled cucumber and corn on the cob. Didn't cook from scratch but seemed healthy and tasted great.

I use Lloyd Grossman balti from a jar. Fry chicken chunks in a little oil til browned, add jar of curry sauce, simmer for 15 min. Done.

Supermarket-bought burgers in buns with lots of bowls of cheese / tomato / lettuce / avo / mayo / onion / beetroot / pickles etc etc

That sounds doable!! Thank you very much. Am pregnant and desperate for chicken curry but my normal one takes hours and I can't face the effort.

M&S Beef Lasagna, peas and glass of red wine. I always keep M&S lasagna in the freezer for emergency when I don't feel to cook for scratch

two slices of garlic bread with cheese on it. Various bad snacks throughout the day! (Crisps, bread). Orange squash. Croissants, earlier in the day.

Really scraping the barrell at the moment timewise and organisation wise. Gagging for some proper food.

DD ate at her friend’s house, DH ordered himself a curry and I’ve had two bags of ready salted crisps and a bag of galaxy chocolate eggs. Might have a tangerine to balance it out.

Half a pizza and salad with a glass of wine. Quick & easy following a 10.5 work shift.

I had hunters chicken from Iceland’s myprotein range. I’m obsessed with their meals!

I love the aldi jars with the spices in the lid.
chop bonesless
chicken thighs into chunks, about an inch big, let them go a bit golden, maybe 4-5 mins. Chuck in the spices and give another couple of mins. I Chuck in some chopped peppers, an onion. Pour on the sauce, pop lid on pan, let it bubble for 15 mins or so, I Chuck peas in at the end. Lovely.

Yesterday night DH and I didn’t have time to cook from scratch after visiting a friend in hospital so we went to the nearby Tesco and bought ourselves a pizza each. We did jolly them up with a few extra vegetables and cheese on top and they were very nice. And way cheaper than Dominos!

I only ate half of my takeaway last night so I reheated the other half this evening and had that.

Chicken fajitas - I did at least chop veg and chicken and cook that with the seasoning mix thing. We also had “whoops” M&S profiteroles afterwards, and cream.

I hope that was a prepacked salad that you emptied onto your plate.
Otherwise, it's getting dangerously close to cooking from scratch which isn't in the spirit of this thread. 😉

I had a frozen pizza for lunch. A bowl of cherry tomatoes and olives for dinner. A mango for a snack.

Rice noodles with a sauce of peanut butter and chilli oil 😁😁

I was working. Dh had kids out. Everyone knackered. This is usual on Saturday, we either get a takeaway, or do something pre bought for family movie night.

So tonight was a stone baked pizza, (some meat thing from waitrose with wee mozzarella balls), a packet of southern fried chicken tenders, a box of garden salad, tub of coleslaw, thing of fresh beetroot, few corn in the cobs, 1/2 pk of hot sauce chicken wings.

Rice with frozen veg, cheese and beans for the baby.

Everyone eating within 30 minutes of work finishing, some nutrition, jobs a good un!

Last night we had another day of everyone working. I defrosted tomato sauce, which I batch cook, cooked fresh pasta. Wrapped cod in prosciutto for adults, tinfoil for kids and air fried with asparagus and broccoli. 15 mins for dinner.

I love to cook, but some days I need help!

A chicken breast wrapped in bacon cooked in air fryer and an orange.

I had chopped up strawberries and bananas that I dipped in Nutella that I had heated up in the microwave.

Aldi Paella. It's lush. And DS ate his body weight in reduced M&S profiteroles too 😋

Tesco meatballs browned with minced mushrooms and mixed with tomato based pasta sauce, canned beans, gnocchi, chopped spinach and fresh mozzarella.