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

a COOK Moroccan Lamb Tagine and microwave rice. Very tasty but pricier than our usual fare. I picked it up when we stopped for petrol on our way back from a trip.

Pies, chips and beans. Was quick to and tasty.

Waitrose chicken jalfazi ready meal plus some frozen veg and some cauliflower rice from yesterday.

It's amazing that supermarkets have aisles of ready made food when it seems, from Mumsnet, that EVERYONE cooks everything from scratch.

My mum is 85 and now eats lots of ready made meals. She adds veg and she chooses the meals carefully. Cost wise they are not too bad at all. She does cook from scratch sometimes and always has plenty of fresh fruit and veg.

M&S cheese and onion quiche, oven chips, coleslaw and tomatoes, a bowl of strawberries, blueberries and a meringue with cream for pudding 😋

Steak and kidney pie, bought from our local butchers, peas, chips and gravy.

We had a Charlie Bigham's beef casserole and mashed potato, which was quite nice. I had a good excuse as I had a gastroscopy this afternoon and was told I mustn't drive or cook for 24 hours so I thought a ready meal would be a nice easy choice for my husband to cook 😆😆

Crusty cheese and pickle roll and a glass of wine.

I just can’t be cooking from scratch all the time it’s exhausting

I had a Warburton's breakfast muffin toasted and buttered, Vegemite spread on and a slice of smoked cheese (from sliced cheese packets section of the supermarket).
Glass of wine.
Classy. 🤣

Oooo I like the sound of that.

Ooooo another winner! All this is making me hungry.

My no 'cook' dinners:
Fish and chips (Tesco battered fish and triple cooked chips, frozen peas)
Chicken Kiev and baked potato (microwaved from frozen), microwaved veg
Tesco Finest cottage/shepherds pie with frozen peas
Bigham's anything really.

Takeaway- sweet and sour chicken with half rice and half chips and some sushi

I made boiled eggs, a toast and some strawberries (request of DC). So I could say o cooked from scratch ? 🤣

Last night it was crumbed prawns, chips and a (bought) cous cous salad.

Tonight it's to be baked beans, hash browns and an egg.

(I do eat better during the week).

@UseItOrloseItt What tinned meatballs do you buy?

We had supermarket pizza. I can make my own and sometimes do. Didn't want to last night. I don't feel any guilt about it.

OP the mash and veg is cooking from scratch IMO!

We had Old El Paso meal kit enchiladas.
We use the kits quite a bit for tacos and fajitas too.

Love mexican food and do also cook it from scratch a fair bit but it can be a faff.

Leftover bao buns from a food market we went to and a bag of nice n spicy niknaks. Washed down with a chocolate eclair.

Nothing last night because we went out for lunch and we were full- scrambled eggs for Dcs.

But tonight I am making a tofu korma using tofu, frozen cauliflower and spinach and a jarred sauce.

I had a ready meal good to go in the microwave but ended up having g a banana sandwich instead 😋

Burger, brioche buns and oven chips with chunks of cucumber and red pepper as a nod to veg.

Pork ragout with tagliatelle and pangrattato (from our excellent, local private chef, who still runs the delivery meal service that he started during Covid, as well as catering for special events).

I was 'wtf is crunchy cheese?' 🤢

This could be my dream meal.

hate the term "cooking from scratch" like busy working mothers are supposed conjure up home made vine ripened tomato ragu in the 10 minutes we have before our kids die from starvation. or maybe we should be harvesting the wheat before milling and baking "from scratch" warburtons loaves. ffs. cooking a warm meal for your family is not that deep