Ingredient which has made your culinary life easier (lighthearted)

[Thomasina79]

I have just discovered frozen mash from Iceland. Five minutes in microwave! I have arthritic fingers which makes it hard to peel vegetables.

I was tempted by this but it’s got MSG in it.

Same!

Most brands are same ingredients. Frozen version is great.

Potato flakes for thickening gluten free stews, casseroles, sauces
or add one of your frozen mashed potato sticks and stir furiously

Ooh yes frozen chopped garlic 🧄 ginger 🫚 chilli 🌶️ and herbs such as parsley and coriander are great to have to hand in the freezer .
I do buy fresh herbs 🪴 and I used to have a herb garden in my previous garden but haven’t got one established yet here .
I also find frozen mash really useful too , especially if I have spent time making the main part of dinner , I have fresh veg to go with it but I don’t always want to make mash potatoes .
I also like those mini stock pots ( usually Knorr brand ) as I might decide to make something that needs a fairly small amount of stock

i don’t like mash but DH does, so aunt Bessie frozen mash is a life saver. Tubes of garlic, ginger and chilli from Sainsbury (SIL turns up her nose but works for me!). Tubs of bouillon, Bottles of lime juice (for curry, chilli, boli - brightens things up). Frozen garlic bread slices. Small Tubs of pineapple - chuck in a curry or mix with yoghurt. Not used frozen herbs - worried they might be too watery ? Also had to google soffrito - gonna check that out

@Thehorticuluralhussie
Where do you get your mushroom ketchup from? I have to order it online, as nowhere seems to sell it any more! Oh apart from a farm shop 30 miles away, but only if they have it in! I don't have fish and chips often, but I can't have them without mushroom ketchup instead of salt and vinegar!
I use Farm Foods frozen mash, but I also have oyster sauce in, to put in anything beefy! Game changer flavour wise!

My immediate thought. I hate chopping onions yet pretty much everything I cook has onions in it.

I used to use jarred garlic as well- but they have vinegar in them which doesn't suit my palate.

I know they are more expensive (I think) but they work for me.

Frozen chopped onions are 99p a bag in Morrisons, and I think that's roughly the same price as a pack of 3 onions which is a rough equivalent of the contents.

The only time I buy fresh onions now is if I'm making a salad.

Stir fry oil that comes in a little bottle and already has garlic and ginger in it, got it at Morrison's, ditto chilli oil. So great for quick chickpeas or something.

I use Waitrose frozen mash and soffrito. Prefer chopping my own onions, garlic and ginger. If I could find some nice crumble mix though that would be great as I have a tonne of apples and need to make crumbles etc.

M&S do a nice one. Just add butter to it.

@dollygray2thank you - how does the butter get added?

You chop your fruit and sprinkle over/mix some sugar through it. You add the butter to the crumble mix and sprinkle over the sugary fruit. Can’t remember if it’s melted or soften. The instructions aren’t that clear as the first time I made it I poured the butter over the mix when it was on top of the fruit- wondered why it was so floury! Much better when I followed the instructions properly.

Oh yes to mushroom ketchup! Brilliant stuff for a splash of umami taste.

To the pp asking - we buy the Geo brand Mushroom Ketchup in Tesco.

ETA: @MoonWoman69 it was you who asked about where to buy it

I use so many of the ready chopped, mashed, frozen convenience items already mentioned. The one thing though that was invaluable and has disappeared, was canned onion. It contained nothing other than onion sweated in oil, called Eazy Fried Onion. So useful to miss the sauteing onion step as well as easily to hand in the cupboard.

Dried garlic granules. All they had left flavour without the heat. I always have them in.

@dollygray2I will look out for it, thank you!

Does the concentrated chicken stock really make 6 pints from a little jar?

Surely if you e got to rub butter in you might as well make you’re own crumble!

Salt and peppery mix from the Cornish Salt company, only seems to be available from Sainsbury’s, annoyingly. Make everything taste really nice.

I also use the frozen cubes of garlic & ginger. I can’t use the jars as I find the smell too over powering in the cupboard.

But my very best find is the shredded spinach in the frozen world foods section. It comes in little pellets so you just chuck a handful into curries, rice or whatever you fancy. It’s so much nicer than the bags that are just massive frozen clumps of spinach.

I also use the frozen cubes of garlic & ginger. I can’t use the jars as I find the smell too over powering in the cupboard.

But my very best find is the shredded spinach in the frozen world foods section. It comes in little pellets so you just chuck a handful into curries, rice or whatever you fancy. It’s so much nicer than the bags that are just massive frozen clumps of spinach.

I also use the frozen cubes of garlic & ginger. I can’t use the jars as I find the smell too over powering in the cupboard.

But my very best find is the shredded spinach in the frozen world foods section. It comes in little pellets so you just chuck a handful into curries, rice or whatever you fancy. It’s so much nicer than the bags that are just massive frozen clumps of spinach.

Frozen mince. Can’t stand the vacuum packed stuff as it’s do difficult for my dodgy hands to break it up.