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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think that people have no right to be smug about being somehow "above" ready meals?

132 replies

frgr · 08/01/2011 00:59

I hesitated to post this, but I'm not sure if I'm being unreasonable to get irked by people who smugly declare that they never buy ready meals. I am, of course, referring to another thread which I didn't want to derail, in which some posters are hinting that anyone who has eaten a ready meal with contaminated egg sort of deserves it for eating shite.

I don't eat a bad diet, due to finances I quite enjoy making soups and meals from scratch to bulk out in the week, but I do think there is a place, nay a NEED, for ready meals.

My nan can't mash potatoes due to weak wrists, I've heard a friend commenting "who'd buy that mashed up shite anyway", it allows her to easily eat mashed potato at a small premium, and she doesn't have to lift bags of spuds.

When I was ill in hospital after DCs, I couldn't drive to a takeaway, we live outside decent deliveries, and ready meals solved a problem of having an exhausted DH and me being too weak to make anything.

There is a space for ready meals as part of a wider, healthy diet. And I don't think i'm being unreasonable to think this. Any blanket statements about people being smug about not "eating shite" is being quite narrow minded. So there! :)

OP posts:
BaggedandTagged · 08/01/2011 13:31

When I was a bit younger, I ate M&S ready meals every night for about 5 years (except when I was out when I had a few G&Ts and half a bottle of wine instead)

They were happy happy days

Thankyou M&S

wukter · 08/01/2011 13:32

Mmmm chips

coastgirl · 08/01/2011 13:37

You don't always know what people are buying ready meals for. We cook from scratch every night and sometimes bring leftovers to work, but more often than not I bring a pasta ready meal. I read the ingredients and they're not too scary, it means I get a real variety for lunch because I can have something different every day, they won't leak in my bag and we only have a microwave in the staffroom. Honestly I think they're better than some crappy mayonnaise-laden white bread sandwich from the canteen, which is about all you can get at my work.

I tend to get veggie or low-meat ones, though. I don't like any with chicken in because it's spongy and obviously low-grade. Vegetable lasagne on the other hand is pretty damn tasty and there's no way I'm making that at night just to take for my lunch!

MargaretGraceBondfield · 08/01/2011 13:37

I don't think anyone would berate someone for the occasional ready meal, but there are some people that only eat ready meals.

BuzzLightBeer · 08/01/2011 13:40

and that impacts you or is your business because....?

Icoulddoitbetter · 08/01/2011 13:47

Of course there's a place for ready meals, just like there's a place for takeways, and pre-packaged sandwhiches and (god forbid!) pre-made baby food. Anyone who gets smug about making meals from scratch every single day will be conveniently forgetting something in their weekly diet that is pre-made, there'll def be something!

I was brought up on ready meals as my mum can't cook at all. Now this is not a good thing, and I'm determined that my DC's will not experience the same thing. We cook most days, or have something batch made from the freezer. But there are days when we're too tired from work, or we've got home so late that to then cook from scratch would mean DS would get to bed at 9pm, so we have something pre-prepared. I would never give DS any of our our food as I know the salt and sugar contects are horrd, but on those days he'll get a Plum toddler meal (£3 each so definitely not an everyday thing!!) or some pasta with a Plum or Ellas Kitchen sauce as I trust the ingredients. I don't see a problem with this at all.

I do feel sad though when there are young blokes behind me in the queue at the supermarket with nothing but frozen peas, burgers, fish fingers and frozen chips in their trolley, Awwwwwwwww!

TitsalinaBumSquash · 08/01/2011 13:49

YANBU OP, my Nan eats ready meals becuase she isn't safe to cook for herself and meals on Wheels is expensive for someone living off a state pension. She gets Tesco ones, they don't look to bad she gets Cottage Pie, Fish Pie and Casseroles, all things she likes but csn't cook herself as she is a, sufferibg with severe arthritus and her hads are crippled and b, she suffers with dementia and in the past has left the cooker on and things.

There is a place for them absolutley, I use them when DS is in hospital as the parents room has a microwave and and a Kettle only, its either that or spending £££ on junk food from the hospital canteen that I juat can't afford to do!

coastgirl · 08/01/2011 13:50

But even though that frozen food might look sad, good fish fingers are just fish fillets in breadcrumbs, frozen peas are better than fresh peas, nutritionally speaking, and oven chips are potato with about 1% sunflower oil. You can't knock that for a meal, really. OK, it's sad that there's no love of food, no joy in preparing it, but some people just aren't into that.

I think we have knee-jerk prejudices about what's "good" food and what's bad and they're not alway right.

wukter · 08/01/2011 13:52

It's funny, people are judgey about those who use ready meals when they can't be arsed/too busy/too unskilled to cook.. Nobody says anything about those who rely on eating out in those situations. Calorie for calories, vitamin for vitamin I wonder which approach is healthiest? We all know which approach is more expensive.

TitsalinaBumSquash · 08/01/2011 13:53

Also I would just like to add that I know 2 families that would have killed for ready meals.

DP and his bro and sis ate Fishfingers or Burgers or Pies with chips and beans EVERYDAY dp would have given anythihng for a ready meal roast dinner, curry or pasta dish.

The other was my ex when I was 16 in his family all the kids would have Chips, Sausages, Burger, Hashbrown (all in the depp fat fryer) with a fried egg and beans EVERYDAY the parents would then sit down to STeak dinners, after a year of that I drooled at a curry ready meal! There are worse things than ready meals people.

GwendolineMaryLacey · 08/01/2011 13:53

I don't know why you're fussed what anyone else does. People who are smug are automatically tossers and therefore not worth worrying about. Use whatever you feel happy with and suits your lifestyle.

whatdoiknowanyway · 08/01/2011 13:54

We stopped buying supermarket ready meals when we realised just how much salt they contained (big impact on DH's health).
However, when my Dad became unable to cook as much for himself we started getting them for him until his cleaning lady pointed out that Wiltshire Farm Foods were much better.
And they are. Free weekly delivery, order online or by phone, healthy content, big range of choices and generally much cheaperr than supermakret equivalents.
They're aimed older people but I can see a role for them in busy families too.
Not us though as we don't 'do' ready meals Grin

DilysPrice · 08/01/2011 14:08

I'm sorry I got a bit personal MGB, the typing thing was (intentionally) silly.
I've just heard that "it only takes 5 minutes to chop an onion and open a tin of tomatoes to make a pasta sauce" line once too often, from a variety of sources, and it drives me to distraction - it sounds like a recipe for raw crunchy onions and metallic uncooked tomatoes - your rendition was the last straw.

fanjoforthemammaries7850 · 08/01/2011 15:28

Swan, I don't think buzz meant me, well, I hope not, I was responding to someone who DID actually suggest imprisonment for feeding kids ready meals

valiumredhead · 08/01/2011 15:39

I had a horrible accident a couple of years ago and had to rely (sp?) on some ready made meals or we wouldn't have eaten. Dh cooked when he was around but works shifts and long hours. Even the simplest meal seemed daunting from my wheel chair. I tried to do a bit of a mix - always cooked veg or we had salad with things. We got by and glad those days are over and can cook from scratch again as I enjoy it.
My grandfather used a company that delivered ready meals. They have their place.

Megatron · 08/01/2011 15:44

I make most things from scratch but I definitely think there is a time for the odd ready meal. If I'm eating on my own I see it as a kind of treat! I am not ashamed to say that I LOVE super noodles, Smash and Chicken Supreme in a CAN. Perhaps I should be ashamed. Blush I can't be arsed listening to people harping on about how they wouldn't allow anything processed or ready made pass their lips and always imagine them hiding somewhere on their house sucking on a frozen turkey twizzler.

FreakoidOrganisoid · 08/01/2011 16:04

I love getting a ready meal on the nights I don't have the dc Grin

TrappedinSuburbia · 08/01/2011 16:16

I try and make everything from scratch, but usually have a ready meal hiding in the freezer for emergencies.
I work 24h shifts as well, so they're definetly good for that.
I hate frozen veg though, that it purely a taste thing for me, prefer fresh but love tinned carrots yum.
Love a piece and curry supernoodles (thats my dirty little secret)
I think most people try their best to give their kids good meals, but sometimes you just either can't be bothered or are too busy, thats fine now and again.
In fact we're off to McDonalds tonight, but last night was stew, mash and piles of brussell sprouts (we're mad about them).

MissQue · 08/01/2011 16:22

Arse to it, I eat ready meals quite frequently, especially the lower fat ones, and it's fine for me. DD has a very restricted diet and DS eats when he feels like it, so I do too, anything for an easy life. I'm not a good cook and I can't be fucking arsed tbh to stand over a hot stove for hours cooking something just for myself. I do the odd spag bol and I have sandwiches for lunch a lot of the time, so it's not just ready meals, and I snack on fruit as well as chocolate, meh, as long as I'm not in a hypoglycaemic coma I'll be fine.

lucky1979 · 08/01/2011 18:05

Totally agree with MissQue - my DH is a vegetarian, so if I want to eat meat I tend to buy those ready to oven cook meals from Sainsburys.

They're really nice.

I can't be bothered with cooking, I have better things to do with my time than spend hours in the kitchen.

bibbitybobbityhat · 08/01/2011 18:11

Totally agree with you op.

I just want to smack people who have to make a point of never buying ready meals around their self-satisfied chops.

EveWasFramed72 · 08/01/2011 18:22

I don't care about other people buying ready meals, but I don't, only because I think they taste fake, and contain ingredients I normally can't pronounce. Guess that makes me smug. Hmm

LoveRedShoes · 08/01/2011 18:34

Goodness, not all ready meals are that bad. I am a real foodie and cook 95pc from scratch - but after weeks of my own cooking, or when I'm not well, I can't think of anything better than a few good quality ready meals.
As long as you don't eat them all the time - what's the problem. Restaurant food though 'fresh' and 'locally sourced' is swimming in salt and fat.

Portofino · 08/01/2011 18:37

I don't buy "ready meals" in the sense of things fully prepared in a dish that you microwave. They are bloody expensive. I work FT though, so do buy packet/jar sauces, frozen mash potato, meatballs, pies and the like. I hate frozen veg - except for peas - and would rather have fresh.

BuzzLightBeer · 08/01/2011 18:53

I've just put a large cheesy pasta bake in the oven, ready-made from Tesco and I don't care who knows it. It was marked down to ?1 and saves me trying to cook for 3 small kids when we only got in the door at 6.20 and the baby needs his bed.

So bite me if anyone doesn't like it, cos I couldn't give a swinging mickey.