To think cooking from scratch is not always cheaper?

[IonaNE]

A few posts on another thread (not primarily about this) have got me thinking.

In my local ASDA Weight Watchers ready meals are £2 each. If I buy one for each night of the week (to make life easier for when I get home from work), that's £10 for a hot meal on every evening of the week. For this I get a balanced meal that, over the whole week, contains chicken, beef, prawns, pasta, rice and potatoes, vegetables and a variety of sauces. On top of that it's exactly as much as I need to eat, there are no leftovers, I am not using energy by cooling unnecessary stuff in the fridge. I don't need to keep a host of jars of sauces, oils and spices which would otherwise be needed to cook all this from scratch either. And finally, I am not using energy to cook all that from scratch, and then to wash up all that was used in the process. (I do use energy to microwave the meals, 5 mins each; and the microwave is very cheap to run.)

I can cook from scratch all that is in those meals. I don't enjoy cooking but I can do it if necessary. But I don't think that I would get that variety of hot food for just £10 a week. Furthermore, if I bought all the ingredients, they would be in portions much bigger than what I need for one supper. Then I would either need to freeze them; but also: does everyone who cooks from scratch only eat a WW meal-portion of everything before they freeze the rest? I find I eat larger portions if I cook. And while I'm not overweight, I really don't need to put on weight.

So I think eating ready meals is actually cheaper than cooking from scratch. It is also less time consuming (=more time for other things) and provided you choose the right ones and read the labels, not necessarily less healthy either.

Those cake mixes are massively overpriced. Cake ingredients are really versatile, so it's not like you only use them for cakes.

Flour won't go off if it's stored properly, and it can be used in plenty of other recipes. Sugar is used most days in tea/coffee or on cereal in some cases. Eggs can be used for breakfast or as a meal in themselves. Cocoa powder makes hot chocolate and butter is used on toast.

All you're doing by buying those packages is paying £2-3 for a tiny portion of flour and sugar and flavouring (normally cocoa powder). They really don't taste that good either.

I was bought up on food cooked from scratch and scones/cakes/biscuits baked fresh every day. I still bloody love Mr Kipling (dons hard hat, runs and hides). Also, if its an M&S or Waitrose ready meal, according to friends (all in full time work & with teenagers), its 'a good quality ready meal' and they all consider them a weekend cant be bothere to cook treat that they have, with home made 'sides' like salad & fresh new potatoes (runs even further and hides again).

I like lentils but don't you have to soak them before cooking, and don't they take a while to cook? Don't see how lentil soup can be ready in minutes. I remember making lentil and bacon soup years ago, and that took at least 25 mins and benefitted from longer cooking.

Not saying a ready meal is the only alternative. But if I wanted to eat fast I would go for egg on toast, mushrooms on toast, beans on toast (there's a theme here) or stir fry veg, chicken and noodles. I like soup but wouldn't expect to be sat down with it in 15 mins which is what I count as a quick meal.

That's ready chopped veg in a bag of course . I'll stop now.

Tendonqueen- no red lentils don't need soaking.

Is 25 minutes a long time to cook? I think that's pretty quick. Lentil soup also freezes very well.

When I cook red lentils I don't soak, I just rinse them and boil them rapidly for about 10 minutes, then turn the heat down for another 15-20 minutes. The good thing about soup is you can chop everything up roughly, bung it in the pan with a bit of butter to saute for 10 mins with very little stirring, add stock and lentils if using and simmer for 30 mins (again hardly any stirring) then blend. Very little effort for lots of output. Make a big pot and you'll have plenty for the freezer.

But we don't use any of the other ingredients for anything - flour, sugar or cocoa - as none of the recipes I use have flour, we don't drink hot drinks or put sugar on anything, and don't use cocoa. The box also comes with the ingredients for frosting, so don't need to buy any of that either.

I'm not in the UK so maybe the cake mixes are different there, but where I am they are delicious. Last time I made one people were asking for the recipe

And, at the equivalent of 2 for 4 quid, I'm happy with my decision to use them!