To eat ready meals each night?

[Buckinbronco]

DH has taken over food shopping as I'm too busy. We have 2 DCs who eat at nursery and we get home at gone 7.30. DH answer is to buy 5 scratch meals a week. They taste ok and take 5 mins to Bung in a pan and hardly any washing up.
Their nutritional content looks fine- low fat sugar and salt. They're normal meals like curry and pad Thai.

I am probably over thinking this but I am Just not sure about eating packaged food every week night night.
But, I have a tendency to take the hard way out of everything and worry and this is easy. Peasy. And I can't find anything wrong with the food...aibu?

It's these: m.tesco.com/h5/groceries/r/www.tesco.com/groceries/product/details/?id=286931301

A combination of an unwell mother and a father working long hours meant that between the ages of 12 and 15 I ate a ready meal and ready prepped veg or salad from M&S almost every night. It was delicious and reasonably healthy for a vegetarian teenager.

I'd do it from Waitrose but I wouldn't enjoy it from Tesco.

I couldn't afford it from either.

It would take about 9 days to clean my BBQ

Ha ha OP, that's exactly what I was thinking. I keep telling myself that it all burns itself off next time . . .

OP - yes. His videos are 15 seconds long so that shows how quick the prep is!
Here's another of his. I don't have the book, I just follow his Instagram and do recipes he posts on there
http://www.itv.com/thismorning/food/cheeky-chicken-fried-rice-the-body-coach-joe-wicks-recipe

That NHS app is great!

Claarp why do you consider them
Processed when they're just fresh raw ingredients chopped up for you? Where is the processing?

DC are too young to take an example, and they're in bed, and we cook On weekends but fair point.

The bulk cooking will take time. I don't want to spend my weekend
Doing it. A shepherds pie isn't quick whether you make it Saturday morning or Thursday evening. And why should I really, when DH has taken over shopping to take some of the pressure off me?

i've just googled these scratch meals (never heard of them before!) and they sound great, however i wouldn't feed this every night to my children, ocassionally yes but the sauce is still pre made which means it's a lot unhealthier than what i would make.

could you try say 3 days ready made meals 3 days to make something and then a day for a take away or a restaurant?

it must be very difficult and busy for you if you can't find 30 minutes to make something for you and your family but pasta sauces are usually super quick.

best quick meal that i would recommend is creamy prawn pasta.

cook pasta, fry a bit of onion and garlic for two minutes and add single cream, let simmer until it bubbles and then add prawns and seasoning and you can add asparagus cut up or brocoolli i always do. it takes as long as it takes for pasta to cook 10-15 minutes.

tuna pasta sauce is quick as well if you don't want fresh tomatoes because its a bit more time consuming use organic tetrapak chopped tomatoes.
fry onion garlic add tomatoes fresh basil seasoning simmer for 15 minutes and just add tuna and pour over pasta.

grilled chicken breast takes minutes to make so a quick chicken salad or stick it in a pitta bread with some salad?

You can cut corners with stuff as well
Things I regularly do
Chicken strips with fajita spice, have it with micro rice and steam pack of veg
Salad - ready cooked crispy bacon, goats cheese, leaves etc
Omelette
Thai chicken curry (lean in 15 recipe again) with micro rice
I cook chicken breasts in bulk on a Sunday then have them either cold in salad or reheat to have with veg. Always ready to cook veg or I do crispy kale which takes minutes
Prawn stir fry takes v little time

I like to batch prep on a weekend so I can "assemble" more than cook
So I chop strawberries and put them in a tub with raspberries for breakfast. Chop cherry toms, cucumber, spring onion etc for salads
If I'm having a bath or shower I shove roast veg in the oven or sausages or chicken breasts so it can cook while I'm doing that and I can reheat for the day after
Freezer stuff - the birds eye reggae chicken breasts are nice, sweet potato wedges, frozen veg, fruit, sweet potato mash etc

Just seen your post about the bulk cooking - I don't really do it except for the above stuff. Things like cottage pie and spag Bol no. I don't mind beef stew (Jamie Oliver ministry of food) as no browning stuff, just assemble and leave in oven for hours and get on with other stuff
I think smart shopping, quick recipes and a bit of chopping at weekends is my limit!

Buy a slow cooker, bung in meat/fish/poultry, some stock and a load of veg, before you go to work.....lovely home made dinner ready as soon as you get home! Result!!!

I suppose it also comes down to if you enjoy cooking too. Luckily both me and dp do and when we get in from work we chat in the kitchen as we cook, and clear up together so it doesn't seem like a chore really.

Here's a meatball recipe
https://instagram.com/p/BE-7m7cOc48/

The ingredients look ok but the portions don't look great, I'd be looking in the fridge by 9pm if I had half a pack of that for dinner.
£30 for two adults to eat dinner five nights a week isn't great value, I went shopping today and spend £46!but that's all meals taken care of and household stuff like bleach etc.
But if you and your husband enjoy them and don't mind paying to have the prep done for you ( and don't have big appetites ) then carry on, there's definitely worse things to have.

Netflix it's only DH and I eating these, DC have all meals at nursery. I wouldn't give them these meals. Not sure why. Probably the sauces as you say, even though they are low sugar it's got to be too much for young children.

A mixture of things sound like a win- I'm a fan of micro rice and bake in the bag fish SPEEDY

We enjoy cooking but just can't wait any longer to eat. We go to bed fairly early and get up early (I am in bed but still awake at 10.30 worrying about bloody scratch meals)

I give up. OP you clearly just want everyone here to say that yes, it's fine to eat like this. And at the end of the day it's up to you. Do what you want.

Depending on which supermarket they will put the fish in a micro bag if you ask so even quicker!
Forget anything complex, just go for stuff you chuck in a pan
Pasta one - cook pasta while you're doing the sauce. Fry pancetta, add some onion/chopped courgette or mushrooms, tip in creme fraiche, stir. Add grated cheddar and stir some more. Black pepper. Tip over pasta and eat

Cheese on toast.

Boiled egg and soldiers.

What do you mean give up? You've only posted once. slightly OTT. I just asked why you think they're processed

sorry i misunderstood, i would eat these quite happily if it was just me and my husband.

Can people actually explain what's wrong with them thoufh instead of just making different suggestions? I need to know why the others are healthier.

I didn't say they were processed =- I said we don't eat processed and that although the sort of meals you mentioned are more ready to cook rather than ready made I still don't like them. I don't see the point of them. They aren't as fresh for a start, take just as long as making them from scratch, cost too much and set a bad example when you're just being lazy and eating out of a bag every night. But that's your prerogative. Cooking isn't complicated, and it doesn't have to take hours. Plan ahead. Or don't, whatever.

That's what I was wondering stealth, if there was anything wrong with them I Haven't worked out. All seems too easy....

They don't take as long as cooking from scratch. You're just wrong about that. They are far far far far quicker. I can cook. I know they are quicker

They don't look too bad actually - and I am a self confessed food snob... However, I don't think it would be a great idea to eat them five nights a week. Why not have them twice a week and then mix them up with some other meals, as other posters have suggested. My quick meals are: pasta (e.g. With fresh pesto and broccoli or with tomato and tuna), omelette with salad, proper cheese on toast (nice cheese on sourdough bread).

I love the Yummly app. Take a look in your fridge / cupboards and find an ingredient you would like to use, type it in to their search bar and you'll be given loads of recipes to try.

I've found lots of tasty new dinners to make this way, and it uses up things I'd have struggled to find a use for otherwise!