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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Ready meals that need to be ovened

24 replies

pudding24 · 09/07/2017 20:25

DH is having takeaway tonight; in that case I generally get a ready meal so it's a bit healthier but still quick so we can eat at the same time.

I bought a chicken katsu ready meal from the ready meal aisle; it was mixed in amongst all the other ready meals.

Only when I get home do I discover in small print on the back that the chicken part can't be microwaved; I've got to pre-heat the oven and cook it for 20 mins!

In that time I could have just breaded some fresh chicken and cooked the meal from scratch...

AIBU to think people buy ready meals mainly for convenience and 30 mins prep time makes it pointless??

(#firstworldproblems)

OP posts:

Wolfiefan · 09/07/2017 20:27

They buy them to save on effort. Chopping and making a sauce and washing up etc. Bunging it in the oven may not be quick but it's not exactly hard.

loveka · 09/07/2017 20:29

It's not prep time though, is it? It's bung it in the oven

The chicken bit couldn't be microwaved and have a crispy coating. You COULD microwave it, it just wouldn't be very nice.

WillRikersExtraNipple · 09/07/2017 20:29

It's still convenient. The "30 mins prep time" isn't you doing anything at all, its just waiting. It's not exactly onerous to watch tv while the oven warms up!

icelolly99 · 09/07/2017 20:34

How can you 'just' eat a ready meal whilst your DH is tucking into a takeaway?!?.... 😮

Original poster

pudding24 · 09/07/2017 20:36

Haha icelolly he loves chinese and I really don't like it... find it all too sweet and weirdly gloopy. Hence the katsu instead.

Now if Japanese takeaway was a thing here....

OP posts:

HoneyIshrunktheBiscuit · 09/07/2017 20:44

You can't really cook breaded chicken in a microwave though

RatOnnaStick · 09/07/2017 20:45

They're for people like me who don't own a microwave and have not takeaway close by.

indigox · 09/07/2017 20:48

When you're tired and hungry there's a massive difference between prepping, then cooking a meal taking 50 mins which also creates a load of clean up and putting something in the oven for 20 mins.

MyOtherNameIsTaken · 09/07/2017 20:49

YABU for eating chicken. I can't because I keep geese.

20 minutes in the oven? Hardly onerous on you. But if your OH is eating takeaway then you find something that you like!

icelollycraving · 09/07/2017 20:51

I buy lots of them. I shove it in the oven, take ds to bed and dh can serve his out half an hour later.
I love cooking but I'm too bloody tired to cook a lot.

icelollycraving · 09/07/2017 20:52

Also I don't use a microwave at home.

Salmotrutta · 09/07/2017 20:55

YABU for inventing the verb "ovened"

mctat · 09/07/2017 20:57

'YABU for inventing the verb "ovened"'

RibenaMonsoon · 09/07/2017 21:02

I feel your pain. I hate it when you get a ready meal home...the anticipation and excitement roaring in your belly because...in 6 minutes you will be eating a lovely meal that you didn't have to cook yourself. But just as you look at the back of the box to check how long to cook for...OVEN??? BLOODY OVEN COOK? Anger and rage pours over you as you come to terms with the fact your dinner will take another 20 minutes...
Everyone else is tucking into their choice of cuisine. While all you can do is just..watch...and cry a bit inside...

WinifredAtwellsOtherPiano · 09/07/2017 21:02

Ovenable ready meals have their place - I'm a sucker for Charlie Bighams' stuff for example. But I agree with the OP that "stealth" ready meals which you buy expecting to be a 5 minutes microwave job and only find out that they require 50 minutes in the oven when you read the small print, can ruin your evening. Less of a problem now we've replaced the oven from hell which took twenty minutes to heat up.

ILikeyourHairyHands · 09/07/2017 21:02

Why can't you eat chicken if you keep geese?

Is it some arcane law that's passed me by?

BrieAndChilli · 09/07/2017 21:04

Not sure I get the connection between geese and chicken????

MyOtherNameIsTaken · 09/07/2017 21:04

No, it's just me being finicky. Seeing the goslings and knowing they're the same age that chicken is when slaughtered, means that I just cannot eat their "cousins"

I'm never getting a pet lamb

Original poster

pudding24 · 09/07/2017 21:11

YABU for inventing the verb "ovened

I hadn't even realised I'd done this! I guess it's my-brain shorthand for 'oven cooked'

OP posts:

museumum · 09/07/2017 21:14

Yes. We don't really like takeaway so if we've been away all day or all weekend we grab m&s stuff for the oven. Usually chicken or fish in a sauce and potato gratin or something and microwave steamable veg or cauliflower cheese. All stuff you can cook at home but easier to shove in oven while we empty the car, hang the tent up to dry and get laundry in.

Original poster

pudding24 · 09/07/2017 21:14

Update: had the ready meal. It was worth the wait and the chicken was crispier for being ovened**

Still, would have preferred to know I was in for the wait!

**oven cooked. Did it again.

OP posts:

BarryTheKestrel · 09/07/2017 21:43

If it's the tesco free from* one, microwave it and bung the chicken under the grill (which you've pre-heated whilst it's in the microwave) for a few minutes when it's done. Crispy chicken in less than half the time.

*other brands probably work the same, but this is the only one I have experience with.

Ameliablue · 09/07/2017 21:45

I've been for out by the katsu chicken before too. I took it to work where we only have a microwave.

swapsicles · 09/07/2017 21:50

Worse is when you go to grab a ready meal out the freezer (reduced aisle special)and find out it needs to be defrosted for several hours in a fridge before microwaving....

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