To ask the most useless "convenience" food you've ever purchased

[EveryDayIsADuvetDay]

I recently added oven chips to an online shop, not realising they weren't pre-coated with oil.
Given that I prefer skin-on fries why do they always cost more? I'd effectively bought a bag of expensive sliced up potato.
On the plus side, it has made me realise that buying oven chips is a total waste of time, particularly as I have very limited freezer space.
What's the daftest "convenience" food have you purchased before realising it's a total waste of money?

Microwave popcorn. It may work for some but . . .

The triple cooked beef dripping oven chips from Aldi are fantastic! Taste like they have been fried.
Just so you know

@NoIDontWatchLoveIsland

I dont really get this point about the convenience of not having to have fresh potatoes in the house

Stored properly potatoes keep for months!

How!! I'm lucky if mine haven't started to grow within a week. I keep them in a dark, cool cupboard but as soon as I turn around I just have sprouty little bastards!

For that reason I worship at the altar of frozen baking spuds especially as I only get a delivery every other week, the frozen spuds mean I know I'll always have jackets in

Hard to believe but frozen baked potatoes are uh-may-zing. The taste and texture is like they’ve been baked in the oven not microwaved.

Nothing like my usual micro potatoes, some hard some soft bits funky skin and weird texture.

Don’t get ready made white/cheese sauce mix. Literally flour and milk and bung in cheese or whatever you want. Same goes for dumpling mix (flour and suet?!) and pancake mix. Soz to those who love their ready made ones. Wouldn’t do if we were all the same right?

@Muddlemoo your Nan's frozen omelette has made me feel very emotional 😭 and I agree with you on the frozen avocado which I bought to make smoothies, think I made 2 and then the bag sat in the freezer taking up space for ages until eventually I caved and binned them, no way would I have defrosted and eaten by themselves 🤮

We regularly have the meals from Cook. Their chicken, ham and leek pie is amazing as is the lasagna. I wouldn’t bother to make these types of meals but this way we get gorgeous food with no effort. I get their entertaining options (pre Covid days) when friends were coming around for dinner. We had Christmas Day meals from them last year. Means no one has to spend time preparing food.

I always buy pre cut fruit.
I particularly like mango and pineapple, both which are a pain to prepare, and I really don't need or want a whole pineapple when I live alone.

I looked at a packet plain cake mix that said ‘just add milk, butter and eggs’........

I've seen references to boil in the bag rice. I went a step further and bought a small Asian style electric rice cooker.

Cooks 4 decent portions of rice, nice and fluffy, in about 20 minutes.

Cost me about £15, and I just use the basic cheap rice from Aldi or wherever. Definitely not a useless gadget for me.

@Parker231

We regularly have the meals from Cook. Their chicken, ham and leek pie is amazing as is the lasagna. I wouldn’t bother to make these types of meals but this way we get gorgeous food with no effort. I get their entertaining options (pre Covid days) when friends were coming around for dinner. We had Christmas Day meals from them last year. Means no one has to spend time preparing food.

Cook are a cut above other ready meals imho. I'm very tempted to book click and collect there as there's a branch reasonably near to us. We bought some when we were on holiday in the UK in October. I've ordered Cote at Home for next weekend - dearer than your average ready meal, cheaper than a restaurant meal. Just to ring the changes and not have a takeaway.

Frozen jacket potatoes are amazing. No guesswork about whether it's done. 5 minutes and it's ready to eat. Very very convenient.

It's taken you a long time to discover oven chips.

I buy dumping mix. It's maybe 50p and does two or three portions depending how big I make them. I rarely eat them so buying suet which is a lot more expensive doesn't make much sense.

@grassisjeweled

Premade cake mixes always turn out perfect. Every time. Betty Crocker does rock.

They do an angel food cake mix, its lovely and it's more or less a chiffon cake. Its waaay easier to do the mix.

I dont like tinned mushrooms at all. But in general I've not come across much that's totally inedible. Nothings made me gag except the mushrooms and when your in need of this stuff then you need it.

Frozen broccoli or cauliflower, it's always soggy and vile.

@QuestionableMouse

I buy dumping mix. It's maybe 50p and does two or three portions depending how big I make them. I rarely eat them so buying suet which is a lot more expensive doesn't make much sense.

Love it. Hoping you mean dumpling mix though

The real trick with frozen veg is to use them in soups, stews, curries and casseroles.
Boiling them and serving them is a whole different ball game. They're usually bland, mushy and unappetising.
I waste too much veg but frozen veg for the dishes above are perfect.
Frozen fruit make great smoothies and impromptu compotes.
I have been using my freezer so much more, of late.

@Nikkibea

Frozen strawberries are great in pink gin and lemonade though!

I have a bag Of frozen raspberries in the freezer all the time and they are amazing thrown in vodka & tonic😍

Another COOK fan. I rarely cook a meal these days, all the aforementioned difficulty chopping, gripping, carrying, stirring have arrived with age. Last week I tried to make some pancakes. Couldn't sieve the flour, difficult to break an egg, couldn't whisk mix properly. Threw it out in frustration. COOK has excellent food, by far the best frozen products I've found.

EveryDayIsADuvetDay i shall give Holy Cow curry sauce a try

Agree that most frozen vegetables do need to be in stews/sauces/curries

Feeling rather I use premade batter mix about 30p from Tesco/asda, it cheap easy, I never have milk in as I don’t drink it so it saves me buying milk that’s probably going to off by the time I fancy a pancake!

As far as avocados go, we had the too hard then suddenly too soft issue. Now we keep them in the fridge and the out the softest the morning of the day we use it. A revelation.

Never understood the idea of frozen jacket potatoes. I part cook my jackets in the microwave anyway then finish off in the oven so they get crispy.

@TurquoiseDragon

I've seen references to boil in the bag rice. I went a step further and bought a small Asian style electric rice cooker.

Cooks 4 decent portions of rice, nice and fluffy, in about 20 minutes.

Cost me about £15, and I just use the basic cheap rice from Aldi or wherever. Definitely not a useless gadget for me.

How is it easier than cooking rice in a saucepan? I bung rice in a saucepan, add correct amount of water and simmer for 15 minutes. I can't see how anything could be easier/quicker. Genuinely intrigued.

I like pancake day (practicing Christian incase it’s relevant) and I always like the bottle mixes because my family and friends give me their empty bottles afterwards and I use them to add my own batter to the pan in neat little circles. Same with those 1 cal spray oil bottles, I don’t like the product but the bottles are great for me to reuse. Growing up, my best friends dad used other people’s pot noodle pots for his seedlings, he had stacks of them at the ready all year round ☺️