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?

@MatildaTheCat

Ready made jacket potatoes? I’ve never bought one but why??

They’re much quicker. You can do one in 20 mins. I know you can use a microwave but the frozen ones get crispy. Plus they’re a useful freezer stash - I fell back on a few of those back in April when the panic buying went mad.

It's across a local authority " border."

I kid you not.

Scotland 2021.

Not to be the loser who misses the point of the thread buuuut... please can we remember a lot of pre-chopped stuff is a lifeline for the disabled? My dad loves to cook but doesn’t have the dexterity to chop onions etc.

@IToldYouIWasFreaky

Pancake mix is 10 times more expensive than flour and milk? It was a quid in Asda! And it's so much easier!

Genuinely not meaning to be goady but I don't understand how it's easier. For me, the difficult bit of making pancakes is actually cooking them....getting the right amount of mix in the pan, not letting them stick etc etc. Mixing up the batter is the easy bit, and cheap as chips if you use flour, egg and milk

I don't really understand the point of frozen baked potatoes for the microwave when you can just use a microwave to cook a potato from raw. Am I missing something?!

Regarding the spuds, it's because they crisp up much better than the slimy wet raw version you get if you just microwave an ordinary potato.

@Dollywilde

Not to be the loser who misses the point of the thread buuuut... please can we remember a lot of pre-chopped stuff is a lifeline for the disabled? My dad loves to cook but doesn’t have the dexterity to chop onions etc.

For my autistic son who has difficulties with fine motor skills too.

I second the frozen baked potatoes......paying way over the odds for a spud that you are just going to stick in the oven anyway....I just don't get it. Love frozen fruit but frozen veg (other than peas) is always slightly disappointing.

I once bought a cold to-go pasta pot, the type you find next to sandwiches. When opened there was no spork, the packaging said something about reducing plastic except the pot was plastic covered in large amounts of plastic tape to keep it shut, but no spork. Fortunately I was somewhere I had access to other forms of cutlery but not sure what I would've done if I was in my car or something . The pasta was a bit thick and wet to try and eat without something.

I do also think some chopped fruit and veg falls into this category, particularly those little chopped apples with grapes and strawberries that are aimed at lunch boxes. They're so expensive for a few mins work chopping an apple and a few strawberries. Other veg like butternut squash I can get behind, they're a pain to chop up.

Freezer jacket potatoes. Was away once and thought these would be quick to cook. 1hr in oven.
So just like a normal potato then 🤦‍♀️🤣

@MuddleMoo

I'm not peeling loads of potatos to make the kids dinner when I can just shove some premade ones in the oven.

I was going to say a ready made omelette from the freezer compartment but then remembered my nan used to enjoy these as she found it difficult to crack eggs.

Frozen Avocado is pretty grim. But then there's probably a place for it.

Where can you buy frozen advocado? Burgers in a bun that you microwave Claggy and tasteless

Get lidls triple cooked beef dripping ones then come back and report op.They are definitely coated in oil (dripping) and they are gorgeous 😋

Rustler burgers, always thought they looked awful. £1 for a microwaved burger 🍔

@User1511

Definitely frozen fruit and veg. Yuck. I have a friend who only uses frozen veg 🤮

Frozen berries for smoothies are nice. It makes like a sort of frappe if you blend with not much liquid and do it when still frozen. Also frozen spinach for curries is good.

Other than this I've had little luck with frozen fruit and veg. I just think the freezing process makes them mushy.

Recipe book told me to microwave sweet potato to make sweet potato mash, as apparently it's quicker and easier.

It wasn't.

@MamaMeAh sainsburys do it.

I've tried it once after a redic amount of 'lost' avocado's from double or multi packs. I feel like there's a window of half a day where they're ripe but not off.

It's not quite like fresh but better than a ship bough guac in my opinion. I would probably only use it to mash up and make guac. I think on its own it might not be great, but worth a try maybe as getting them in the right wondo can be hard.

So I suppose this could be added to frozen veg which is OK.

Agree about pancake mix although I'm going to have to make a trip to Costco as I'm loving the idea of an American one.

I'm a big fan of convenience generally - frozen chopped onions are ace, the Ocado frozen soffrito mix is also a massive win in terms of hassle and time. Frozen paella too, actually tastes fine if you add a little more smoked paprika and chilli. I like the frozen peppers as well although I'd never put them in a stir fry. But roasted for 10 mins with (pre chopped) garlic while you make a simple tomato soup to put them into means they can be a handy time saver. As well as pre chopped garlic I like pre chopped chilli, frozen ginger and herbs etc, actually find these less wasteful although obviously there are times when you need fresh.

Apart from pancake mix probably the only thing I think is a waste of money is jars of cooking sauces mostly because they're not very nice and it doesn't take long to make a sauce but then the reason I find it easy to make sauces is because I have all the pre chopped/frozen etc ingredients hahaha!

comefromaway
Same as your son
If these things did not exist I would not eat!
I use the ready made omelettes, oven chips, frozen veg etc, grated cheese
The only thing I did not like was the frozen fruit but I get that fresh Normally
For me is is the dexterity required but I also have massive issues with sequencing

@MatildaTheCat

Ready made jacket potatoes? I’ve never bought one but why??

They're super quick

Re baked potatoes. The frozen ones are horrible. I love baked potatoes but don't trust anyone else to make one for me so won't buy one in a cafe etc because I don't trust them not to make them from fresh.

If you microwave a potato for 5 minutes then put it in a hot oven for 5-10 minutes you get a crispy skinned baked potato quickly that's actually nice.

[quote Okbussitout]@MamaMeAh sainsburys do it.

I've tried it once after a redic amount of 'lost' avocado's from double or multi packs. I feel like there's a window of half a day where they're ripe but not off.

It's not quite like fresh but better than a ship bough guac in my opinion. I would probably only use it to mash up and make guac. I think on its own it might not be great, but worth a try maybe as getting them in the right wondo can be hard.

So I suppose this could be added to frozen veg which is OK.[/quote]
Keep your avocado at room temperature to ripen, and in that 10 minute window where it's ripe, put it straight in the fridge. It'll stay good for about 5 days then.

Yes to pancake mix. There must be a market for it but I don’t really understand why!

The frozen jacket potatoes are quite good though. Yes you can just cook a jacket potato in the microwave, but it won’t have a crispy skin. The frozen ones are still quite crispy just from being done in the microwave because they’ve already been oven cooked.

@Okbussitout as well as smoothies frozen fruit is excellent for bircher muesli type breakfasts. Just put a couple of spoonfuls in with the oats/yoghurt in the fridge overnight then take it out while you have your shower to take the chill off, add seeds and off you go. I agree they're soggy but that's a good thing for muesli/smoothies.

@MatildaTheCat

Ready made jacket potatoes? I’ve never bought one but why??

I’m 23 and over the years, generally buy groceries for 1. No point buying a bag of potatoes as I wouldn’t get through it before it goes off!

I’m never home due to a busy social life & long hours, stressful but well paid job so would rather not spend the rare hours I have at home cooking. Ordering deliveroo (Londoner so plenty of top tier restaurants nearby) or quality M&S prepared meals are my preferences. I can afford it🤷🏼‍♀️

Thank you @okbussitout, everydays a school day
I suppose it could be used to make baby food

No point buying a bag of potatoes as I wouldn’t get through it before it goes off

Just about every shop sells loose potatoes, so just buy one potato

These are the ones I’ve tried in the past btw, they’re good!