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?

Sorry not dip just frozen spinach in those bit clumpy balls .

My neighbour was really struggling for money. She was on no money at all waiting on UC to come through. I discovered she only bought pre cooked bacon, pre grated cheese, ready cut fresh vegetables and she loved carrot sticks so was buying bags and bags of them pre cut. A quick look on the Tesco app and a bit of maths and I told her that if she bought 1kg each of her pre prepared stuff it would be £60 but if she bought in cut or cooked stuff it was £15.

Pre cut veg is great for those cooking in bulk or with physical difficulties chopping but what a waste for someone who can chop up a carrot them self! Turns out, she much preferred her new fresh cut carrot sticks too and vowed never to go back.

Hello Fresh. Always had ingredients missing, sometimes even the main one. Ordered sticky pork and got mince beef as main ingredient. Having to rush out to buy ingredients defeated the whole purpose.

Coop sell a single poach in the bag poached egg, which is like 2 pounds or something ridiculous. I get that some people struggle with poached eggs, including me, but I can't imagine ever paying 2 pounds for an egg. I paid less than that for those little egg poaching boats.

@Keepitnerdy

Sorry not dip just frozen spinach in those bit clumpy balls .

I buy frozen whole leaf spinach and drain it in a sieve and press the water out. It's very convenient and I put it curries and tomato based sauces things straight from frozen. Also works well in Instant Pot risotto.

Frozen veg kept my DS going at uni - onion, peas, sweetcorn , peppers- he just chucked a handful in pasta/ stir fry / omlette etc.
He'd never be organised enough to buy fresh and use it up in time!

Frozen spinach. Just breaks up and slips thru the holes in the steamer or collinder.. and somehow has even less quantity than cooked fresh spinach... its like anti matter

I was wary of tinned meat but the m & s steak in a tin is lovely (£3.50) like the filling in a nice steak pie.
Tesco sell ready cut fresh chips - just potatoes vacuum packed. I make my own chips 99% of time but occasionally buy them for convenience - healthier and cheaper than chippy if I can’t be bothered. There often sell out do I’m not the only one getting them. Range now has expanded to fries, skin on etc too.
We have an ageing population and lots of people with disabilities. My daughter has one hand and I anticipate she will use a lot of convenience foods in future.

I don't know if it counts because I didn't buy it - but it was a ready made hotdog in the chilled section!

Yes a plastic box that contained one hotdog bun and one hotdog to take home and microwave

The best oven chips are the incredibly crispy fries from Iceland. Bought them expecting them to be just ok but they were lovely

Frozen veg great but not peppers, onions, mushrooms

Someone once tried to convince me that the benefit of the readymade pancake mix was that it came in a shaker bottle which meant that you could just shake and pour.
I pointed out that when I make pancake mix I decant it into a leftover 2l mix plastic bottle for exactly the same reason! She was gobsmacked.

I prefer oven chips to chip shop chips, which are too fat and greasy for me.

Mind you, I've never seen the point of microwave chips.

Surprised at the frozen veg.

Some are crap (broccoli I hate from frozen) but frozen peas, green beans and cauliflower I always have in the freezer.

We really like berries with Greek yogurt for breakfast. Frozen raspberries work well. In the microwave for 30 seconds and then mush down well with the yogurt.

They'd be no good for eating on their own though.

Oh I bought one of those microwave breakfasts once many years ago!
It was properly grim... I couldn't eat it it looked horrific
Who buys those?!
(I can understand ready meals in general and have nothing against them)

And to answer the question I hate those pasta'n'sauce things.

Just boil some proper pasta and add some sauce!

@Unicant

Oh I bought one of those microwave breakfasts once many years ago! It was properly grim... I couldn't eat it it looked horrific Who buys those?! (I can understand ready meals in general and have nothing against them)

Sounds terrible.

I think a lot of the really dire micro things are good for elderly/disabled people.

I have an uncle with epilepsy who lives alone.

It's unsafe for him to have an oven in case he had a fit and passed out or forgot about it being on.

So his only method of cooking is microwave. So he has lots of ready meals. He'll admit some are awful, and has his favourites now.

@shinynewapple21

Presumably you have accidentally purchased some healthy eating chips as it is absolutely not normal that Oven chips don't have an oil coating . Most of them now seem to have an added crispy coating as well .

The only ones I've seen as you describe are slimming world ones which are sold specifically to be without oil , so you can add just what you need or some fry light .

Far from being useless I thought oven chips were the convenience food everyone bought !

That’s exactly what I thought, or OP ordered ready cut chips that need deep frying.

I got a pot of pasta for my lunch once from Sainsbury’s and it didn’t contain a fork. It said ‘on the go’ on the label as well, I don’t imagine many people carry a fork around with them.

Ready grated cheese. It’s not difficult to grate cheese and home grated cheese melts better. And you aren’t paying for the flour coating.

Ready-to-eat mixed salad is not something I'd buy again; I just don't believe it can be properly washed, having noticed that washed salad in the fridge lasts
nothing like as long as the unwashed variety, And
when washed at home, there's a human eye scanning
it extremely carefully. Whatever is the point of it, when I feel it needs a wash before eating (and if at
all possible, a couple of minutes in salted water, for any wildlife I might have missed).

@Norwaydidnthappen

I got a pot of pasta for my lunch once from Sainsbury’s and it didn’t contain a fork. It said ‘on the go’ on the label as well, I don’t imagine many people carry a fork around with them.

I carry a spork for that very reason! Also a Swiss Army knife with a corkscrew attachment. Be prepared.

Are there people who actually make chips themselves nowadays, or even own a chip pan? I thought everyone just used oven chips.

I would have thought that grated cheese would definitely fall into the 'useful things that allow people with mobility/health etc issues' to maintain their independence.

But let's face it, I doubt that's the manufacturer's target market. They just want to maximise profit from cheap ingredients. After all, why sell a raw egg for 20 pence when you can boil it for five minutes and sell it on a small handful of spinach leaves for £1.50.

@DietrichandDiMaggio

Are there people who actually make chips themselves nowadays, or even own a chip pan? I thought everyone just used oven chips.

I have a small electric fryer of the Aldi or Lidl aisle of dreams variety that's mainly used for frying prepared calamari (Costco version is not too bad and I don't really like making anything that involves my hands in contact with egg, breadcrumbs, flour, batter etc) and things like home made onion bhajis etc.

I've never actually made chips though.