to consider living on ready meals from now on

[crochetmonkey74]

I HATE cooking and hate food shopping as well- last night as I popped into M and S for a food hall browse I pondered the idea of living on their ready meals from now on- does anyone do this? Do you get sick of it? Is it really expensive?

I live alone so no one else to consider meal plan wise- are there other shortcuts that are as easy but maybe a little more healthy/ frugal?

I would love to do this, as I hate cooking. Unfortunately, I also hate all readymeals. I can eat them once in a while but find them bland and unseasoned most times.

Try the Jamie Oliver 15-minute recipes or the 30-minute ones but leaving out the dessert :)
Once you've done a few of those you get the basic idea of many of the recipes and can recreate something similar without having to waste much thought on it. Lots are like the M&S salmon dish described.
There are plenty of other really easy, basic meals

• microwaved baked potato with a tin of beans and some cheese
• bag of mixed salad leaves, tomatoes and a halloumi cheese
• pasta with tomato sauce, basil and some other veg
• grate up some veg, add flour to make fritters and stick some hummus on top.

Then once a week, you can cook a more elaborate meal for three - eat it two days, freeze the other portion for the next week. And if you fancy then a ready meal another day. Listen to a podcast while you cook.

Well there are ready meals and ready meals, aren't there.

A life of Findus crispy pancakes (they're ba-aack!) and Tesco lasagne is probably a recipe (lol) for disaster.

Cook or Charlie Bingham are very different. Especially as PPs have suggested, you buy bags of frozen veg for steaming that you can just whack in the microwave.

There's also a lot to be said for things like sandwiches - if you get a decent bread and fill it with fresh veg and your main filling, it's not too bad a meal, really.

I wouldn't do this unless I couldn't cook, as in I wasn't physically able.

If I lived alone, I would do some batch cooking like spag bol mixture, lasagne, pasta sauce. I love pasta

Then I would also do some easy dinners like stir frys. You can get the packets of noodles and use frozen stir fry veg. Jazz it up with some cashew nuts, tofu or chicken.

Ready meals always seem to taste the same to me. That's what I would try batch cooking and easy meals.

I'm a cook from scratcher and am getting fed up at the moment. For the last 2 weeks I've ordered one of the fresh home cooked meal kits and have been loving it. It's the perfect balance as it's still cooking from scratch but everything is portioned and recipes are decided.

If you can afford to by M & S ready meals every day I imagine you could afford that too. I do really like cooking though so if it's the actual cooking you hate and not just the organisation/food shopping/preparing then that probably wouldn't be much help.

I agree ready meals are rank. It is possible to eat a healthy diet without too much effort though- but it does cost a little more. Prepared fresh veg ready for the microwave, bags of stir fry, noodles already cooked- meat already cut into strips, peeled fresh potatoes, bags of pre cut salad.
Totally possible to cut down on the work.
Ready meal sauces are rank imo, even the posh ones.
I would prefer just to use soy sauce, chilli, olive oil, black pepper, chilli flakes etc to pimp things up than a whole microwave meal.

Tell that to my 93 year old next door, veggie-dodging neighbour. She's still going strong on it

There's always an exception to the rule. I got away with smoking 50 a day for 45 years, it doesn't mean smoking doesn't kill a lot of people.

I would find that really sad. No judgement. But I would.

It is so easy once you have practice to make a decent and healthy pasta sauce etc.

As someone said Jamie oliver and co.

You just need to practice. It really is very easy.

Also stuff like an electric grill/ air fryer/ rice cooker/ pressure cooker where you basically plop ingredients in and then go an get them when they're cooked can be really helpful.

@PinkPlantCase

Be careful with your salt intake. Ready meals often have way more than home cooking would.

It’s not just the salt though is it, it’s all the other weird stuff they put in, from emulsifiers to preservatives, to colours, flavour enhancers and things you really don’t know why they are there and what they are because you can’t buy them as ingredients unless you are running a food factory! I would rather know what all the things I am putting in my body are and have a rough idea of what they are doing to me. For a one off fine, but for long term maybe not.

Of course, OP, it doesn't have to be all or nothing. You could eat some ready meals alongside food like omelettes, salads, baked fish or other very easy food.

Some places do really good ready meals with not too much of anything 'bad'. They are not like they used to be, full of salt and preservatives, artificial colourings etc. Have a look online and see who sells what.

Alternatives to ready meals (and I have nothing against them - plenty of the M&S ones are tasty and easy to cook although I find the nice ones are all pretty high in calories)

Eggs on toast - poached/Boiled/fried. This is my go to when DH is out for the evening. Quick and simple. Use nice sourdough bread and some quality mayo. Have a bowl of fruit salad after

Fish is super quick. Pan fry some sea bream or sea bass or cod. Add some chopped capers and lemon juice. Frozen peas and some baby potatoes and that's a decent meal. Better with some more veg.

Cooked chicken, pitta, hummus, olives and a side salad is a very easy dinner with minimal fuss and prep.

Steak Frites - oven chips, wilt some spinach and then fry your steak til at your perfect level of cookness. About 8 mins of actual cooking time.

i love a little pot of cab meat with chopped herbs, red onion, mayo, tabasco and lemon juice. Serve on nice bread and yum!

Nigel Slater's Real Fast Food is somewhat dated now but it is properly simple meals for one or two people. Maybe give that a try. I find Jamie a bit try hard.

Find both Charlie Bingham and Cook's Thai curries so disappointing and without that sweet-sour-spicy flavour that makes a good Thai curry. Also way too bland for me.

It’s not just the salt though is it, it’s all the other weird stuff they put in, from emulsifiers to preservatives, to colours, flavour enhancers and things you really don’t know why they are there and what they are because you can’t buy them as ingredients unless you are running a food factory! I would rather know what all the things I am putting in my body are and have a rough idea of what they are doing to me. For a one off fine, but for long term maybe not

But this isn't the eighties anymore - many ready meals are perfectly healthy and have nothing abnormal in them at all.

One from The City Kitchen - Hoisin Duck Noodles.

Cooked Noodles [Water, Wheat Flour (Wheat Flour, Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin), Salt, Turmeric, Paprika], Duck (23%), Red Pepper, Water, Carrot, Spring Onion, Honey, Sugar, Ginger, Garlic Purée, Salt, Sesame Oil, Soya Bean, Cornflour, Caramelised Sugar Syrup, Rapeseed Oil, Molasses, Malt Vinegar (Barley), Wheat, Szechuan Pepper, Ground Star Anise, Concentrated Lemon Juice, Tomato Paste, Wheat Flour [Wheat Flour, Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin], Cinnamon Powder, Black Beans, Garlic, Clove Powder, Concentrated Plum Juice, Spirit Vinegar, Onion Powder, Malted Barley Extract, Cayenne Pepper, Rice Flour, Fennel, Lemon Peel.

www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/265990262

What's so bad about that?

It contains 495 calories and 12g of fat, as well as 3.2g of salt.

I like poached eggs on toast too.
Beans on cheese on toast is lovely.
Jacket potatoes with a variety of fillings and a bit of salad on the side (you can buy ready made salad in small portions).
Anything with cheese and tomatoes.
Soup.

If I was going to live on ready meals, I would s order online from COOK, and just stock my freezer. Their food is so close to homemade, I’m sure it would be better than processed ready meals every day

I’m sure it would be fine. Read the packet and you know exactly what you’re eating. No food waste (at home at least) and reasonable portion control. That said I mostly cook for myself and freeze extra portions. But if I had less time/more money I’d have no problem with mostly ready meals.

I get a lot of meals from “cook” and just steam some veg to go with it. If it’s left to me to cook something myself I end up with cheese and crackers or frozen pizza! I doubt that’s more healthy than the meals I buy ready made. I can cook but after 35 years of doing so, I’m bored of it. A fresh home cooked meal may be the ideal but when you are cooking for one it gets tedious. I know single people who live on takeaways. Again a ready meal has to be better than that.

@Essentialironingwater

My mum cooked loads from scratch growing up. Complex curries, middle Eastern food...even homemade mayo. My parents divorced and then when we moved out she switched to ready meals and easy stuff (like bags of salad, smoked fish etc). It's more expensive than batch cooking but she says she doesn't want to eat the same thing over and it's not worth the faff for one. She does try and go at the end of the day and get some yellow sticker bargains.

I can relate to this-I either buy something and eat a version of it all week or it fills the freezer up with the same old same old- like the bagged salad and fish idea but ideally wanted to ot do fresh food shopping all the time through the week. It's not helped by the fact I rarely fancy any food- its too hot but also I am so so bored of everything!

I would if I lived on my own. Bulk them out with veg or salad and bingo.

If DH was to sadly pass before me and the DCs had moved out I’d live on ready meals and snacks - bread, pate, olives, cheese, meats…too bloody many years of my life have been spent cooking

I live alone and do a mix
So easy meals, ready meals, batch cooking..
stuff like using rotisserie chicken but then making salad/veg to go with it
Batch cook cottage pie/beef stew etc
Have easy freezer stuff like steam veg, frozen mash, frozen jacket potatoes
Beans on toast/omelette for a quick meal
Stir fries
Beige freezer tea

I use this for breakfast and lunch as I don't have the headspace to plan/make anything else:

uk.huel.com/

I find it reasonably enjoyable, it's quick, not unhealthy and means I have more time to do more interesting stuff.

Love ready made salad box. Throw in cheese or tuna or prawns. Sprinkle with seed mix yum

@picklemewalnuts

Iceland/slimming world ready meals seem to be very much made with kitchen ingredients. They put the recipe on the back.

If I were you, I'd get three ready meals a week, batch cook for the freezer, and have jacket potato, good bread, simple foods the other days.

I like this plan- a bit of a mix and some 'real but easy' food