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?

PS: Have a small sweet something because you might fancy a muffin or cake sometimes and a little of what you fancy does you good.

Fruit.

Cereal and bananas.

Milk.

My grandma does but she is 94 so to put it bluntly, she doesn't have to worry about long term health implications many years down the line.

In our house I count ravioli etc as ready meals. They aren't quite but are so quick and easy to do.

@theemmadilemma

Have you considered Hello Fresh? I know you have to still cook it, but they're generally not complicated.

It takes away the need to go shopping for food, you get to choose and try new things with out spending a fortune on a spice you might use once, it's reduced food and packaging wastage while we've been trying it.

Yes have tried Hello Fresh before and I did like the idea that each one would be 2 meals- so maybe my lunch for work the next day

@Ofallthebarsinalltheworld

Personally I wouldn't due to expense and they aren't really that good for you.

What about 1 day a month batch cooking and freezing individual dinners. You could freeze them in bags to save space or just individual tubs.

Or what about just making yourself quick meals like an omelette or stir fry etc.

Also I highly recommend buying a slow cooker. To me it's the best thing ever invented. Just bung everything in during the morning and it's all ready by dinner time.

I tried a slow cooker but I hate the smell when I get home- I am not a huge lover of a lot of wet food so the 'stew' smell of a slow cooker turns my stomach

@EssentialHummus

TBH my ideal would be some sort of daily tiffin service. But they don't exist at the scale and price point they do in India, in south London (surprisingly! ).

Me too! :)

Why not try it OP? Everyone here saying oh noooo you mustn't, as if once OP buys one ready meal that's all she can eat forever. I had them for a while, they were nice at first and I lost weight. Then they all began to taste the same so I did other things instead.

I bloody love a ready meal!! Actually feeling quite jealous that you have so much freedom to have whatever you like each night - my husband and child demand freshly cooked meals, but in my dream world I’d be tucking into a Mac n cheese tonight! Enjoy whatever you go for!

If it’s any use @crochetmonkey74 you could probably get a local Indian or Bengali restaurant to do you a good deal on a vat of dhal / two or three different ones, and they’ll last for five days in the fridge as vegetarian. It’s usually the cheapest thing on the menu so not wildly expensive. I’ve done this before when DH was away.

@beigebrownblue

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.

I can do it- I just hate it and can't be bothered

As PP have said: there are ready meals and there are ready meals.

Pick ones made with healthy ingredients you recognise and I would imagine you could live pretty well off them. It's also just as easy to keep in bags of frozen veg and cook some of them up for the side.

The other thing you could do is look for a local meal prep. I have one nearby that does 5 meals for £25, delivered

They are getting better and better and if you can afford the extra money there is no reason why not.

“Cook” does very good food and will deliver it. So you could order lots to freeze.

As others have said you would be wise to add lots of vegetables and fruit.

‘Hello Fresh’ send you a box of ingredients and a recipe so that could be another, half-way, option.

Simply Cook is great. You buy a few ingredients, and their spices / sauces turn them into a really tasty meal

If you're interested, here's a discount code. If you sign up, you get a free box and so do I

simplycook.com/invite/60VNCR

When I lived alone I did for most weekdays, then cooked (or went out) at the weekend.
It wasn’t any more expensive overall as less waste, less cooking energy used, less washing up etc

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

This sounds delicious and just my type of food so actually maybe I stock the fridge with picnicy type food and have a grazing plate each night- that could work for the summer- I could get rotisserie chicken, olives, those little stuffed peppers etc

[quote notanothertakeaway]Simply Cook is great. You buy a few ingredients, and their spices / sauces turn them into a really tasty meal

If you're interested, here's a discount code. If you sign up, you get a free box and so do I

simplycook.com/invite/60VNCR[/quote]
Thank you for this! am investigating

Have to admit that I tried it for a while after separating from ex-DH. I’d spent 26 years making pretty much every meal that was eaten in the house and was totally fed up with cooking.

Got boring quite quickly so now I tend to buy things like their individual servings of potatoes/veg and bagged salads to save on waste and just cook something to go with them. I quite like buying a pack of chicken breasts/salmon and freezing them individually in bags with a marinade. Then just defrost and put in the oven. A whole chicken can be roasted and divided into portions for a roast/stew/soup etc.

If you are in London you could try this tiffin service. Sadly they don't deliver to me. dabbadrop.co.uk/
Also, if you are anywhere near Wembley or Harrow there will be a no of Indian home cooks who will deliver fresh and healthy food ( better than restaurants or those horrible baltis)

No harm in trying it, really. I’d buy a bag of frozen veg so you’re getting some extra veg as well. I like the suggestion of sticking in some simple meals like jacket potatoes, eggs and things like that.

It annoys me when people insist you can whip up a fresh meal in the same time and effort it takes to put a ready meal in the microwave. It’s just not true. By the time you’ve organised and prepped your ingredients, cooked them, washed up all the dishes/pots etc used, of course it takes more time and effort. It’s daft to pretend it doesn’t.

@0None0

No. That level of processed food is a short cut to obesity and heart disease and an early grave

I don’t feel you’re being dramatic enough here. Could you try harder?

like the bagged salad and fish idea but ideally wanted to ot do fresh food shopping all the time through the week

Do you have a fridge and some sort of freezer?

Frozen fish is really good and often cooks from frozen. Bagged salad will last 2/3 days minimum so it's really not like you have to be doing fresh food shopping all the time through the week.

If you kept fish in the freezer (Morrisons have some really good 3 for £10 fish packs) and watched the dates on things like salad and ready meals, you'd probably fine to shop once a week, perhaps with a top up, or maybe shop something like 3 times a fortnight for 3 or 4 days of stuff at a time, or whatever works for you.

Maybe get a monthly delivery of cleaning products and non perishables, so you only have to look for fresh things when you go shopping?

There's no rule that you have to shop on a regular day each week and buy a full week's worth of food so you can't have things like bagged salad because it won't last. Nor are you restricted to only buying a day or two's worth of food if you eat things like salad.

Fish works really well with cherry tomatoes, so you can bake your frozen fish with these and perhaps serve with some of that flavoured cous cous packets? You can also use the tomatoes in salad (low effort salad - bagged leaves and cherry tomatoes) or as a snack, so you get through all of them.

Yes, there's nowt wrong with grazing type picnic-y foods. A bag of salad, some nice bread, a bit of pate or something, ready-made salads like cous-cous. Food doesn't have to be cooked to be tasty and nutritious.

Btw OP, I with you on stews. I'd eat one if that was all that was on offer, but would never choose it.

I hear you, OP. I like food and actually like thinking of things to make/shopping/cooking BUT only if I have time and am not trying to think about it while also working. And that's rare!
I'm keen on the idea of ready meals topped up with easy veg like baby spinach just wilted into them.
Realistically I know I'd get bored with this though, and start to feel sluggish and unhealthy; I need a variety of veg and good whole grains/pulses to feel good.

Grazing on e.g. cooked chicken, pitta, olives etc also appeals but, again, realistically after a bit I get bored with picky foods; I feel uncomfortably full but also never quite as if I've eaten 'properly'!

I think Hello Fresh is rubbish, sorry; expensive, wasteful and silly (one lemon arriving; lots of plastic for little pouches of sauces etc).

What's the answer? Maybe a personal chef?

I hate cooking too, am single and really wanted to do this - but then I watched a programme a while back that said the scientists have now proven that even "healthy" ready meals (low fat/ low salt/ low sugar with good amount of veg in) aren't good for you in the longer term if you eat a lot of them - because of the processed ingredients in them as pp mention. Apparently they can be nearly as bad as a high sugar or high fat diet for your health, which surprised me!

They suggested using ready washed and chopped frozen veg and fruit for quickness of preparation and batch cooking (then freezing) as good ways to speed things up. But I agree it's really annoying!