to just give in and buy a whole bundle of Cook / Alternative Meals?

[TheLazyChef]

I'm so fed up with our shopping / eating habits.
We buy a lot of food, with the best intentions of cooking it and then just eat junk because we can't be bothered find the energy to keep to the plan. We end up with a lot of waste

Everyone has different meals, and we don't usually eat together any more, which makes me rather sad.

I've tried Gousto / HelloFresh, however it's just as much work. We tried supermarket ready meals and it's not really filling or healthy. Batch cooking didn't work either.

I just don't have it in me at the moment. We have SN DC, DH works a hard job, and enough is enough.

I want to have a nice meal at the end of the day with my family. I don't mind putting side dishes out myself.

Does anyone use Cook, or a similar set up, to help with this? Is it worth the cost?

Charlie Binghams meals are definitely worth a try too, they are fresh rather than frozen

Once you’ve had a Cook lasagna you’ll never make your own again. Truly heaven on a plate.

Is there a happy medium, e.g.

Day 1: buy falafels, salad, pitta, hummus, olives and some sweet potato fries to bung in oven...heat up chips and shove everything else on table
2: sourdough bread and posh chunky soup from fridge in supermarket
3: hot smoked salmon (ready prepared and serve cold) or rotisserie chicken with microwave steamed veggies and a pre prepared sauce
4: ready meals
5/6 - cook yourself (as weekend)

Slow cooker a few days and then some nice ready meals? You can have a chilli/bolognese in the slow cooker in about 5 mins in the morning. Just chuck it all in and and then it'll be ready whenever you want it. Then you have spag bol, chilli and rice, nachos, etc. that take very little time in the evening - less than a ready meal probably!

Charlie Bingham meals are nice but pretty expensive.

I think a housekeeper/cook might be way to go. They could come once or twice a week and prep meals for a few days. Maybe try a local catering college to advertise or on a local Facebook site - might appeal to a semi retired person. I’m thinking pay someone 2 or 3 hours and they could make you several easy to reheat home cooked meals - Bolognese, lasagne, cottage pie, fish pie. They could make double and freeze some. I batch cook like this on a Sunday morning with radio on.
Or pay someone daily say 4 days a week 2 hours a day (takeaway Friday) - again could be attractive to student or retired person. I had a relative who supervised older kids homework and cooked a meal think she called herself a housekeeper.

I agree with poowilly - something like a (store or homemade) roast chicken, with chicken soup and bread the next day, will knock out a few days. Egg, beans and chips another. A rotation of Cook, Potage (same concept, I personally find them tastier) and M&S meals the rest of the time. I think if you get 3/4 more v easy and quick recipes under your belt you’ll soon be able to stick to them.

I’m battling at the mo but something like meatballs with (store bought) sauce and boiled or mashed potatoes is easy and inactive on prep, or a big omelette with chorizo and peppers, or a store bought soup with bread.

Cook meals for 4 people would probably work out the same as a housekeeper/ cook for an hour. So I would say it’s possible. Your not asking for Michelin star meals, just decent home cooked food whilst your busy with children with additional needs and yourself. At a guess £15-20 per hour. Probably a nice part time job for a few hours for someone with own school age children

What sort of meals do you like op? I cook a lot but also eat no effort stuff. 2 Morrisons melt in middle fishcakes and bag of steamed green veg is one of my easy meals - 16 mins in oven.
.

We do this, although we basically eat:

Stir fry once a week (takes 5 mins tops to cook)
Oven-ready cuts of meat or fish eg chicken breasts marinated in lime and coriander, or salmon fillets in foil, with Steamfresh pouches of veg cooked in the microwave
Pizza on a Friday, fajitas on a Saturday, chicken pie or a joint of meat on a Sunday

It's such a boring way of shopping and eating but I genuinely don't have time to put more effort into it at the moment. One day I'll cook again!

And yy to fish cakes!

I buy them for my elderly mum as she lacks the stamina or interset to cook much these days and they are delicious. The company also does some really ethical stuff that makes me feel happy to not only support my mum but also support this company.

stuff like this:
www.cookfood.net/info/jobs/essential-ingredients/Talent-Programme/

We do cook at the moment five days a week - new baby. It’s great. There’s load of variety and plenty of healthy stuff in there. Go for it! It costs less then a load of food waste to be honest, and much much less than takeaway twice a week which is what we were doing before

I think cook are nicer than supermarket ready meals. It’s not cheap but there’s no harm in you trying it out for a couple of weeks and see if it helps.

How about:
Cook ready meals x 3
Fresh pasta and sauce x 1
Cooked roast chicken, french stick, salad x 1
Oven fish and chips x 1
Jacket potatoes x 1

They’re my go tos when time and energy are scarce.

Local butcher here does things like lasagne, cottage pie, fish pie, currys and chicken casseroles for parties. I know a few people who buy a variety of these. Divide them into portion and freeze them. It actually works out quite good value.

My father relied on Wiltshire Farm Foods after DM died.
I had a couple when I visited him, & found they were very good quality.
I seem to remember they were also a very reasonable price.

I've seen "Parsley Box" advertised, stored at ambient temperature, but I don't know anyone who's tried them.

I find the Waitrose marinated meats are a boon for this - things like jerk chicken, mango chicken, koreanbbq steak, Chimichurri steak are all tasty enough that I’m happy with plain veg and rice/potato with them and they are healthier than a ready meal.

I love the idea of paying someone to cook a few meals once per week. Agree it could suit someone with school age children. And they wouldn't need to cook in your house. I'm sure they could drop off at your house, or you collect

In your shoes, I wonder if a set meal plan would help? A friend of mine has a 28 day rota. Wouldn't suit me, but she likes not having to think / plan. I think tesco deliver ingredients each week, for that week's meals, so she just edits the order as required

stepmad Could you afford a part time cook house keeper type person

OP really wish - this would be fantastic!

I know someone who cooks for several local families, nice home-cooked meals, once or twice a week. Maybe someone in your area does something similar?

I am a part time cook type person! I'm paid £9.50 an hour and work 3 hours a day for the family I work for. They have children with SN and I cook, clean and do household admin for them. As a single mum it fits amazingly with my life at the moment especially as I'm starting a degree. Maybe you could find someone like me that would want to do a couple of days a week to batch cook for you? Probably works out cheaper than eating takeaways or ready meals! I love my job and the family I work for are absolutely amazing.

Cook is good but need variety, Reccomend Nonna Tonda pasta. Just a fresh sauce and Fresh pasta. Less work than gousto and just one meal a week so space for other things too. Can send you a link if you want me to pm which is better than their main offer.

We went through a period of about 8 months when we ate cook meals 4 times a week, it got to the stage where we were eating take always almost every night as we couldn’t face cooking when we finished work about 9pm.
I generally cooked a dinner on Saturday and Sunday and we had leftovers on Monday with cook meals the rest of the week. It was great for us, they have quite a wide range and a lot of low calorie healthy ones too. We tended to buy 20-30 meals in one go that would do the month because there is a minimum delivery charge and it allowed us to have more choice of what we fancied on the day.
We wasted a lot less food, saved money compared to takeaways/ throwing away food and we’re definitely ate healthier and at a more regular time.
Why not try it for a month and see how it goes?
PS Charlie Bingham are also great (but a lot less choice)

I know you said you don't have time to batch cook etc but what about this:

thebatchlady.com/recipe/10-meals-in-1-hour-chicken/

It does require a couple of hours at the weekend but then you've got enough for a week or two. Or you do it once a month and then you have a freezer full when you need it.

Cook meals are not that healthy.
I have standard things I buy. Like a cooked chicken once a week to make a quick meal, would a list of ideas help?

We use Cook meals though only about once a week. Mostly for the fussy main bit of the meal and I do my own rice/spud/plain veg on the side, though I also like their lasagne and indian/thai dishes (which are not hot at all). I would happily have a couple every week, maybe not four. But give it a go, why not? It's also about priorities - if you're eating junk then who cares if Cook has a bit of extra salt? Though I don't find them especially salty, certainly not compared to e.g. take away.