What lazy food/buy cheap/named you use

[Belledan1]

Have read the cooking from scratch thread and was wondering what lazy/cheap/branded food you will always get. I know some people have no choice re basic range and I have been there and do have to watch what I spend now. Interested in some convenience foods.

Lazy/convenient - mine is frozen mash but do make own sometimes. Also sliced / grated cheese - this more as teenager in family make toasties etc and less mess and sliced also good for calorie counting. Sometimes microwave rice, burgers and noodles again for teenager and have a variety different frozen veg. Yorkshire puddings.

Basic range - jam, garlic bread, yogurts. Mint sauce. Ham for omelettes etc. Eggs as I only eat the white.

Branded- always have daddies brown sauce, pg tips and nescafe but do tend to get when on offer.

Do try and stick to a budget and shop mainly aldi.

My lazy things tend to be prepped by me. My Mother did it so I did it before the shops caught up: chopped herbs in cubes, spices in oil, chopped veg, frozen mash, carrot purée, part roast roots, pies, stews, curries, chilli.

Microwave rice and instant flavoured couscous have been a revelation in the last few years and are very convenient. And I do have frozen pizza for emergency teen hunger.
I buy local produce as much as possible but am happy to buy basic things.
The only things which we have brand preference for are Millicano instant coffee, Bullseye barbecue ketchup, RWhites or Schweppes lemonade.

Lazy- garlic paste, ginger paste, stock cubes (also branded, always oxo), concentrated liquid stock, frozen chopped leeks.

Basics- beans, chickpeas, lentils, pasta, rice, noodles, frozen veg, sunflower oil, cheese, butter, milk, frozen peas, frozen spinach, any type of flour, sugar, seeds (for bread)

Branded- brand tin baked beans (For DH), Mutti tomatoes (was derided on the other thread for this), il casolare olive oil, Il Borgo balsamic vinegar, Burford Brown eggs, Asian ingredients I buy from the Chinese supermarket, not quite branded but the spices I buy from The Spicery are more expensive than supermarket and absolutely worth it.

What the actual fuck 😯

@Eaudesource

WHAT???!! I knew an elderly woman who used to have them with butter and that’s weird, but this is… do you heat them? How do they not turn into dust or gruel??! Need answers

Buying pesto lazy? Surely not.

Yes I was thinking this. I wouldn't call pesto lazy, nor curry pastes

I mentioned pesto as “lazy” at the start of the thread, but then my sister makes her pesto and mayonnaise from scratch. She lives somewhere warm and has a huge basil bush on her balcony, and a market in the street below. She cooked her children’s food in bottled water for years (her tap water is perfectly safe, she lives in a major European city) and likes to use my “dependence” on “convenience” food as leverage to have a go at me (a hobby of hers). She likes to make out that my dc only eat Domnino’s pizza, not that I use some sauces from a jar!

Lazy. Pre chopped stir fry veg
Supermarket brand. Most tins, spreads, oils, cereals etc.
Branded. Marmite

Nope. Tuna and banana with pasta.

They're mushy, like the consistency of oatmeal with warm milk if you see what I mean?

Lazy: pre grated cheese, frozen chopped onions, frozen vegetables of all kinds. Curry paste, micro rice, micro quinoa bits and bobs.

However I am a coffee snob and Asda own whole coffee beans are my second favourite (sell for 2 for £5), and asdas own milk chocolate is really good! It's about £1 for 200g.

Branded: napolina chickpeas are genuinely better than all other chickpeas. And oatly barista is irreplaceable imo.

I'd rather not buy eggs at all than buy caged because they're cheap. The hen doesn't care that you only use the white.

Tinned tomatoes I buy decent quality
Meat - decent quality.

Pulses etc- makes no odds

Decent washing up liquid

Lazy- the frozen ginger garlic cubes from the Asian section. (I also freeze ginger root but often run out of garlic)

Frozen chopped onions, ginger, garlic and vegetables because I can get dinner cooked in an hour.

Sleepingb. Thats up to you re the eggs. I do sometimes buy free-range depends what is on offer. Everyone is entitled to buy what they want.

Lazy
Yorkshire puddings (too much effort to make!)
Packet stuffing (likewise, and the packs are so cheap)

Basics
Most fruit and veg
Cereal
Loo roll
Cream cheese
Ketchup
Beans
Tinned tomatoes - actually most tinned things

Branded
Kingsmill bread
Dairylea
Coca cola
Heck sausages

I buy the value/cheapest version of almost everything (fruit/veg/sauces/beans/pasta/cheese etc)

But I'm super picky with meat/fish and would rather eat way less in my diet than have cheap versions that I just can't bring myself to eat.

Only branded things I really can't do any budget version of is mccains chips and wotsits.

Lazy - frozen chopped onions, shallots, garlic

Convenience - microwave mash, mixed veg, Rostiserie chicken

Branded - Heinz baked beans, Campbell’s soup, French butter.

Yeah it’s really shitty to buy eggs from caged hens. Imagine knowing the torturous life those animals have, and not giving a shit.

Again an every day thread turns nasty. user1471442488 thanks for judging me and being nasty. Think this thread should just close now. I need a high protein diet and have a budget. You must think everyone doesn't care a shit ie people with budgets that buy them.

Lazy = frozen onions, frozen peppers, pesto
Basic = rice, pasta, own brand frozen veg (including onions and peppers) Lidl washing powder, mixed size eggs, odd shaped veg (can't think what they call it)
Branded = Heinz beans, HP sauce.

I'm sure there's loads more but I can't think of anything else.

Please leave

Take no notice, it's a good thread.
I buy the cheapest eggs too, 30 for around £3 from Asda, and they go a long way when money is tight.

Lazy= packet rice, big bag of frozen mixed veg, curry paste (I always used to make my own), frozen yorkies, big bags of dried crispy onions (ASD eat a lot of hot dogs!).

I've actually down a lot of downgrading brands lately, I went to put Heinz ketchup on my order and it had gone up to £3 so I bought the 60p Asda own brand. It's a bit less sweet but quickly got used to it. Likewise, I've swapped from Heinz tomato to Asda but add a pinch of sugar since it is slightly bitter.

Brands I won't compromise on are Loyd Grossman pasta sauces, Lidl extra special red pesto, Douwe Egberts decaf and red fox red Leicester cheese.

I need to find an alternative to Lurpack spreadable since I don't think I'll be able to justify the price for much longer.

I have a million and one questions.

Thanks StrawberryLipstickStateOfMind1.

Gingerkittykat, my friend says aldi lurpak alternative is nice.