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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

What lazy food/buy cheap/named you use

102 replies

Belledan1 · 03/06/2022 11:54

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.

OP posts:
bozna · 04/06/2022 04:57

Basics- why buy weetabix over store brand? There isn't a difference, or is there? Always want to know what I'm buying because a lot of cheap products are worse, but not everything

bozna · 04/06/2022 05:10

@Belledan1 free range hens only get about a meter more freedom for a couple of months before they're killed , if it was such a problem caged hens should be legally stopped but realistically no one knows the difference, everyone just thinks they're awesome becaue the choose free range. But all the hens are used for eggs, the free range ones don't have a better life they're all production hens and if they stop laying they die. Should be encouraged for poorer parents to buy cheap eggs to feed kids for their health. Ot should be government that can match the price of cheap eggs to free range eggs if they want, the cost shouldn't fall on the buyers just trying to do the best for the kids

KohlaParasaurus · 04/06/2022 05:37

Lazy: Loads! Tinned curry, bolognaise, chilli con carne etc., both meat and veggie varieties. Tinned soup. Jars of sauce, no way am I faffing around with a million spices or a mortar and pestle. Supermarket pizzas. Microwave meals. Jars and frozen cubes of herbs and spices. Oven chips. Oven ready fish. Pies. Microwave sponge puddings. Tins of custard. I used to buy microwave rice and straight to wok noodles and loads of frozen potato products when the DC lived at home but don't now. Fancy biscuits when we have guests, previously I'd have baked biscuits or a cake and might do again when I replace our ancient oven. Protein bars for portable snacks. I'll buy a ready made salad or sandwich when I'm out instead of taking something in Tupperware from home.

(I do cook fresh meat and vegetables sometimes too!)

Branded: Instant coffee, breakfast cereals, jars of sauce, chocolate, frozen chips, butter.

Everything else is supermarket own brands. I don't often buy "basics" label stuff.

OrangeBall · 04/06/2022 05:49

Lazy - freezer stuff mainly like pizzas, found frozen lemon and lime slices for G and Ts last week (saves manky half lemons around!), lazy garlic, chicken nuggets, chips, hash browns, the El Paso kits like fajitas/tacos

Value - anything apart from the branded stuff but love value chopped tomatoes

Branded/specific - Heinz beans, Heinz ketchup, hellmans lowest fat mayo, le rustique camembert in sainsburys (for some reason the others don't taste as good), coke, dog food

MrsLargeEmbodied · 04/06/2022 06:37

frozen peppers
frozen spinach
supermarket pizza

MrsLargeEmbodied · 04/06/2022 06:38

oh yes
tins of custard
breaded fish

Neu · 04/06/2022 07:02

Lazy - frozen chopped onion, packet flavoured couscous,

Basic - pretty much everything except...

Branded - Yorkshire tea, Bonne Maman preserves, Lurpak and local eggs - the taste is amazing so worth extra to me as I too need high protein diet so eat a lot of them.

Belledan1 · 04/06/2022 07:02

Thanks Bonza for explaining. I agree why should people not feed their kids eggs because of this. Same goes with the comments regarding meat generally on mumsnet. If you are struggling or on a budget you buy cheapest chicken you can.

Reading this thread there are lots of convenience foods I realise I do use too that I never listed!!

OP posts:
Cuwins · 04/06/2022 07:42

bozna · 04/06/2022 04:57

Basics- why buy weetabix over store brand? There isn't a difference, or is there? Always want to know what I'm buying because a lot of cheap products are worse, but not everything

I find the texture of the own brand ones wrong. But then I'm very fussy about the texture of my weetabix- it still has to be crunchy, as soon as it turns soggy I won't eat it, I found the own brand ones go soggy much too quickly for me

Hhoney · 04/06/2022 08:45

Gingerkittykat · 03/06/2022 23:33

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.

Flora buttery is really nice. We had to swap out the Lurpak too as it had gone up so much.

the Flora buttery is often on offer at Tesco.

Fairislefandango · 04/06/2022 08:53

Flora Buttery isn't real butter though - it's full of palm oil and all kinds of stuff, and it's more expensive than normal, pure supermarket own-brand butter!

starlingdarling · 04/06/2022 10:20

Belledan1 · 04/06/2022 07:02

Thanks Bonza for explaining. I agree why should people not feed their kids eggs because of this. Same goes with the comments regarding meat generally on mumsnet. If you are struggling or on a budget you buy cheapest chicken you can.

Reading this thread there are lots of convenience foods I realise I do use too that I never listed!!

Bonza is incorrect. The stress on battery hens is worlds apart from free range. It's not just a case of having an extra metre (don't even know if that's true), it's being able to actually move and behave as a chicken should. Most rescue hens from battery farms are near bald from the stress they are under. Obviously if you're on a very tight budget there's not much you can do unless you stop eating eggs but I don't think I could.

www.rspcaassured.org.uk/farm-animal-welfare/egg-laying-hens/what-is-a-battery-hen/

starlingdarling · 04/06/2022 10:20
  • but I don't think I could eat them.
MrsRinaDecker · 04/06/2022 11:21

Lazy: sachets of microwave rice.. ideal for a quick fried rice for lunch; frozen chopped onions; jars of garlic and ginger; for a quick dinner.. filled pasta and a tub of tomato sauce from the supermarket fresh section.

Branded: cushelle loo rolls and plenty kitchen rolls, I find cheap a false economy, ditto fairy liquid. Heinz ketchup. Nescafé coffee (original and decaf). Used to always buy branston beans, but Lidls own are a good swap. Felix or whiskas cat food, as dcat is a fussy so and so 😂

Value: Lidl’s 39p garlic bread is very nice. Most everything else is just regular supermarket own brand.. Tesco / Morrisons / Lidl.

BlueTitSmilingAtMe · 04/06/2022 11:57

But then I'm very fussy about the texture of my weetabix- it still has to be crunchy, as soon as it turns soggy I won't eat it, I found the own brand ones go soggy much too quickly for me

Also, the own brand ones don't make as good a pasta sauce 🤪🤪 Apparently.

MrsToothyBitch · 04/06/2022 12:37

Lazy: Frozen Pizza- always a couple in the freezer for emergencies although we do also make them, pesto and an extra jar of pasta sauce although we try to make sauce, packet couscous, stock pots/cubes, bread crumbs, pre batoned carrots (I only like them batoned and hate chopping them although I do spiralise 2-3 at a go and freeze portions) chips, mini frozen pastries for Sunday breakfast and always a garlic flatbread in the freezer.

Own brand: most stuff tbh. Pasta, rice, packet couscous, quinoa, lentils, nuts, seeds, orange juice, tinned & pureed tomatoes, raspberry jam, bread, mini frozen pastries, bourbon chocolate biscuits, wheetabix, cream, generic cheddar and cream cheese and goats cheese and parmesan and halloumi and mozzarella, greek yoghurt, flour, butter, chocolate for baking, "nice" own balsamic vinegar, "nice" own coconut oil, passata, olive oil, vinegar, salt & pepper, waitrose own quiche, liquid soap, Waitrose own choc for cooking, olives and sometimes their "nice" own brand deli meats or cheeses for special occasions, squeezy honey for DPs tea, oven chips, "nice" own brand bread crumbs if poss, "nice" own garlic flat bread, "nice" own eggs, kitchen roll and descaler. Every few weeks we go to Lidl and specifically get their Deluxe pesto, hot chocolate, pasta sauce, frankfurters and sometimes chocolate orange spread. Wilko own water filters

Branded: Vanish, Maille mustards, Colemans mustard powder, Heinz Ketchup (low sugar one) and Heinz burger sauce, Hellmans mayo, Herta frankfurters if I can't get Lidl own, Warburtons crumpets, Bonne Maman apricot jam, Cravendale milk, Lindt 90% dark chocolate (but only because I like that %), Fairy liquid, Schweppes or R Whites lemonade and Schewppes tonic, Knorr stock, my frozen pizzas are Dr Oekter, Napolina pizza bases, Stork baking marg, Meiners cocoa for baking. Boursin, Port Salut or Leerdamer cheese if specifically wanted. Aunt Bessie yorkies & roasties, Pataks or Sharwoods on the rare occasion we make curry, Rowse honey. We flip between Twinings & Waitrose own tea bags but Twinings own peppermint and green. Babybel cheeses & Popchip crisp packets- specifically for packed lunches. I buy whatever brand loo roll is on offer. Kelloggs Cinnamon cereal on occasion- can't find a cheap equivalent.

Various types of sugar from whatever is available so a mix of supermarket own, Billingtons, Tate & Lyle and Silver Spoon Icing. Bart herbs because my nearest supermarket has a better selection of them than own brand. Similarly flip between Waitrose own & Daz and Fairy laundry detergent and softener depending on what's available or on offer.

Cosmos123 · 04/06/2022 12:49

Chikapu · 03/06/2022 12:54

You have weetabix with vegetables and pasta sauce? That sounds repulsive.

Wtf

Cosmos123 · 04/06/2022 13:01

Branded
Colgate
Fairy liquid
Coke cola

DiscoYear2000 · 04/06/2022 13:07

Lazy - frozen Yorkshire puddings, pasta’n’sauce packets, frozen chopped ginger, frozen chips or waffles, frozen berries

Basic range - dish clothes, sponges, tinned tomatoes, biscuits and chocolate if they’re to be used as cooking ingredients

Shop brand - rice, pasta, tinned soup, lentils, tuna, washing up liquid and most other cleaning products, crisps, flour, sunflower oil, bacon, cream crackers

Branded - loo roll, harpic cleaner, hand soap, teabags, coffee, bread, ryvita, diet cola, biscuits and chocolate if consumed as snacks!

LaWench · 04/06/2022 13:08

Lazy; Squeezy garlic and ginger paste. Readymade croutons.

Basics; mostly everything, tend to shop in Lidl and Aldi, love their own copies.

Brands; not much tbh, I love Steak Doritos, Warburtons bread, Lavazzo coffee beans.

Pennyhill22 · 04/06/2022 13:16

Lazy - frozen vegetables, chopped garlic, pizzas, some ready meals, sliced/grated cheese,breaded fish.

Basic- toilet roll,pasta,rice,pasta sauce, cereal bars,cereal, cream crackers,deli meats, yogurts,milk, water,bread,gravy,stock cubes.

Branded- Kerrygold butter, Hellmans Mayonnaise, organic free range eggs, coleslaw, free range chicken.

MakingNBaking · 04/06/2022 14:05

My mil used to have a buttered weetabix for breakfast, but tuna and mayo takes the biscuit!

StrawberryLipstickStateOfMind1 · 04/06/2022 14:49

I ate cleaning sponges when I was pregnant, enjoy a Fray Bentos pie on occasion and have had some very iffy boyfriends in the past but tuna mayo on weetabix is never going in my mouth.

JudgeJ · 04/06/2022 20:08

user1471442488 · 03/06/2022 20:55

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

I go to the farm and pay £1.60 a dozen, the only welfare concern is not running over the birds as you drive in!
Branded Green and Blacks Hot Chocolate, Hellman Mayo, Seed Sensations bread, Lurpak butter, Maman Black Cherry jam.
Own brands Aldi loo roll, orange juice, grated Mozzarella for omelettes, mini Magnum-type ice creams, black currant jam, their better range.

JudgeJ · 04/06/2022 20:09

Forgot, branded Jacobs Kronung coffee, a left over from Germany days, the Polish shops do it.