What's your best supermarket emergency microwave dinner

[CadburyCrunchy]

If you only had 35 minutes to spare between work and kids hobbies every Tuesday evening what would you cook for dinner in that time? I'm not a fan of ready meals but Tesco do an nice carbonara and one evening a week is ok! What would you suggest?

Another vote for M&S chilli prawn linguine. And the Tesco Finest Beef ragu bolognese. Love them.

I like the Tesco wicked kitchen microwave meals. They’re all vegan so not great if you’re fussy on vegetables they’re filling and feel healthy and not like you’re eating a ready meal. I also like the Bol ready meals, mostly curries and noodles and again all have lots of veg and feel healthy.

I'm going to confess here to having a freezer with at least 5 or 6 M&S ready meals at any one time- I don't live on them but most are pretty nice and I just usually bang some broccoli or frozen peas with them or air fry some cherry tomatoes

I don't really eat ready meals but the Aldi macaroni cheese one is so nice and proper cheesy.

Sainsbury's prawn makhani is delicious.

Not sure why people who wouldn't eat ready meals have bothered replying to this post.

Everywhere online people ask about ready meals, the majority of replies are that people hate them/never buy them. Yet the shops are crammed with them - fresh, frozen, ambient, various brands and cuisines. People must be buying so many ready meals they can’t afford the internet to discuss them!

I second the M&S 3 for £8 meals. I like the carbonara, macaroni cheese & Tuscan sausage penne. Delish!

M&S also do microwave soups. I like the chicken, mushroom & rice one.

my quick meals are either Tescos Mac N Cheese, or Icelands Veggie Lasagne. (or mac n cheese)

however, if i had the stuff available, i'd be more inclined to spend 5 mins doing a quick stirfry with noodles in the wok.

*Q: “What’s your favourite supermarket microwave meal?”

A: “pasta with homemade pesto, wilted spinach and freshly cooked chicken”

Of course!*

🤣

Frozen pizzas are my favourite ready meals. I even use them as a treat when i have an evening for myself (very rarely atm) 😅

I forgot about stuffed pasta - I keep that in the freezer for lunches when DP works from home. Cooks from frozen in 5 minutes and I just serve it with melted butter.

Some noodles dish. Don't have anything that pings normally but I used to like having something in for those evenings when there's no time.
And eaten out of the tray to save washing up more than needed.

I like M and S King Prawn Risotto with a bit of French bread.

Not a fan of most ready meals these days. Quick turnaround meals on activities nights are:

co-op mash (4min), Co-op steam veg (2min) fried egg or beans or skinny sausages (5 min in frying pan)
sausage butties
sausage & Yorkshire puds (3min in oven)
sausage & 2 min noodles or spaghetti or change the sausage for bacon
frozen pizzas (10-15mins)
microwave chips
scrambled eggs or omelettes
Frozen bags of golden vegetable rice (4min) are a good side to most things
frozen baked potatoes (8min)

We’ve just bought an air fryer which is fantastic for cooking things quickly.

Thursday is ready meal night in our house as we both have late gym classes. I quite like the Gym Kitchen range which I’ve seen in Asda and Tesco. Healthy and filling

The only acceptable microwave meal is two Chicago town deep dish pizzas anything else is always disappointing! I like the M&S packs but that’ll defeat the object because to be decent you have to oven them anyway.

For a short dinner time slot like that I’d do something on toast - beans, egg, maybe even tinned ravioli.

If I were rich though I’d made a steak sandwich on a ciabatta roll.

No one is forcing their views on anything, they’re just commenting. I’m sure if OP has a problem with people making alternative suggestions to a microwave meal, she’ll let us know.

Thanks for your input though, officer.

Not answering the brief totally, but recommend:

Any supermarket pizza

Asda curries, particularly Korma

Heinz tomato soup & cheese toasties (please!)

Throw in spaghetti - start spaghetti in pan. Separately fry frozen onions, mushroom, bacon, add mascarpone & tip over spaghetti when ready

Sausages, potato waffles & beans (self explanatory)

gnocci, jar of sauce, ready made green leaf salad on the side. Some shaved parmesan on top if you like.

I like the Morrisons takeaway Chicken Korma with a packet of microwaveable cauliflower rice, I sometimes throw in a few chips into the air fryer to go with it if i'm especially hungry. I also have morrisons chicken dinners (microwaveable) but they're tiny you might want to add more veg. Also worth looking at some of the meals in Iceland in the slimming world range (I don't do SW but the portion sizes for a microwave meal are pretty generous). The main issues ive found with microwave meals is they don't have enough veg with them and the meat portion is tiny.

Eh??

Ready made felafel, wraps, hummus and cucumber/pepper/cherry tomato

Baked potato, beans, cheese, tinned sweetcorn - I batch bake potatoes in the oven, freeze, then reheat straight from freezer in microwave

Homemade soup, Crackers and cheese

Fresh filled pasta, jar or pre made homemade sauce, mushrooms

Cheese on toast or bagel with cream cheese and crisps, cucumber/pepper/tomatoes

Pre-made stew, microwave rice

Beans and scrambled eggs on toast

@Jackanackanory OP asked a specific question, not for alternatives!

You lack comprehension?

I'm not an officer, but I can read and understand a question. Have you tried to do that?

Do many people decide they'll make their own narrative and tell the OP how she can just do it better! When she's not asked for that, your idea of better is not required!

Imagine if a man came on and said how she could avoid micro meals?

Again, OP has asked a specific question, do you understand that?

What the fuck has a man offering advice on here got to do with this?

OP asked for suggestions, people have offered suggestions albeit not of the microwave variety. I didn’t offer better, I offered an alternative (and if you care to read my response I made it clear I wasn’t offering ‘microwave’ advice).

So yes, my comprehension skills are pretty good actually.

You do realise this is an internet forum where opinions and comments flow, yeah? When you’re at a party or the pub and someone starts a conversation, do you fly into a rage because some veers off the subject?

As I said before, the OP is perfectly welcome to come back and tell us to fuck off with our unsolicited advice. It’s not your call to tell us what we can and can’t say.

@Jackanackanory did you answer the OPs question?

Yes or no?