Do you eat ready meals regularly?

[RedRosette2023]

Following from another thread - I heard a statistic the other day that said up to 90% of people regularly consume ready meals. As in, in a plastic container and from the microwave or oven.

I sense that MN is quite middle class so likely not representative of the whole of the country. But I was surprised by that statistic.

I genuinely can’t remember the last time I ate a ready meal. I occasionally gave eldest DC an Ella tray when they were weaning, a meal I could keep in my changing bag and have handy in case we were out over tea time. My youngest refused any pouches etc so he has never had one. He’s always just eaten what we’ve eaten and taught me baby food is totally unnecessary, albeit convenient at times.

I am coeliac so it’s possible my habits have been formed due to necessity - I would struggle to pick up a ready meal I can eat with ease. M&S do some and I think GF ones slightly more available now but I just don’t buy them.

I’m also not a SAHM Mum, I work a pressured job four days, my DH works away mostly during the week, I use hello fresh etc 3-4 days. But I always find time for a meal. My ready meal is something batch cooked out the freezer.

No judgment - just genuinely interested.

@RedRosette2023

you are sounding a bit sanctimonious op

do you never feel like you can’t be bothered to cook? Really tired after a long day at work? Or not feeling very well? Wanting to go somewhere in the evening like a gym class and so having little time to cook. Or whatever.

most people do. And that’s when ready meals are handy. Does adults or children no harm.

Not me - I admitted page 1 or 2 I buy everything from M&S just to go in oven or microwave - not a stealth boast either - works out cheaper than making from scratch

I'm reading the same book OP - it's an eye opener! We're not 90%, but we've cut down our consumption as a result.

I don't think that anyone has pointed out that there are grades of processing.

A Pot Noodle is ultra-processed food. A tin of tomatoes has been processed, but isn't UPF.

Have you read my posts or just stopped at one to pass judgment? I was surprised by that statistic and as it it happens, that surprise was totally warranted as I’d either been misled in the book or misunderstood because the figure of 90% is closer to 24%.

If the book had said 24% I’d have not been surprised.

No. They’re not very nice. If I wasn’t well or was very tired I might get an M&S pasta one, but it’s once or twice a year.
I think it’s one of those things that seems like a good idea and afterwards you feel a bit ripped off.

were having a easy dinner night tonight, fish cakes and chips/veg. Not sure if that counts as a ready meal, or is it just those things in trays.

Yep, I do. Regularly.
My kids are fed by my mum three times a week after school.
I live alone except for the kids. I get home at 7.30.
I am not cooking a meal for one, from scratch, every night.
I have no interest in spending my weekends batch cooking lentils and making stock.

Not everyone has the time, ability, or inclination to make a lovely great big family fish pie from scratch every night.

There also isn't a massive cost difference when you have a small family too.

A CB fish pie is usually around £9/10 sometime on offer for £8 or so. But straight away the raw fix mix is £5.50 and that's before you've spent any money on cheese, eggs for the sauce which are both expensive, then herbs, spices, spinach, lemon etc

Sometimes you have to be very careful with ingredients or you end up spending more if you're only cooking for 2/3.

Never but that's because I just don't like them. Charlie Bighams are ok but ridiculously overpriced and I can still make something nicer myself. My kids sometimes have a pasta ready meal from M&S if feeling lazy but generally would rather cook it fresh.

so much GF food is UPF - pasta has emulsifiers, the breads have a huge list of ingredients of course you can eat GF food without UPF but actually it’s a bit harder

this is quite insensitive so many people have chronic illness/ASD kids/single parents with full time work amd so many reasons when buying a ready meal or a pizza is the best solution

so few people have the time, money and/or inclination to make every single thing eaten in the house from scratch

@Minikievs we don’t often have fish pies because they take a while to prepare and my DC eat it but aren’t bothered. I’m not, and haven’t, suggested I am eating fish pies every night.

It’s one of my favourites and even Charlie’s isn’t one I can eat.

@Sissynova the trick with fish pie is to by those cheaper odds and ends packets of fish and chop them up.

Yes I know about the prevalence of UPF in GF. I am wary but eat the pasta quite alot. I haven’t claimed to live UPF free.

Im intrigued by your comment re sensitive. If a topic is sensitive do you suggest not discussing it?

We do have things like frozen fish and waffles in the freezer. As for preprepared meals no but that's because we have kids and I need to cook for them. I do batch cook and freeze meals though and always have homemade samosas and spring rolls in the freezer for a quick snack. If I'm short of time I'd rather do a jacket potato, an omelette or pasta for an easy dinner.

If we are talking processed food though then yes I sometimes have pasta with a premade pesto sauce. Most stuff I cook from scratch but my food is fairly simple - salmon fillet with a jacket potato and salad for example. Things like fish pie or stew are a rarity since they take too long.

That isn't really a like for like comparison then. The one I buy is made with smoked haddock, cod, king prawns and salmon. Why would I buy cheaper types of fish instead?
And by the time you've bought multiple different packets of fish I'm not sure you've saved any money. What different types of fish are you buying for less than the £5.50 mix?
Again, like I said, unless you're cooking for a larger family which I'm not.

I'm honestly not being sarcastic but, that is amazing.

What do you eat generally?

I'm Italian and we cook at the weekends and freeze but, havent made pasta for years for example. We also work long hours. But, i go to the local bakery for cakes,bread etc.

Oven pizza 1x month at most - even that we are not doing anymore because we can get pizza dough from our local Italian deli and DD thinks its fun to 'build her own pizza'. Other than that, in the last 5y - maybe once.

Normally I cook from scratch. If I can't be bothered - we get a takeaway from a restaurant or go out for dinner. I only really use microwave to warm up leftovers or defrost meat.

Never.

We sometimes eat a pizza from
sainsburys or something that has been “pre-marinated” so I’m not being smug about always eating freshly prepared food but more than anything I don’t find the portions of ready meals big enough!

Very rarely, like maybe once a year at most. Coeliac too but can find lots of gluten free ready meals but they're all just so shit. I'll sometimes get a prepared salad if I'm out all day and forgot to bring sandwiches but it feels really bad paying 5 euros or so for something that's mostly lettuce so its very rare too.

In contrast when I went away for the summer I came home and found the recycling full of packaging from ready meals. My OH had been living off premade soup for 6 weeks!

Hate them never enough meat in them, don't fill you up and taste very below par

Almost never, but what we were doing if too tired to either think of what to eat or cook it, was buying takeaways neither of us really wanted or enjoyed, just for something to eat.

So, we are now trying to batch cook once or twice a week, or if we cook something that lends itself to larger quantities, making a few extra for the freezer.

Initially this meant using single use foil trays which I don't really like, but just 10 glass dishes with long lasting clip top plastic lids (these can go from freezer to micro to oven or air-fryer) costs around £40. And thats 5 large portion + 5 small portion sized containers.

To really batch cook usefully we'd need probably another 10 or more dishes. I can afford them now, just about but I certainly couldn't have (nor the chest freezer to store them in!) when I was poorer!

So I do get why people buy ready meals, or use single use containers to store stuff.

Never. Not even instant noodles.

Where did you get your containers that can do freezer/oven/microwave please? ☺️🤞

No the nearest I get to a ready meal is a Charlie Chilli (Charlie Bigham) or that Covent Garden tomato or veg soup in a carton. The thought of microwaved ready meals makes me feel sick. I'll cook my own and freeze, but I know what's gone into it because it's from scratch.

I do, because I hate cooking and M&S and Charlie Bigham can do it better than I can. I love fish pie, for example, but cba to make it, and it would cost the same by the time I've bought decent ingredients. Plus as it's just me, there's no point in faffing around freezing bits of unused fish etc.

I used to cook from scratch every night until the youngest DC went to university, but nfw am I doing it just for myself. On the nights that I don't have ready meals, I have beans on toast or a jacket potato or a boiled egg. Something that requires no effort.

I average around 25k steps a day as well as cycling, so I think that probably balances out the fact that I can't be arsed to cook.