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.

Literally everyday. I hate cooking. Also I'm busy. I have gym kitchen ready meals

Almost never. I'm also coeliac and that might have a bit to do with it but I just think they're ridiculously expensive. It costs me probably £1 to batch cook a Mac n cheese (4 main course portions) for the kids but if I bought a microwave one it would be at least £2.50/£3+

Same with lasagne, curry, bolognese, shepherds pie etc etc

I do buy the kids ready made pizzas but even that I'm now getting to the point where I'd rather make my own from scratch instead of paying stupid prices. Asda essentials frozen pizzas used to be 66p, they're now 90p each and the value for money is gone. Cheaper and better to make them at home.

I work full time but things like dough I batch make and freeze in portions, same with things like lasagne, bolognese, curry etc.

This is our meal plan for the past few weeks. This is for me, DH, a two year old and a baby who is weaning. Everything is seasoned on the plate only and made with low salt ingredients because of the kids. 😍
If not baby appropriate we sometimes adapt the main meal so she has mostly what we have.

Thurs: steak, blue cheese sauce, oven baked hm chips and veg
Fri: smashed burgers on brioche buns
sat: chicken and bacon pie (mash topping) and veg)
sun: roast chicken dinner
mon: Ooni pizza with leftover chicken
tues: chicken fajitas with leftover chicken
weds: garlic salmon, new potatoes and beg
Thurs: hm lamb kebab
fri: venison in stroganoff sauce
sat: smashed burgers in brioche
sun: smoked pulled pork with homemade garlic bread, hm chips and coleslaw
mon: Ooni pizza with leftover pork
tues: pulled pork ragu with spaghetti
weds: chicken supreme with roast potatoes and veg
Thurs: turkey burgers with melted camembert
fri: out
sat: takeaway
sun: lamb and feta burgers with tzatziki
mon: homemade chicken kebab
tues: meatloaf with new potatoes and veg
weds: egg chips and beans

The cooking is shared between me and hubby 😍

My above port was for @SeemsPointless 👍🏻

I'm glad to see that the Mumsnet chicken features quite regularly in peoples' menus - I'm about to do my online order for the weekend and I am getting some nice ideas here. (I'll probably get lured into ordering one of the M&S meal deals now I've said we tend to cook from scratch!)

We definitely have freezer food more than before we had kids.

I do not buy the microwave ready meals, you can't actually really get them where we live (abroad)

Thanks for the inspiration @MrsR87

There are days that I would struggle to get a meal on a table, if I didn't but like you I'm finding that there are few gluten free options and even fewer that are also dairy free. For me, the selection at M&S is the spag bol. I'm OK with a couple of Waitrose curries and I keep a couple of mindful chef meals in the freezer. Also try to make a few portions for the freezer if I'm making something suited to it.

I tend to get the frozen Cook ready meals and they don’t contain preservatives because they’re frozen. I also buy Charlie Bighams meals sometimes…their cottage pie is delicious!

You use your common sense….half a plate of veg with a high protein,good quality ready meal is perfectly healthy. It’s like when people say that all takeaways are junk when a takeaway could be any type of food.

Almost never as virtually every meal we eat in is cooked from scratch.

I did buy a pack of custard tarts last week though.

I sense that MN is quite middle class

MN users are primarily middle income not middle class - vastly different in terms of the responses you should expect,

Ok. Either way my point ref MN not being representative of the habits of the whole nation stand.

I don't like ready meals and am fortunate in that I'm not short on time to cook. I do eat fish fingers though.

Fairly often, yeah. I often have fish fingers, chicken kiev, lightly battered fish, frozen chips, cheese bread platter (flat bread with cheese, it's a low cal version of oven pizza), "fresh" soup pots from the supermarket. I can't bring myself to eat any oven tray ready meals though I know they are popular and probably fine 😬 I am just fussy. A lot of meats listed above I'll serve with fresh steamed veg even if the meat is chucked in the oven from the freezer. It's sort of semi healthy on a lazy night!
I also do balance this with lots of lean meat that I prepare at home, some foraged, and lots of home grown fruit and veg. I don't eat too badly but I'm not a total martyr in the kitchen. I'm fine with some shortcuts...

I never eat ready meals as in a plastic packet, can't remember the last time I did.

I do occasionally have a shop bought pizza, I also eat frozen things like chips, fish fingers. Tins of beans too and the occasional pasta sauce jar.

I cook pretty much every day but I do love a fish finger sandwich, jacket potato with cheese and beans and if I'm desperately short of time I'll have a pasta sauce jar.

I always find those pasta jar sauces have an odd bitter/rubbery after taste.

Occasionally we'll get the M&S meal for two for £12 instead of a takeaway on a Saturday night. Doesn't happen often (mainly as I sulk as I want a take away )

Should add although I don't eat ready meals I do eat protein mousse, fridge raiders, cereal and other processed stuff! Just not jars of sauce or ready meals
Don't ask why, it's just the way I cook! Live alone so if I'm shattered I just eat cereal or miss a meal

I batch cook as live alone
So for tonight I could have (from what's in the freezer/fridge)
Omelette/scrambled egg
Feta salad
Halloumi and cous cous
Chicken, mushroom and bacon pie
Cottage pie
Sausage and veg pasta bake
Sausage and onion gravy with mash
Jacket potato with various toppings
Cheese/beans/something on toast
Bacon with potato cakes and fried eggs
Ham egg and chips

We never have ready meals.
I use Gousto for 4 meals a week, then the other 3 days will have 1 takeaway day and 2 simple meals (I.e homemade carbonara, spag Bol etc, I make the sauces and don’t use jars as that’s just how I was taught)

None of the meals we choose take longer than 30/45 mins really .

At least every 2 weeks when we're on a "late" shift. We start at 1.30 and I don't want to eat a hot meal at work. If there is nothing left in the freezer that has been batched cooked then it's either fish pie, cottage pie etc. I cba to start cooking lunch at 11.45 am those weeks.

This past week we have had:

Tofu stir fry
Mushroom stroganoff with rice
Spaghetti and meatballs (I had courgetti, sauce was made from passata base so not from scratch but not a jar sauce)
Pork and mozzarella kebabs with salad
Ratatouille with rice

Tonight the kids are having pizza (shop bought) and we are having the rest of the ratatouille with roast chicken breast

Tomorrow the kids are having mac n cheese from the freezer batch cooked and we are having cinnamon rubbed salmon with spicy quinoa (none of them like salmon) and we will all have broccoli as a side.

I grew up in a Mediterranean country where ready meals aren't really a thing so always learned to cook from scratch and don't find it time consuming or difficult.

This week:

Sunday BBQ roast pork with coleslaw and wedges ( both home made)

Monday: Spag bol and veg (home made including sauce)

Tues: chicken breast in crispy coating (home made with cornflakes) with leftover coleslaw in buns

Wednesday: chicken satay soup

Tonight: cheats carbonara (home made with creme fraiche etc)

Tomorrow: take away

Saturday: curry (home made)

When I do anything mince based I cook enough for 3 meals, as a plain Ragu that can get stuff added to it for chilli etc, or had as Spag bol, cottage pie etc.

Satay soup is cooked in bulk so does 2 meals, likewise the curry gravy base sauce is made enough for 4 or 5 meals and frozen in portions.

We tend to eat similarly to this most weeks, with traybakes, jacket potatoes, salad etc. In the summer we BBQ a lot as DH is quite into it. We grow salad and have chickens so Spanish omelette and salad is a regular!

I was about to say very hardly ever, but we have a pizza express pizza once a week and we do tend to have a Charlie Bighams meal once a week (feeling like a very middle class MN cliché there) - weeknight meals need to be quick and easy for us as both work quite long hours / have a longish commute. I'd like to think Charlie Bighams isn't too processed and not too different from homemade but I'm sure I'm deluding myself there!

I haven't been able to keep up with the whole thread, but what do you want? Do you want us to say how wonderful you are?

This thread is MN at its judgy middle class worst. Such bad taste when so many are having to use food banks.