AIBU to be annoyed that supermarkets are adding cheese to everything?

[IdentifyingAsAWoollyMammoth]

Why is it that supermarkets have decided to put cheese in bloody everything? Once upon a time, a salmon en croute was just in a white wine sauce; now you can't find one without cheese in the sauce.

Sainsbury's added cheese to several ready meals, such as chicken arrabbiata, so had to switch to Tesco for when I wanted that and a couple of other ready meals for when I don't have time to cook or I've run out of batch cooked stuff.

Today, I really fancied a chicken arrabbiata having been in a car accident last night, aching all over, tired and grumpy, and really don't want to cook tonight. Guess what? Tesco have also now added cheese to it.

Bad enough being lactose intolerant without supermarkets making things even more difficult. And some people just don't like cheese at all, or don't like melted cheese (I mean, cottage pie with cheese on top??).

Why not leave things as they were? If you want cheese, you can just sprinkle it on yourself.

I grew up in Italy and we had an old saying that the worse the (pasta) sauce is, the more cheese you put on top. Strongly suspect the same concept applies here…

There you go OP.

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I love cheese but DH hates it. I have to check the ingredients of the weirdest things going that they haven’t got hidden and unexpected cheese. At least it’s just a taste thing for him, can’t imagine how painful this kind of checking must be for people with actual intolerances.

I see several people saying the answer is to cook from scratch, ideally batch cooking. Presumably those people didn't even read where I said and a couple of other ready meals for when I don't have time to cook or I've run out of batch cooked stuff.

Clearly I am failing dismally by occasionally not wanting to cook fresh or by not noticing in time that I'd run out of batch cooked meals or just can't be bloody arsed sometimes to spend hours when I get home from work making a salmon en croute for one. Or, because I'm feeling lousy because some tosser most killed me being a careless driver.

It’s in the lite versions, most (not all) full fat mayos are dairy free

I'm sorry but... I absolutely love cheese, but only cheddar and mozzarella. I still don't want it added to all my food just because it's delicious. Other food is delicious too.
I've also spent years managing a dairy allergy for my DC and it's irritating how much stuff contains some kind of milk product so you are absolutely not unreasonable!

What you could do is email them and say wtf! How about all the people who can no longer eat a basic meal such as cottage pie?
I'll bet it's because their product research is based on people with no allergies or intolerances and well, cheese does usually make things better. But it's not a fair market.

Most normal people do occasionally use ready meals. Last night we went out for dinner as I’d had the day from hell, I didn’t even have the headspace to go home and heat up a ready meals! We were already out. If I’d been home Just Eat would have been involved!

im sorry about your accident op and I agree with you as my adult daughter has serious dairy allergy amongst other allergies. Dairy crops up where you’re least expecting it (ham and sausages for example). I guess as I’ve been label reading for over 20 years it’s now second nature

I hope you’re on the mend

You articulate this so well, and it’s so heartening to have someone able bodied saying . I maybe could cook more but it isn’t easy. I live alone and in theory I could batch cook but that means buying bigger pans that I find hard to handle.

I agree OP. I love cheese in chunks, but not melted on things like pasta. I don’t like the texture. Vegetarian pasta used to be a good shout, but now have vegetarian cheese on them. Loads of chicken dishes with cheese.

Thank you. I work with people with disabilities. 1 man I’m working with currently is looking to move into independent living- for various safety reasons his disabilities mean cooking from scratch won’t be an option so he is working on learning to heat ready meals. To make him feel bad for needing to rely on them would be awful and potentially cause an unsafe situation if he tried to cook. And his independence shouldn’t be taken away because he can’t cook from scratch.
I don’t think people realise all the reasons someone might rely on these meals.

I tend to appreciate cheese, but I can see that finding it included everywhere would be frustrating for people who can't have it or simply don't like it. Intolerances and allergies make life so difficult. Hope you feel better soon!

The simple solution is to cook from scratch, then whatever you eat only has the ingredients you want in it.

Never mind the cheese, all the UPFs 🤢

So yet another poster who hasn't bothered reading (or too stupid to understand) the OPs first post. Go you!

@Springtimeinsunshine I think some people just read the title and then comment. They don't bother reading the actual post that goes with it. But, hey, if they want to make themselves look foolish...

In fairness I did miss the sentence about the car accident. It was a long post. But regardless, I always have at least 7 days worth of meals, both dinners and lunches in the freezer. That's the minimum. I usually have enough for 2-3 weeks on average. Plus there are always 'emergency meals' you can whistle up in a few minutes from things in the pantry/fridge that only take a few minutes and don't require and thought or planning.

I am also covered then if I am unwell, have an injury or just CBA (we all have days like that)

@PurpleCooyes, home cooking is exactly what the OP wants and is able to do after her car accident last night. Just as she said in her OP (and in any case, don’t be so bloody smug.)

As I already said, I realised I missed the sentence about the car accident, so understandable she doesn't want to cook.

In fairness I read most of the post, but skim read after the first few paragraphs and missed the car accident bit.

Hope you feel better soon!

Is it because they are having to cut the salt and they have trained people to expect that as a flavour?

But the point is…there’s a million different reasons people might want/need a ready meal.

I love cheese, all sorts of cheeses, gooey to rock hard, made from cow, ewe, or goat’s milk. As long as they have flavour (sorry USA, looking at you….).

However, if people don’t like a food or are allergic, that’s OK; if an ingredient isn’t in a commercially produced dish for a good (traditional) reason, that’s not good. Please don’t add extra ingredients to make meals sound ‘posh’, ‘luxurious, etc.

I have cooked from scratch, and batch cooked, for the majority of my and my family’s meals for over 50 years but why shouldn’t I just want/need, just occasionally, to have a ready meal ? To all the smug ‘cook from scratch’, ‘batch cook’ and ‘have one ready at home’ posters, I hope you never have situations in your life where you collapse in the evening and just haven’t got the physical and mental energy.

May I add one of my bugbears ? Mac ‘n’ cheese. In this country, Macaroni cheese is a meal, not a side dish. If pushed, accompanied by tinned tomatoes but it’s not a side dish……

And breathe….

Ooooh, look, Martha Stewart is on Mumsnet 👋

@smallgreenandsplitthreeways

theres no cream cheese in authentic guacamole

it’s avocado, lime juice, chilli, oil, coriander and chopped raw red onion and diced tomato added at the end. Recipe from a Mexican chef

I love cheese, but hate the fact absolutely nearly every meal out tends to have it on or with. It's a problem for us as my DH has a real aversion to it, maybe even a phobia. And the amount of food we've had to send back due to coming out with some form of cheese on is unbelievable. Surely it's quicker and cheaper to make it without. Really is a pain in the backside.

I love cheese. I'm also lactose intolerant. Many cheeses have very low lactose, though I do agree that there are lots of things with milk in that don't need it (Sainsbury's own brand Cornish pasties, I'm looking at you).

I would highly recommend getting some lactase pills. You take them just before you eat the cheese or whatever and the lactase in the pills replaces the lactase that someone who can digest it produces naturally. It really works. If one pill doesn't cut it, take two or however many you need.

And look carefully at the lactase content in pills. I have used Lactojoy which has quite a lot as well as other high strength generic brands, and one or two pills will deal with almost all milk-containing meals. I have been known to take three or four to deal with eg a cream tea. If you look on Amazon, there are loads of similar brands. Do a bit of research about the actual content. The ones they sell in Boots, for instance, contain about a third of the lactase compared to the ones I use.

I now take at least one before any meal outside my house, esp at restaurants as you never can tell and waiters or servers are often poor at identifying actual milk content rather than just eg dairy which might be butter which contains almost no lactose. Or they might not know that something has been marinated in something containing cream or milk. KFC has milk in lots of their chicken things. I've had some frustrating conversations in restaurants where people don't seem to understand that lactose intolerance does not mean you can't cope with any dairy at all.

Definitely worth a try. It is not expensive if you shop around.

Totally agree, ad much as I like cheese a lot of the meals it is being added to do not go with it. Also, it's adding unnecessary fat and calories to meals that would otherwise be nutritious healthy options