Good quality supermarket ready meals

[Kendodd]

My mum lives a long way away, I can't visit often (don't want to either). She's old and struggling with shopping, can't use internet either. I was going to start ordering a supermarket delivery for her twice a week, she'll let me know what she wants. She can't do complicated cooking but can microwave a ready meal. Can somebody recommend a good quality brand of traditional british food please. She won't eat curry or anything remotely 'foreign'.

My mum used to get deliveries from here for my grandma, they were really decent quality meals.

https://wiltshirefarmfoods.com/how-to-get-started/our-meals?PLT=GPPC&CA=16977170293&AGID=142574183664&AID=661176274461&KW=ready%20meal%20delivery&infinity=ict2~net~gaw~ar~661176274461~kw~ready%20meal%20delivery~mt~e~cmp~~ag~&gclid=Cj0KCQjwrfymBhCTARIsADXTabmp3imyWzYszYgQ8fBhd5kdC6ZZMKRJIwRS6knROedFpJBSf1EJoFQaAqHzEALw_wcB

Was also going to recommend Wiltshire Farm Foods.

COOK | Frozen Ready Meals, Delivered Meals, Prepared Meal Delivery | COOK (cookfood.net)

Cook are really excellent too and would have things that your mum would like

Does she still remember to cook? Does she still want to eat full meals? If so, what about stocking up her freezer with a selection of things from Cook and M&S?
Is there a milkman in the area? They may well be able to provide fresh items such as bread and fruit as well as milk. The one in our area you can top up until quite late the evening before so it's a bit more immediate than a supermarket delivery.
If she doesn't want to cook or eat full meals, then you could do what we did with MIL which was to find someone local who can pop in a couple of times a week and drop off fresh deli style items. It works out quite expensive but MIL ate a much better range of foods and a more balanced diet when she was eating that way and she could afford it.

I agree with COOK.

I feel for you OP. My nan died last year aged 102 and wouldn't eat anything 'foreign' like rice. Even pasta was pushing it! 😬

I used to work in the community and when meals-on-wheels was stopped, lots of people moved to Wiltshire Farm foods. They were more expensive than supermarket meals, but I would like to think/hope, they are more nutritionally balanced- but not sure. The website allows you to filter out certain ingredients, choose a smaller meal for light eaters, larger meals, puree, thickened etc. People seemed to enjoy them. More recently there is parsley box, which don't need a fridge or freezer to store- but I have no first hand knowledge of them.

As I found with my nan, a great deal of supermarket meals are with rice or a pasta!

Ready Meals Delivered - Wiltshire Farm Foods

Parsley Box - Homepage

Cook meals are really nice
Wiltshire Farm Foods seems to be used by a lot of elderly people and my relative liked them when she had them (but I lived too far away to see for myself)
M and S still do good ready meals and also have smaller portion ones which are good for older people who may have less appetite.

The elderly neighbours we shopped for in the first lockdown liked the frozen steam bags of veg (you microwave them). I think because it was all chopped up ready, and just had to microwave for a couple of minutes so very quick and easy.

Mum likes Cook and M&S. also Aldi liver and bacon but obviously they don't deliver.

Charlie Bigham are good but I don't think they can be microwaved.

Does she have a freezer? Handy for keeping emergency rations for when they don't want to be bothered cooking.

We do similar shops for my grandmother, we use Sainsbury’s as that’s the shop she used to use when she still went to the shop. I’ve had a look at her favourites to see which ready meals we’ve reordered lots (she gives us a list):

• Young’s Salmon Fillet Dinner (frozen)
• Birds Eye Battered Cod Chips and Peas (frozen)
• Sainsburys Chicken Hotpot Dinner Ready Meal for One (frozen)
• Aunt Bessie’s Toad in The Hole (frozen)
• The Bisto Roast dinners (Chicken, Lamb, Beef) (frozen)

We get her frozen because otherwise things just go off in the fridge, and she can’t reliably go by use by dates anymore.

Also I’m not sure they’re that great quality or nutritionally complete but for my DGM it’s those or literally eating crisps and pork pies and nothing else so in comparison they’re better than the alternative.

She will not considered Wiltshire Farm Foods (that’s for old people, gah) and Cook has been deemed frivolous and unnecessary.

My grandparents, who didn't like foreign food (particularly curry - granddad had had terrible experiences of it in the RAF!) liked the Wiltshire Farm Foods meals. They seemed to be very traditional meals and good quality.

I shop for my neighbour who is 98 and she likes the small Charlie Bighams ready meals

Cook shop, M&S, Charlie Bigham, or Waitrose

My oldies like Charlie Bigham and are OK with Tesco ready meals. They thought the Wiltshire ones were bland.

We use Tescos for MIL as she prefers fresh ready meals to frozen ones and IME Tescos have the best range. She loves the chicken hotpot with dumplings, chicken and pancetta bake, and pulled pork with cheesy mash! She will do a few frozen peas or frozen veg to go with - and has mini trifles for pud. Has worked well for us.

My DA & DU usually have Wiltshire Farm Foods but have recently swapped to Morrisons.

The meals that they've been getting are things like braised beef and mash, is that the kind of thing she likes? They've said that the meals are cheaper and have more meat in them.

I think the meals that they've been getting are fresh, how is she with use by dates?

Thank you all. So glad we live in modern times with the option that we can even do her shopping remotely for delivery. I'll look at Wiltshire Farm Foods, never heard of them before.

My granny gets a Waitrose order but she's still happy to put a ready meal in the oven as well which increases your options.

Personally I think I'd rotate between Waitrose and ocado so I could have Waitrose and m and s if cost wasn't an issue and I could use an oven. I reckon you could get away with an order once every 5 days if your mum's was happy to eat things in date order.

As my Mum's dementia got worse, she was unable to manage use by dates and woukd often get things out of her freezer just after I'd visited and I'd find them mouldy a few days later. She turned off her freezer anyway, which I didn't realise until everything had really gone off. So I ended up arranging for meals on wheels for lunch and then I bought Parsleybox meals for the evenings. They had a good selection, and didn't need any refrigeration (most had a use by date for several months ahead). The meals only needed heating for a couple of minutes in the microwave. The portions were quite small but I think most older people have greatly reduced appetites. The quality of the meals on wheels in my mums area was really surprisingly good and it was always reassuring to have the driver delivering them to her every day as she was very reluctant to accept any sort of help from caterers.

Another vote for Wiltshire Farm Foods. My mum had them and enjoyed them - you can get smaller portion sizes for lighter appetites. There are loads of options, including very traditional dishes; they do a printed and illustrated catalogue for people who'd rather choose from that, but you can order online easily.

The delivery drivers are very friendly and polite and they seem to use the same ones regularly which can be reassuring. They were also happy to bring them in and put them into the freezer if you'd like that. Nice support staff on the phone too.

We also tried Parsley Box, which don’t need to be refrigerated or frozen - not as nice as Wiltshire Farm Foods, but not half bad, and useful to have on hand.

Another vote for Wiltshire Farm Foods. Fabulous choice, lots of smaller portions, puréed portions if needed, starters, mains and desserts. Had a great booklet too with clear pictures and descriptions. MIL used to mark her favourites in there so she could reorder. ReAsonably priced. MIL was very happy with them.

Drivers are fab, mostly the same driver each time, carried in, help to put away if required, lovely and friendly, chatty. I would definitely recommend them.

Wiltshire farm foods are fine but as someone else said a bit bland, however so are many peoples eating habits. If parents have been foodies I would stick to cook, M&S and Waitrose or Tesco finest-if they arent quite as fussy then Wiltshire is a good option too.

M & S ready meals are on Ocado and there are other options too. If you used Ocado Reserved, it will even create the delivery for you and you can go in and edit it as needed.

Our local butcher does nice frozen or fresh ready meals for online ordering and delivery. Perhaps one of yours nearby does similar?

My MIL much preferred the local ones to Wiltshire and the like. Plus they also had eggs, bread, deli goods that could be ordered too.