More MN guilt - packet sauces

[PeachesMcLean]

Re Packet sauces (Colmans, Schwartz etc).

A welcome store cupboard necessity?

Or the Work of the Devil???

they are heard yellign "Oh no grossman got me " then hurl themselves off buildings

Gingerbear, it's a Sainsbury's one. In fact it may even be a pasta and cheese sauce packet thing. Actually, if Enid recommends it and her dcs like it then that's a great recommendation ime.

(will check out the ultimate cheese sauce thread though, ta!)

endi runs a transport caff on the A35 fgs

If its the Ikea meatball gravy stuff recipe is simple.

100ml cream
200ml beef stock
soy sauce
1tbsp white flour
salt, white pepper.

Heat beef stock. Add cream adn soy sauce. Thicken with flour and season.

(I googled it last time we were having meatballs).

lol @ Enid's transport Caff.

Ah, now I can make cheese sauce from scratch - easy peasy.

I really want to know where one may purchase some scratch.....

rofl cod!!

Another thing I always have to buy is tomato and basil sauce. Mine always turns out crap. And I have been practising for years.

It would make life so easy. And I could ditch all those crap packets.

Well it was the Coleman's Chicken Chasseur I tried tonight nd that's what got me thinking. Incidentally it was gorgeous, with sweet potato, swede and cabbage.

Grossman got me too. And now the Colonel as well. I'm doomed. I was deceived bySeeds of change though - I thought they were a nice little local company who'd managed to get distribution through teh supermarkets, turns out they're owned by Mars. Ho hum.

Is the salt content a real problem???

gb

tis rumour I have heard. Cannot substantiate it with any facts.

And Tinker I had to walk all the way next door to the kitchen to get that recipe - the kitchen! Tis at least 10 steps.

• can you really buy it?

I don't really know what you would use them for? What sort of meals do you have the with? We get through industrial quantities of pesto so I can't really turn my nose up at a packet sauce I suppose....

actually, yes I ruddy can

we like the fajita packet sauces, not the jar ones. i know there is crap in them but we like them. and i do like those spice jars that are already mixed up. my current favourite is the moroccan one. chop veg, plonk in tagine, sprinkle spice on, voila. i wouldn't know how much of what to put in if i did it totally myself. my dad's moroccan, he says i'm not shit for using the ready made spice thing so that's ok with me.

Oh and for stroganoff just use a tub of sour cream

add salt and pepper, that's it

Peaches, salt is an issue but from what I read it's fat that's the real problem (I mean for older children and adults).

icb - yes can get it in the Swedish Shop.

And seed mustard.

F&Z and a pinch of dry mustard powder

Message withdrawn

I use at least 3 a week, i think they taste rather nice. Dont enjoy cooking so they are just a quick easy way to do it. The kids dont have them though.

I cut right down on my use of them because I think they're so expensive when you consider the actual contents (especially the dried ones which you can basically replicate with the right herbs/spices for so much cheaper). I also use hardly any salt in my own cooking these days so when we do use packets or jars they taste far too salty for our pallets.

However, I do still use the Sausage Tonight red wine sauce jar - mainly because I haven't worked out how to do a red wine sauce style sausage casserole that tastes vaguely edible yet. It's probably really easy and I'm just being thick... (that's my hint for really nice sausage casserole with red wine sauce recipes, btw)

Lol iota!

Can def recommend Patak's curry PASTE (not sauce) - although dd prefers the Korma sauce

they're shiny because a lot of them are whipped fat, in essence.

and Mercy, you can never get tomato and basil sauces to taste like the jars because the jars don't taste of tomato and basil.