Which "Ready Meals" do you recommend? (Food Police cover your eyes)

[DaphneHarvey]

Like most of you, I'm sure, I cook most meals from scratch. We don't eat "fast" food and very very rarely have takeaways (can't afford em!) but ...

every now and then I want a night off from cooking.

I have been known to buy and enjoy

Waitrose or M & S chicken kievs (the whole breast ones)

Sainsbury's lamb kofta kleftiko

Fish fingers

Good quality vegetarian pizzas

Loyd Grossman pasta sauces

But I want to add to my repetoire for my nights off cooking.

What have you bought and shamelessly enjoyed and not felt guilty about?

lazycow i think your post was completely fair and i don't think you have to apologise for it.

tesco Finest Moussaka and Beef Stroganoff-excellent!

Hear hear bk, I didn't see anything wrong with your post either lazycow
We used to sit down to cooked-from-scratch (sometimes reheated from gone 11pm the previous night) meals as a family every working night bar two...now thanks to Cubs, ballet and choir practice, we don't, sadly.
I love cooking and am good at it - dh is stellar, could easily have worked professionally as a chef IMO.
But with so little time left at the end of the day, we both know and accept that a helping hand from Lloyd Grossman or Tideford Foods is essential if we want to chat to the children and eat together before 7pm.

So I would add Tideford Foods' Hey Pesto sauce, Lloyd Grossman's Puttanesca sauce and some of the M & S Cook! range to the list Daphne.
They do a terrific trout fillets stuffed with crab and red pepper sauce.

And anyone on here being made to feel they are somehow failing as a proper parent should read Nigel Slater's Real Fast Food, a lovely reassuring book full of delicious recipes and ideas

i've said it before and i'll say it again, when loyd (sp?) grossman or stuart rose will come round and fold the laundry, calculate and write up the fee schedule for after school club plus all the other humdrum chores i have to start when i get home at 8pm - then i'll give up my occasional food short cuts.

yes that tideford pesto is good

my kids like Sainsburys pasta in cheese and broccoli sauce that comes IN A PACKET - tbh once you have faffed around microwaving it with milk and butter you may as well have made it yourself but there is something darn deliciuos about it

Heinz Cream of Tomato Soup also my favourite soup

I use a tin of tomatoes and a jar of Loyd Grossman tomato and basil sauce to cook meatballs in sometimes

I only have the Covent Garden risotto once a week because it's so expensive! Would have it every day if I could - the other lunchtimes it's a ham sandwich for me (and bag of crisps if dp is feeling particularly generous! )

Did I really read that someone felt "dirty" after eating a ready meal? Hells bells.

I can understand not liking them (although Waitrose goan fish curry is pretty nice IMO), but dirty?

my standby is Ragu sauce in sachets (without bits ), one for children, no crap in it

if I am late home and walk in to whining brats, tea is sorted in 10 mins

yes, I could have a stock of home made tom sauce in the freezer but if I have the time to make that, I have the time to read a paper

and I know what I would prefer sometimes

rather than ranting:
m&s "cook"
actually - pretty much anything m&s is good
new covent garden anything
waitrose spinach, pancetta and parmesan risotto
seeds of change pasta sauces
loyd grossman pasta (but not curry) sauces
patak's/barts/sharwoods curry pastes of different types
very lazy - chopped garlic, chopped chillies, chopped ginger

lol @ dirty

thats some seriouuuuuuuuus food ishooos

waitrose surprisingly poor on the ready meal front...

m and s cook lamb cutlest with pine nut crust verrrrrrrrrrry good

but madly expensive and I am food cheapskate (hence killing myself cooking from scratch)

now that would be a doddle to do oneself!

my friend works 50 hours a week and lives on M&S food

(I put this on another thread but I forget whcih)

the ones that are prepared but not a ready meal iyswim

££££££ but as she says, she wants to play with her son when she gets in, not chop an onion

I have dh for chopping oninons

I like Waitrose curries.

And crispy duck.

Not mad on Tesco.

Don't have any other local supermarkets - and nearest M&S is quite a trek...

Oh and another vote for Bighams,in fact Charlie Bigham is rather yummy himslef

Oh yes - Bighams.

But they are pricey...

I agree re Waitrose actually bk. Goan fish curry (fave all round it seems) being an honourable exception.
Their own-label falafel are like chunks of pumice, ugh ugh ugh

am not a bighams fan - but do recognise that there is little/nothing in them that you wouldn't put in yourself.

thats wgereI'm going wrong I need a DH to chop onions for me. Does anyone have one spare in the west london vicinity?

I LOVE cooking and cook a 2 course meal from scratch every day. I make absolutely everything from the ice cream to the bread to the mayo. However I cook for 1 -2 hours a day and sometimes up to 4 and always whem my kids are at school / nursery. If I worked, there is no way on earth I would be spending that amount of time on cooking.

One thing that absolutely baffles me though is why people make just one meal's worth of something like shepherd's pie, fish pie or bolognese sauce. I cook in industrial quantities as these dishes take a lot of time and I want to be able to freeze at least 3 - 4 further family servings. I freeze tons of stuff (today have made 60 sausage rolls, a vat of tomato sauce and about 100 veal and parmesan meatballs). All this means I virtually never cook at weekends or in school holidays or when people come to stay (well except for defrosting and adding a pastry crust or whatever). Like most working parents have said, when the kids are around i want to spend time with them, not fussing over a sauce pan.