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?

RGPargy, I don't believe that other people in households like mine cook from scratch every evening. just don't believe it.

tesco finest gruyere and mushroom flio things live in our freezer fo unepxected moments.

anothger vote here for those waitrose curries box thingies

Anything from Cook! is good. I particularly like the Pork Dijon and Chicken Alexander - because I never make those at home. The game pie is good too. We fill the freezer up with the full range whenever a baby is due.

i think sone of you are wallowing a bit in self pity. what is wrong in having beans on taost or a sanwich ot phiong the local takeaway if you are tired. Weshould be grateful we have food in ready supply and we are capable of buying it. We have homes filled with machines to make our lives easier. We should just learn to say no to things we do not want to do and stop whinging about our busty lives when alot if it is self imposed. Ready meals are great for emergncies or for straight after giving birth if you do not have much support. We should be grateful we are not on the poverty line and can choose organic, free range or just to ignore the greater issues of food supply and its effect on the planet. Stop wallowing and start enjoying the luxury you live in compared to the worlds pporest people. Sounds harsh, sorry, i have been a great moaner but have learnt it doesnt help you feel better,

I am a bit of a soap-boxer when it comes to home cooking, but even I get those slattern moments when I can't be arsed doing anything other than shove something in the microwave.

Best ready-meal ever...Lidl's range of curries. Honest to god. They're gorgeous.

And don't you DARE knock Lidl. It's the food equivalent of Primark. Full of shite but if you have a good rummage you can get some reet good bargains.

mummypower - BUSTY lives??!!!!

Crumbs there is more to life than spending it in the kitchen, particularly if that is not where your talents lie

Mummypower - am truly bewildered by your post. You know nothing about me (the OP) my ethics, morals or values. You know very little about my views on, for eg, world poverty and the things I do to try to offset my contribution to the great imbalance in the world between the haves and the have-nots. You suggest I (and others on this thread) are wallowing in self-pity and should be grateful for what I have.

You have every right to say what you think. But I think you are wrong. And am very glad I don't know you in RL.

the tesco finest ones are very nice

we get them on self catering hols and not usually the rest of the time

however they're on offer atm and some (including a lovely chicken lasagne that's usually £4.25) are 2 for £5.

so my freezer is stocked up!

I went to a party the other day where foolishly I availed myself of the nibbles (M&S stuff).

Spent the next day vomiting into my cuppped haND as driving the kids into town.

Never again.

Oh no Moondog, how awful to have such a sensitive stomach. If it was food poisoning, ie. if there was bacteria in the food making you ill rather than you just being super-uptight-and-therefore-sensitive-about-it, it would have hit you within 2 to 4 hours.

You must have a system of such delicate purity than any kind of pre-prepared food makes you feel dirty. And then makes you ill. You're probably proud of that!

lol @ Daphne

you are funny

DH was away tonight so I had some organic wholewheat toast with butter and jam

MOST satisfactory

(as dinner I mean)

Also a bottle of wine and a large bar of Maya Gold with the orangy spicey bits in

which I think is a Whole Food

maybe even a whole FOOD GROUP

and the wine made me contact all my ex-in-laws on Facebook who I haven't seen for 15 YEARS!

none of whom have responded

Daphne that was very rude and also incorrect

"Bacteria
Bacteria are a common cause of foodborne illness. In the United Kingdom during 2000 the individual bacteria involved were as follows: Campylobacter jejuni 77.3%, Salmonella 20.9%, Escherichia coli O157:H7 1.4%, and all others less than 0.1%[2] . In the past, bacterial infections were thought to be more prevalent because few places had the capability to test for norovirus and no active surveillance was being done for this particular organism. Symptoms for bacterial infections are delayed because the bacteria need time to multiply. They are usually not seen until 12?72 hours or more after eating contaminated food."

Oh dear I'm wrong again then. But I wasn't being rude Franny. I typed it all with a smile on my face. I'm sure Moondog probably is proud of her constitution. Honestly. And I don't begrudge her.

I've only had food poisoning once. The source was a bag of ready-washed salad leaves. I ate at 8pm, felt ill by 10pm, was throwing up by midnight.

So there's one convenience food I'll never touch again....

I don't eat ready meals, but I always need to buy 1-2 a week. DH works from home, and he's absolutely useless in he kitchen (can't even urn the oven on). I normally cook all his meals, but sometimes I'm not around for lunch or dinner, and he does need to eat. I buy the Food Doctor butternut squash and couscous meal, which he seems to enjoy, and i seems to be preservative/additive free. I also buy some of the organic soups from Waitrose. Haven't tried other FD meals because I'm wary of microwaving meat.

Frankly, if I were him, I'd just grab some bread, cheese, chutney, and fruit...all things which I always have, but getting these things together seems to be beyond his capability.

I think it is nearly impossible to be sure about food poisoning things, isn't it, because it could just be a random bug, but we all blame some dodgy vol au vent or other

2 hours was quite dramatic Daphne!

I like M&S sweet potato and parsnip mash and Asda spinach and ricotto canneloni

sorry, I'm a shite typer, and also the "t" key on my keyboard seems to be stuck.

Glad you enjoyed your supper Morningpaper. Forgot to mention in my OP that I simply dislike sugar. So it wouldn't have done it for me. I'd never eat jam at breakfast. I'd never eat jam, actually. Or cake, or sweet biscuits. Or chocolate. Funny how people are isn't it?

So today I've eaten a tuna salad sandwich on wholemeal bread, and a solo supper of baked potato with cheese, green beans and peas. DH was out working (as he has done 4 nights out of the last 6). This is not unusual in our household. Once in a while I want hot savoury food, that hasn't taken me hours to cook. Hence my op.

My dp does all the cooking, and I'm afraid I'm going to lower the tone by suggesting Iceland own brand lasagne, tis lovely. It's about the only ready meal I have (well apart from the occasional pizza or fishfinger).
Can't afford to shop in M&S (well apart from the odd nice thing) does it not cost a fortune to do weekly shop in there? The price of fruit and veg is extortionate (£3.99 for a bit of bloody melon just because it's been cut up, think bloody not)

I have found pizzas are really the only decent things

I get taken in by the photos on packets sometimes and also the ingredients lists seem to be loads better these days, but they all taste odd - sort of bland yet over salty