Ok then, following devastating revelations regarding purchase of ready made pesto,what other heinous crimes and guilty pleasures will you foodies admit to?

[moondog]

Let she who is without blame cast the first stone (or something) so here goes.

Bottled mint sauce is essential. Who on God's earth would make it themselves??????

In my defence Moondog, I know they are beyond the pale, which is why they were hidden.

frozen pastry. of all kinds.

I hate pastry and it knows.

fish fingers

little sachets of miso soup.

green curry paste

black bean sauce

pesto

frozen mrs bessie little yorkshire puds

Oh dear and yes I'm afraid I do have bisto veg gravy granules.....to thicken the perfectly good roast juices and veg water

I bought ainsley harriot (what a pain he is) gravy sachets recently because I get hacked off making real gravy

And not just ready made puff pastry but ready rolled ready made puff pastry

Well, I make my living being a foodie and a professional chef, but in my fridge at home I have:

Provinder lazy chillies

Provinder lazy ginger

Pesto (always, it's too expensive to make from scrath)

frozen yorkshire puddings

sainsbo's value little pizzas for DS, to give him after a long day cooking in a commercial kitchen (I hide the wrappings though so no one will ever know!)

Nothing wrong with things like black and yellow bean sauce, soy sauce, chillie sauce etc.!

I regularly use ready-made pastry at home too!

I've never made pasta or pastry in my life and don't plan to start now.

If I'm too lazy to bake, I roll out Jus-roll and dot it with butter and sugar and cinammon, cut it into strips, twist it and make 'cinammon treats'.

God, yes, Lazy Garlic!

And Heinz Organic ketchup.

Bisto is VILE.

I just had prawn cocktail. It was superb.

Re Gravy - I bought some of that Anthony Worrall Oadofshite chicken gravy stuff in a jar and it actually is .. okaaay. Slightly freaks me out knowing htat it's made from the arses of battery chickens but hey ho.

fishfinger sarnies at the weekends
with tomato sauce and mayo
yum

pesto in tubs
occasionally buy ready-made cheese sauce for lasagne
I do believe we have some bisto somewhere too
dh does like to make mint sauce though

Oh, god! People use those horrid processed gravies and boakatastic pasta sauces in jars?!

Noooooooo!

There's only one excuse for those awful pasta sauces: you're on a camp out with a single burner stove.

That's even worse than moony singing the praises of green pesto sauce from a jar and maligning my coriander pesto as 'puree'.

Just make a huge batch of Jamie Oliver's Ragu sauces every few months, freeze in appropriate portion sizes and whip out when you need a quick tea.

BARF at tinned soup.

Tinned meat - I'd rather eat my own tongue, at least I know what's in it.

Surely ketchup doesn't count? I mean, surely no one makes it? It's like oil, vinegar, flour, a store cupboard staple!? Or where you just dropping in the heinz organic bit expat?

I cook for a living. I have no interest in doing more than the bare minimum in the kitchen at home.

agree re the boaktastic pasta sauces in jars too!

Freezing large portions is the way to go. Doesn't take too long and costs pennies!

Love Bisto...(HATE gravy granules just love bisto powder) . and make grave with Bisto and scraped up meat juices, roasted onions, veg water and (wait for it....) marmite! Lush with Beef! My family eat pints of gravy and poncing around with a tiny bit of meat juice and half a glass of red/white wine will NOT be enough. I need gallons nd gallons of gravy for my teens and it tastes berluddy nice!

Always use shop bought pesto.

Ditto home made (not my home!) farm shop quiches

Marigold stock powder

Bataks curry paste (but add stuff to my curries!)

Frozen Puff pastry (can do shortcrust when I am in the mood!)

but EIS what about heinz tinned tomato soup!
and mushroom soup (even though it tastes weird)
think it reminds me of my childhood

OK I agree that Bisto is the devil's diarrhea, but how do you make (vegetarian) gravy quickly?

there are folks on here who make their own ketchup, OverMyDead.

seriously, folks, once you try making your own pasta sauce, you won't go back to those jars.

larry, just make and freeze your own veggie stock, in appropriate sized portions.

when you need to make a quick veggie gravy, defrost your stock and whip up the gravy.

i don't know if this will work for veggie, but i've frozen chicken gravy i made after roasting a bird.

helliebean a tablespoon of flour, some soy sauce, marmite, and wine and water mixed into the meat juices should give you a pretty good 'home-made' gravy with no bisto!

Vege gravy is a bit trickier, but vegetable stock thickened with flour and with soy sauce and other flavourings added (marmite, worcestershire sauce, redcurrant jelly etc.?)

My DM made her own ketchup and when I was little I hated it... the biggest treat in the world was Heinz tomato ketchup. the homemade version was just pale and vinegary.....

I really do think life's too short to make your own ketchup