Hidden gems- Cheapo ready made things that are really nice

[notamumyetbutoneday]

Following on from the 'sauce of shame' thread I thought I would start something similar.

Which ready made items have you used recently and found to be quite nice?

Last night the strawberries I had been planning to use for dessert had gone icky so DH did an emergency dash to asda and came back with...

A lemon tart in a luminous yellow box for £1! I groaned inwardly but actually...it was delicious! Everyone really enjoyed it and the guests obviously thought I had got it from somewhere expensive!

What are your cheapo finds?

Sainsbury's Basics ready meals!

I have tried:

Spaghetti Bolognese
Meat Lasagne
Vegetable Lasagne
Chicken Curry and Rice

(there are more)

Ingredients are good - no nasties - they're surprisingly tasty, they are all under 300 calories and they are only 75p!

Absolutely true! I was amazed. I quite often have them for lunch if I haven't got anything else in (I keep a couple in the freezer).

There are others, such as macaroni cheese, tuna and pasta, shepherd's pie which I haven't tried yet.

I figured that for 75p you couldn't really go wrong, and that if they were awful I hadn't wasted my money.

Definitely worth trying IMO.

Frozen summer fruits - cheap as chips at the supermarket and fine for making in cakes, tarts, smoothies etc.

Profiteroles from sainsburys - frozen ones are better than the fresh ones

I'm not a big fan of instant meals but will be checking out Sainsburys....

And I don't work for Sainsbury's before you ask!

Oh, and I'm not a ready meal fan either.

Well, I don't know about the ready meals but Sainsburys basics fruit an veg is all very good quality, especially the fair trade bananas - 8 in a pack - for £1.08.

Can you class a banana as 'ready made'? ?

Ready made gnocchi is fab - keeps for ages in the cupboard (vacuum sealed pack) and makes a quick and yummy base for any sauce (cooks in 2 minutes). Always have some on standyby for those emergency meal moments.

I only ever use ready made pastry - much better than any of my home made offerings.

Morrisons garlic bread is lovely ? just 69p for two individual ones.

And Morrisons cookies are fab too - really soft and chewy - think you get 5 for 99p.

M&S do some pastes in jars for meals such as Tagine, Tikka Massala, Red and Green Thai pastes.

They are fab, you just cook onions, meat, add paste and, for Tagine, a tin of tomatoes, some water and let it cook. Very tasty and quick!