URGENT - PLEASE HELP! Q re 'meal kits'

[BecauseImWorthIt]

Am struggling with a project at the moment where a client has specified that we need to talk (in research) to people who buy 'meal kits' - e.g. Old El Paso/Discovery Mexican kits.

I have two key questions:

1. why do people buy them?
2. apart from OEP/Discovery, are there any other kinds of meal kits?

I'd be really grateful if anyone could help - have to get a proposal written asap!

TIA

We have bought them in the past - if they're on offer they are the best value way to do fajitas. We occasionally buy 'crispy duck meal in a box', would you class that as a meal kit? We buy that for a quiet night in with a bottle of wine because its cheaper than getting it from the chinese takeaway.

meal kits work if its something like mexican when we may not be sure what goes into them. i only get them on offer or if i'm determined to have frajhitas (i don't know how to spell it! ) i'll get shops own. it's an event, and an easy way to have a "special" dinner, including the chance for my 5yo to get covered he loves getting to make up his own wraps.

tesco used to do a thai meal kit, with measured portions of all the different spices. that was excellent because you could be a foodie maaking everything from scratch, but to get everything individually (there was lots) would've cost a fortune, and there was no way i'd use it all up as i don't have thai often enough.

The adverts for them certainly try and push the "social & party" element of them.

yy i wouldn't use one for an actual party, iykwim? but fajitas are by their very nature a sociable, jolly, pile-in kind of a meal so they bring that feel with them. it's a wee event in the house, having fajitas. which is weird when you consider how piss-easy they are.

Def not for a social occasion here either BIWI. Old El Paso kits get bought as a quick standby for a weekday supper. If I had people round I would cook from scratch.
And it's the convenience of having them in a box - means you only need to pick up one thing in the supermarket instead of 2 or 3 and you don't then end up trying to do Mexican and discovering you can't because someone has eaten the wraps, you just see the unopened box in the cupboard and know you have A Meal.

Oooh molly can I come round to yours?

I know Tesco do a Greek wrap kit. My parents bought one once as they enjoyed the food that they ate whilst on holiday on Greece and wanted something that might have a similar taste to the food they ate whilst away.
I sometimes get the fajita kits, or just the wraps and seasoning. I have also had the old el paso enchilada kit as i had never tried enchiladas before so it seemed easier to buy the kit with instructions on how to make something with sauces and seasonings already prepared.

I buy meal kits instead of getting ready meals as i like to add my own meat as i am very fussy with meat and need to trim alot of fat etc off.
I once got a Weight Watchers beef casserole(dont know what i was thinking) and it was full of fatty grisly bits of meat.

Don't know if it counts as a meal kit, but I'll often get the stir fry which comes with a sachet of sauce, and the noodles on the side [lazy but healthy]

If I were having people round for a 'social occasion' I'd either cook something properly, or phone out (depending on occasion).

Tesco were doing Dolmio lasagne 'kits' the other day. Dolmio white and red jars and dried lasagne in a 'convenient' cardboard doo-dah with handle. I bought one because there was no other white sauce on the shelves (Have no inclination or idea how to make my own before you start telling me what a lazy slut I am!)

aaargh, you lazy slut. i hate making white sauces, it's one of the reasons we rarely have lasagne.

I do buy the Discovery taco kit - I like tacos, but really resent using a couple of spoonfulls of salsa out of a jar and wasting the rest (DH doesn't really like them, so it's something I do when he isn't home for dinner).

Have also bought the M&S ready to cook meal kit things where there is meat, veg and sauce all preprepared. Nicer than a ready meal, and can be bulked out with more veg, but great when there is a fiddly list of ingredients to buy otherwise

God I want a fajita now! Are you sure you're not being paid to advertise them?

Not really meal kits but anyone else tried Tesco finest 'meal deal' for a tenner? You choose a main meal for 2, side dish, dessert and wine. Complete bargain as the wine is £9.99 on it's own.

White sauce is easy-peasy hocus...

1.5 oz butter, 1.5 oz plain flour. Melt butter, add in flour and cook for a couple of mins. Gradually add in 1 pint milk stirring with a whisk. Once it's all mixed. bring to just under boiling point while stirring with a wooden spoon, at which point it will thicken up a treat.

Can be flavoured by steeping milk with onion before straining and adding to pan, or throw in lots of cheese for a cheese sauce. Black pepper natch.

Cheap, easy, and you're not paying for weirdy chemicals.

Aitch - Jamie Oliver recommends mixing parmesan with creme fraiche as an instant white sauce substitute for lasagnes etc. Seems to work fine (though poss a touch fattier than normal sauce....)

I do fajitas sort of in a party situation, but mroe because people can put in/leave out what they do/don't like, so if people come over I don't have to worry so much about different tastes, allergies etc. I would never buy the meal kits though for a larger group - usually just for us alone.

I buy the Taco meal kits because they sometimes work out cheaper than buying Tacos and Spice sachet thing separately (Mexican being the one meal I haven't yet worked out the individual spices for, and have been too lazy to look up a recipe!)

We have it as a regular meal (and I really fancy it now too)

I AM a bit neurotic over additives etc but jars/packets of sauce are usually ok with me once I have checked the ingredients.

Looking at your recipe, I agree, it looks easy enough. There will always be 'problems' I can think of though! Never even think of having flour in the house. Probably not even a pint of milk to spare at that time of the evening. And it would mean juggling pans around as only have 2 working hobs. That said - I may have a go next time.

I'm afraid to ask - but do most people also make the red sauce as well?

yup

red sauce is just onion, garlic, carrot, celery sweated, then a slice of bacon, mince and a tin or two of toms. twenty mins chopping and cooking and then leave to simmer for HOURS with a bay leaf and a slug of red. (but if you're buying red sauce i think all it replicates is the veg bit.

kathy, that is a really good tip, many thanks. i was really craving lasagne yesterday and always have some blog sauce in the freezer but couldn't be holed with the white sauce. i'll deffo try it next time, must buy cheapo creme fraiche next time am in lidl.

I buy the El Paso one as it is fun for the kids to make their own meal and they are encouraged to try new things. In the same way that we make pizza together. They eat more when they have had a hand in preparign the food.

Would not use if for guests though, more of a standby meal. I have had one in the cupboard for yonks now. Must check the sell by date.

oooops. March 2009. In fact, I cannot remember buying that one in Switzerland. I must have bought it before we left Germany last September.

Do you think I can still use it?

Hocus - white sauce freezes really well. As does cheese sauce. Make a huge pot some time, then just parcel it up into the freezer? Do the same with tomato sauce - with or without meat - and you've always got some sort of meal available

It's a way of trying something without having to buy loads of stuff.

TriedAFewMakesHerOwnAfterwardsTiggaxx