Home made ready meals

meames_2

I would always make 4 portions worth. So one week I might make two meals (that fit in one pan) each night. That will give me 16 meals for the next couple of weeks and no cooking!

Bolognase, chilli, jambalaya, butternut squash curry, mushroom and sausage pasta, spicy sausage pasta sauce,

I had an aldi veg pasta ready meal today. I am ill and can'tfacefood but needed yo eat , it was tasteless! Probably as much fat in that as all the meals above combined!

pm2326

I work full time and live alone, I refuse to eat 'shop bought' ready meals as they are vile. But I usually have 3 shelves full of ready meals in my freezer.

The first weekend after payday I usually spend a few hours making as many different meals as I fancy, soups, lasagne, shepherds pie, fish pies, casseroles, etc. I divide them into portions, if they can be reheated in microwave they go in plastic tubs, if they need an oven I use the foil dishes.

All you need to do is take a meal out of the freezer the night before or before you leave for work and it takes minutes to cook when you get home.

Works out to be cheaper, healthier and tastier!

meritaten

pm2326 wrote: »

I work full time and live alone, I refuse to eat 'shop bought' ready meals as they are vile. But I usually have 3 shelves full of ready meals in my freezer.

The first weekend after payday I usually spend a few hours making as many different meals as I fancy, soups, lasagne, shepherds pie, fish pies, casseroles, etc. I divide them into portions, if they can be reheated in microwave they go in plastic tubs, if they need an oven I use the foil dishes.

All you need to do is take a meal out of the freezer the night before or before you leave for work and it takes minutes to cook when you get home.

Works out to be cheaper, healthier and tastier!

I used to do this once a month for meals for my MIL - it gave her independence while she could still get around - and once she became very ill her carer could easily heat up a main meal for her. (or themselves for that matter). and it only took one day a month! I could also make extra portions of our family meals and set aside one or two portions for MIL. that way she had a bit more variety!

Greytcatlady

It's the salt and sugar in ready meals that make them an unwise choice to really live off. I remember each time they get a spokesman on to justify eating them they say they're really only designed for occasional use so there's no problem. And that's true until the marketeers get hold of it.

As already mentioned, either having a mass cook up one day and filling the freezer is a popular option, but requires a bit of planning. I should imagine it's very satisfying though. Or just making enough for 4 and freezing the rest will soon fill the freezer up.

There was an excellent thread on here a while back about 'building blocks for the freezer', started by Thriftlady I think. If she didn't start it she at least contributed hugely to it. Maybe someone could add a link, I've no idea how to......:o

PasturesNew

I was about to suggest that you make up "the bits" of a meal, not the meals themselves....

So, don't make shepherd's pie, but make a portion of mince and a portion of potato (frozen in the shape that fits the dish you'd use. Then when you open the freezer you can pluck out a mince and a potato topping .... or some dumplings... or a pastry lid ... or cobblers. Or just the mince and reach for spaghetti from the cupboard.

Freeze the parts, not the whole dishes.

Of course, that only works if you have a freezer

meritaten

tbh - I have very occasionally picked up a ready meal - if I am starving and want something as soon as I get home! and am always thinking 'why did I buy that?' shop bought ready meals are truly awful! my old school dinners were better than that - and cook was really talented at turning fresh meat and veg into disgusting tasty lumps!

PasturesNew

I would add - as you're going to be saving money doing this, hopefully, you can afford to splash out from a cheapo shop on some disposable tinfoil cooking dishes, so there's no washing up.

As a rule of thumb, cooking this type of meal from frozen takes 45 minutes.

bossymoo

Ooh butternut squash curry - need to look that up, squashes were on the @ldi super six for 49p this week so I got 2.

Was thinking soup but mmm curry...

sniffles

Eat what you like. I have never understood where "bad for you" comes from. I cook from scratch most of the time, but if I fancy a ready meal I will have one.

meames_2

bossymoo wrote: »

Ooh butternut squash curry - need to look that up, squashes were on the @ldi super six for 49p this week so I got 2.

Was thinking soup but mmm curry...

I think it may gave been from te bbc website but roughly I do this

Butternut squash and /or sweet potato
Onion
Peppers
Sweat for a while
Add garli, chilli and curry powders to taste
About 300ml of stock or maybe a bit more
Tin of chick peas
Simmer for 20mins
Add a bag of spinach
Add some yogurt
Stir
Portion and freeze.

I was gutted when I are the last one last Sunday.

I suppose if you add more stock at the end you coud blend into a curried butternut squash soup.