Ready Meal Recommendations please

hels234

Hi All,

Not sure if this is the best place to post, we are in the middle of building work and have lost the kitchen for 2-3 weeks. We have a microwave, toastie maker, toaster, slow cooker and fridge set up in the spare room to tide us over. Can anyone recommend good meals that we can ping in the microwave or cook with the above? I went to Sainsburys this morning but most of theirs have mushroom in which i'm allergic too . I prefer hot meals to cold especially as the house isn't the warmest either due to the works.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated

suki1964

Sorry can't help with the ready meals as I don't eat them

However I did spend six months without a back of a house and no kitchen when renovating last house and survived 3 weeks with out a kitchen here and survived without ready meals both times

If you don't have a BBQ and you do have an outside space, get those disposable ones. Great for chicken, chops, sausages etc. veg can be pinged. Use the slowcooker. Make casseroles and bolognaise , rice and pasta can be done in the micro

Sunday dinner, splash out on a wetherspoons roast. Perfectly edible for little more then the cost of a ready meal

Well stuffed toasties with a thick soup makes for a very filling supper


Like I said, I survived 6 months. I did use the BBQ a lot, even learned to warm pies and custard on it

FairyPrincessk

I'd probably try to minimize washing up since it sounds like you'll need to do it elsewhere. I'd go for:

Chicken and pearl barley stew in the slow cooker (my recipe is currently in the development phase so google round) I'd probably use baby carrots and if you have access to a freezer than frozen chopped onions/peppers etc.

Soup and toasties--aldi do some nice fresh soups that aren't badly priced for a convenience food

A roast chicken in the crockpot--debone--some meat with cous cous (either the flavoured kind or flavour it yourself depending on what you can manage) and finely chopped veggies, some meat for a soup, some for sandwiches, or some to top a big chef's salad.

Chicken, beef or lamb pieces in a ready made curry sauce in the SC, rice in microwave

A ready made quiche or pie with a salad

Pizza toasties with salad (fill with pasta sauce, cheese, peppers, bits of meat etc.

One of my OH's favorites: Decadent sandwiches. Big rolls and essentially fill with whatever you can find, I like sliced avocado, leftover salad veggies in the fridge, bits of sliced cucumber or peppers, fresh herbs if I've got them, and cold meats, hummus or pesto etc.

Fresh pasta with pesto, add in rocket or spinach or make a salad

rosie383

I'm dying to see if anyone has the guts to actually recommend any ready meals on the OS board!!

Great suggestions here so far. Suki how amazing are you? Heating custard on the BBQ? Now, that is impressive.

System

I'd just use a slow cooker to cook with if I'm honest.

I'm dying to see if anyone has the guts to actually recommend any ready meals on the OS board!!

Not me

suki1964

rosie383 wrote: »

I'm dying to see if anyone has the guts to actually recommend any ready meals on the OS board!!

Great suggestions here so far. Suki how amazing are you? Heating custard on the BBQ? Now, that is impressive.

Lololololol

This was back in our first house. Full renovation project, with just us doing the work and having to live in it as we went.

Seriously I lived for 6 months with no kitchen or back of house, just a washing machine stuck in the middle of the floor with the outlet pipe stuck in a hole in the ground lol

And yes I seriously did learn to cook what I could on the BBQ - no microwave back then. BBQ , kettle and toaster - that was it. Still have the pictures of me wrapped in a coat out in the elements cooking, money was tight, takeaways were ok once in a while but not every day. So yes, the custard was heated in an old pan on the BBQ along with the apple pie. Hell I even used the frying pan on it ( I do advise old pans )

Oh and wine really did help with the flavour, drank enough before eating that we just didn't care lo

Wouldn't want to do it again but I could do if I really had to

Farway

rosie383 wrote: »

I'm dying to see if anyone has the guts to actually recommend any ready meals on the OS board!!

I have found Waitrose, Marks & Sparks & Lidl ones to be fine, opposite ends of budget of course

Doveling

"[rosie383;68331316]I'm dying to see if anyone has the guts to actually
recommend any ready meals on the OS board!!"

I didn't care when we didn't have a kitchen!!:p

Mark's ready meals aren't bad. There's usually offers on for multi-buys.
Just check as you did with the Sainsbugs ones.:)

Paper plates are the way to go as well:D
Eating out is even better! If you can afford to a few times. Stops you having to look at the depressing mess.:rotfl:

Some brilliant ideas for using what you've got though.:)

But, remember, just because you are living in temporary purgatory doesn't mean you have to self-flagellate if you let your OS ways slip a bit.;)

pm2326

There's already a thread started by MSE here...Best Value Ready Meals...I thought it was a wind up when I first saw it !


https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5229571

CRANKY40

The only ready meal I ever found that I actually like is weight watchers cottage pie, lol. The portions are small so I cook a load of cauli then tip the ready meal on top. I haven't had one since we've moved into this house though and we've been here a year. They were handy when ds was small and obnoxious but I wouldn't say I actually recommend them. How about half a ready meal? Make chilli or curry in the slow cooker and use microwave rice to go with it. Soup made in the slow cooker would be ok if you have a toastie to go with it. Chicken and veg cooked in the slow cooker with microwave jacket potatoes would work. Corned beef hash. Bag of frozen mash from the supermarket £1, microwave, mash in corned beef and mash again, serve with baked beans and grated cheese. Not as good as making it properly but better than ready meals. If you buy quick cook pasta it should cook in the slow cooker just by adding boiling water to the pasta and leaving the lid on the slow cooker until it's done. You could warm a pasta sauce in the microwave to go with it. Packet noodles (the kind with flavour sachets in the pack) can also be microwaved. Ds almost lived on those at one point, yuk.

I'm allergic to mushrooms too by the way. It was the highest reading on my blood test results, sigh. Good luck - having my kitchen done made me cry several times!

siaoeh

just a thought... is there a kitchen you can borrow the use of from a friend or family nearby? cook up a few big pots of stuff in a few hours, curries, pasta sauces, stews.... box them all up and there you go, your own ready meals with no mushrooms, done to the way you like them, cheap and no betrayal to the OS ways :-D saying that, most of those can be done in the slow cooker anyway :-)