What 'premade' food do you use (if any?)

KittyKate

Hi guys, I know it's not fully in the spirit of OS, but I was wondering if any of you do as I do, and use a mix of HM and premade foods. (I have a lovely HM macaroni cheese in the oven as we speak!!)

I use premade foods (not every day) as rightly or wrongly I do find it quicker. Both me and OH work full time and often do not get in until after 18.00. Obviously there are meals I can 'knock up' and even more we can premake & freeze, but some things just *feel* easier - such as:

Tinned mushy peas (Tesco Value). My OH loves these and I enjoy them too - they're so cheap & easier than the soaking kind. I sort of regard them as baked beans in that yes you can make your own but it would be quite difficult (for me, anyway).

Harry Ramsden's 'Chip Shop' fish - you stick this in the oven for 30 mins and it comes out lovely. I stick it in, go for a bath and make some mash & mushy peas (the most un OS meal *ever!!*)

Instant mash - I started a thread on this a few months back. Tesco's own is 33p and lasts us a month. Our very hot apartment kills off 'real' tatties in days and we don't have the room to freeze it. It's also very nice, suprisingly!

Pasta sauces - this is one I feel I could do cheaper at home - I buy Morrisons/Tescos own but still at 50p-ish a jar I can make it cheaper in the food processor & store in the fridge. So I will be making an effort to stop this one!

Pizza - I don't like pizza, but OH buys them as a snack. We've tried buying bases and making our own with passata/mozzerella etc and I actually quite liked them, but they were really pricey and took ages (though it was fun!!)

Finally, garlic bread. I buy the pizzas and the slices (not the rolls as I find they go too hard). I LOVE garlic - how do I make my own garlic pizzas and are they OK to freeze??

Thanks guys!!

floyd

I don't have a huge amount of time during the week to cook but I do batch cook at the weekends so this helps. We always have frozen stocks of mash, soup, pasta sauce, shepherds pie and lasagne.

We also use tinned mushy peas because I actually prefer the synthetic taste rather than whizzing my own up and I am not organised enough to do the whole soaking business for real mushy peas

Other than that, there isn't a huge amount we buy prepared as I really don't like instant mash or jar pasta and curry sauces. I also really like the Tesco vegan nut cutlets and mexican bean burgers so we tend to get those once in a while.

I don't feel too guilty about buying them because everything else we eat is HM with plenty of fruit and veg from the farmers market (got some lovely stuff today)

organic_wanabe

Heinz tomato soup - about a couple of tins per month! I make lots of HM soup (including tomato, sometimes, when we are having guests) but this is the only one that DS really, really enjoys. I have to say that if I am ever ill, it's the first thing that I feel like eating when I am on the road to recovery.

Hardup_Hester

Pastry, I can make it & it tastes just as good as frozen, but I hate making it, so I often buy ie
Hester

lynzpower

biscuits ( I just cannot bake, try as i might)
baked beans
spaghetti hoops
pasta
pastry
crisps
hot chocolate mix

lil_me

Tinned stuff like mushy peas just for the quick and easy teas, beans, tomatoes etc. Cream of tomato and cream of chicken soup here too, never managed to make anything quite like it. Bachelors pasta in sauce (chicken and mushroom only) only way DS1 will eat pasta. Flavoured cous cous, just so much easier. Pastry, only ever made my own once, time issue really. Oven chips me being lazy plus they are under 50p a bag, handy to have in. Sausages, well you should have seen the mess when I tried to make my own Biscuits sometimes.

Other things when on offer, for example if I see a garlic bread for 20p I will buy it.

Better than previously I suppose, every meal used to be a ready meal or from a jar/packet.

krispyg76

Tinned stuff is good, I do like tinned tomatoes, good base for pasta sauce, curries etc And for about 15p a tin you can't really go wrong