Birds Eye Frozen Fish/Chicken vs Fresh and Sausages

Fusspot

I tend to have Birds Eye Frozen fish and chicken that I can cook straight from frozen, its so handy when I've been at work all day. Is this considered as unhealthy ready meals? I do have a slow cooker but I find food doesn't taste the same in it and I don't want to do fresh chicken in the oven as I find it too dry.

I also like sausages but never seem to buy them, are the ready frozen ones OK or those in packets or do you really need to get them from the butcher?

I can't seem to do homemade. I made some butternut squash in the slow cooker last week but it was as thick as treacle.

Slowly57

Fusspot, a lot of frozen food is just as good as fresh (particularly veg) as freezing preserves the vitamins etc. I think there is a lot of hysteria about ready meals. You can check them out from a nutritional point of view from the info on the sleeve and make your own mind up.

With fish - unless it says 'cod' or a particular fish then its likely to be a mixture of white fish - which is no less healthy but should be cheaper!

With chicken - if it is whole or frozen jointed chicken, then you can see what you're getting. If it is in breadcrumbs/nuggets then it could be all kinds of bits of chicken minced up. I buy and portion up/freeze raw meat.

With sausages - do read the packet as there can be as much filler as meat - the best value are from a good butcher - they are usually more expensive but then they are usually more meaty. Again, I buy and freeze - same for bacon.

Have a browse through some of the recipes/techniques here
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/8736367#Comment_8736367
if you can learn to batch cook you'll be DIYing ready meals at a fraction of the cost

Chicken roasting tips here
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/558060

prosaver

Fusspot wrote: »

I tend to have Birds Eye Frozen fish and chicken that I can cook straight from frozen, its so handy when I've been at work all day. Is this considered as unhealthy ready meals? I do have a slow cooker but I find food doesn't taste the same in it and I don't want to do fresh chicken in the oven as I find it too dry.

I also like sausages but never seem to buy them, are the ready frozen ones OK or those in packets or do you really need to get them from the butcher?

I can't seem to do homemade. I made some butternut squash in the slow cooker last week but it was as thick as treacle.

i use to like fuss pot.sometime I use to call my sis this

Fusspot

Slowly57 wrote: »

Fusspot, a lot of frozen food is just as good as fresh (particularly veg) as freezing preserves the vitamins etc. I think there is a lot of hysteria about ready meals. You can check them out from a nutritional point of view from the info on the sleeve and make your own mind up.

With fish - unless it says 'cod' or a particular fish then its likely to be a mixture of white fish - which is no less healthy but should be cheaper!

With chicken - if it is whole or frozen jointed chicken, then you can see what you're getting. If it is in breadcrumbs/nuggets then it could be all kinds of bits of chicken minced up. I buy and portion up/freeze raw meat.

With sausages - do read the packet as there can be as much filler as meat - the best value are from a good butcher - they are usually more expensive but then they are usually more meaty. Again, I buy and freeze - same for bacon.

Have a browse through some of the recipes/techniques here
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/8736367#Comment_8736367
if you can learn to batch cook you'll be DIYing ready meals at a fraction of the cost

Chicken roasting tips here
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/558060

Thanks for this. I do have frozen veg that you can steam, very hand and tastes lovely. I like breaded chicken breasts or Birds Eye Chicken Chargrills, I always thought it was the coating/breadcrumbs on them that's supposed to be unhealthy. I do love fresh fish and can steam this quickly in the microwave but I must admit the fish with the breadcrumbs on can be tastier.

Slowly57

Fusspot wrote: »

Thanks for this. I do have frozen veg that you can steam, very hand and tastes lovely. I like breaded chicken breasts or Birds Eye Chicken Chargrills, I always thought it was the coating/breadcrumbs on them that's supposed to be unhealthy. I do love fresh fish and can steam this quickly in the microwave but I must admit the fish with the breadcrumbs on can be tastier.

I can't see why breadcrumbs would be a prob - batter maybe, if you were avoiding fat?

PasturesNew

Ignore sweeping statements such as "ready meals" - the term should really be applied to the cheap gloopy ones of a few years back. In recent years the quality's improved and the manufacturers are keen to not lose out to competitors.

You really need to read each packet to ascertain whether it's good or bad. They've all got all the figures printed on them now - although it is a pain it's the only way to do it.

Everybody's got their eye on different goals these days. Do you want "healthy"? or "low fat"? are you careful about salt? or sugar? So many things you could be looking out for ....

Somebody might say XYZ is unhealthy because it's high in salt. When you read the packet it might show a red marker and tell you it's 30% of one day's salt allowance ... but if that's the only salty item you're having all day then it can't automatically be rubbished.

Frozen can be fresher than fresh as it's frozen so fast.

Just start to be label aware and read your labels of what you want to buy, then come to your own choices/decisions.

NEVER be food shamed by sweeping statements

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

The last time I had a muppet Ready meal I was in digs. It took ages for me to make a choice and at over £4 chose mushroom stroganoff from w8rs.

It was so salty, I had a spoonful and the rest was eaten by the LL''s dog! I returned to fresh packs of toms and fruit!

Slowly57

PasturesNew wrote: »

Ignore sweeping statements such as "ready meals" - the term should really be applied to the cheap gloopy ones of a few years back. In recent years the quality's improved and the manufacturers are keen to not lose out to competitors.

So true - one thing about bandwagons - all the supermarkets are keen to jump on them, so now a lot of food is lower in salt and sugar, GM-free (genetically modified), no trans-fats (although despite the hype, we don't each much of it http://www.nhs.uk/chq/Pages/2145.aspx?CategoryID=51) and so on. Keep an eye on fat, sugar and long-winded additives and you should be OK. The big downside is price.

My 80-odd year old Mum eats a lot of RMs - she lives on her own, was wasting a lot of food (which she hates) and with RM she can eat a wide variety of meals - even when she can't be bothered to cook from scratch. She always has fresh veg (she can afford to buy the ready-prepped stuff) and fruit. She has mastered the microwave like a good'un and it has probably widened her meal options! An absolute boon for her and she's fit as a fiddle.

As PasturesNew said - never be food-shamed.
https://sarahdietitian.com/2016/01/08/9-healthiest-supermarket-ready-microwave-meals/

Farway

I do not tend to eat ready meals, but Morrison's had offer the other week, still on AFAIK, 3 for 6 quid, meals for one not a family pack

I was amazed, my chicken was a lump of breast, not the reformed gloop I was half expecting, liver was just that, not liver slurry flavoured gravy, and I forget the other one, but all in all it was vast improvement on my 1960 / 1970 experiences of ready meals, so I will not knock RM in future

decca2013

A few years ago I lost 2 stone during a period when I was working full time, renting and not earning much.

I lived off staple meals like Oats so simple flavoured porridge for breakfast and breaded, frozen chicken/fish/scampi with roasted (frozen) veg for dinner. I suppose some people would consider that cooking ready meals but it worked for me as I had little cooking know how and could buy in bulk when it was on offer which meant it was cheap and low in calories. Also if you're trying to be healthy, keeping things simple can really help you stick to it. If you cooked from scratch every night when you're not used to this, as soon as you have a day where you're home late and can't be bothered you might end up calling for a take away.

Petula

Agree, pay no attention to the sweeping statements brigade

What makes 'ready meals' (covers a LOT) healthy or unhealthy is what's in them, just the same for home cooked versions. Pay attention to the ingredients list and nutritional information and, if there is a choice, how you cook them.

You do the best you can do with what you have to work with, those that judge can take a flying leap :rotfl: