Ready meals/prepared food

Citygirl1

Hi everyone, I live alone and work full time and find myself eating a lot of ready meals and Birds Eye type frozen foods because its more convenient, especially the ready meals.

Someone at work says she batch cooks but that must take more time and not to mention washing up afterwards. Is this method really healthier and cheaper? Plenty of ready meals get sold so they must be some good.

Eric_the_half_a_bee

Yes it's healthier and cheaper. Buy yourself a slow cooker for £21 (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Morphy-Richards-Accents-48703-Cooker/dp/B00888X526/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1506545026&sr=8-2&keywords=slow+cooker) and save yourself loads of money.

PasturesNew

You need to analyse the cost/time of each meal you're currently buying - and see if you can realistically make it yourself... and if you want to.

Cooking for one is a soulless, empty void that can suck you down a vortex of self-loathing if you really dislike the faff

Don't go for a "one way is the only way", but find the blend that works for you, for what you have access to, what you fancy.

Also look at your motivations: saving money, having better food, not wanting to have those "pitying" looks from people who batch cook from scratch?

Other people's food purchase lists, favourite foods, favourite gadgets and motivations will not be the same as yours. Know what YOU want.... and are prepared to compromise over.

elsien

Lots of threads on here if you do a search.
I don't like ready meals - too small, don't taste as good and too much salt, sugar and lord knows how much else.
Batch cooking doesn't take any longer - it just means making several helpings instead of one and freezing the surplus. So if you're making a load of chilli, it's still just one pan just with two or three times as much in it.
Ditto if you use a slow cooker - make enough casserole (or whatever) for three, eat one lot and freeze two.

Citygirl1

Thanks for your replies. Seems like batch cooking would be cheaper but what about fish? I do like to have fresh fish about once a week at least, either that or breaded fish from M&S, that's something that's difficult to batch cook I imagine unless its in a fish pie which I don't really want.

MallyGirl

frozen fish is really good - I wouldn't try batch cooking fish.

I prefer home cooked as it tastes way better and you can make things much healthier.
If you buy a portion of lasagne it can be 600+ calories. Even a weightatchers one will be 3-400 calories and you get almost nothing in the tray.
I make lasagne for 6 like this:
4-500g 5% lean mince, 2 onions, a grated carrot, some peppers, plenty of mushrooms, 2 cans tomatoes, puree, garlic, maybe some herbs or a splash of wine, some finely chopped other veg that needs using up (courgette/leek/aubergine). Make ragu.
I tend to use fresh pasta because I like it but dry is fine too. I packet of fresh is more than enough for 6 portions - I usually have a bit left.
layer of sauce, pasta, maybe a layer of baby spinach if I have it, sauce, pasta, sauce, pasta then I top with white or cheese sauce. In the oven for 40 mins.
Makes 6 big (twice the size of those silly little trays) adult portions at 400 calories each. Tastes fantastic and has 2 or 3 of your 5 a day. Also much cheaper than ready meals.
Box individual portions into saved Chinese cartons (you would need the bigger rice ones for the portion size this makes) and freeze. Take out of freezer in the morning and zap in the microwave.

Pollycat

Citygirl1 wrote: »

Hi everyone, I live alone and work full time and find myself eating a lot of ready meals and Birds Eye type frozen foods because its more convenient, especially the ready meals.

Someone at work says she batch cooks but that must take more time and not to mention washing up afterwards. Is this method really healthier and cheaper? Plenty of ready meals get sold so they must be some good.

Just to point out that plenty of cigarettes get sold........:)

With cooking meals from scratch you know exactly what's going in to your food which has to be a good thing.

If you like mince there's loads of recipes you can do.

It's a 'no' from me too on batch cooking fish.

LameWolf

Just my two penn'orth, but one of the things I have against ready meals is that someone else (ie the manufacturer) is dictating to me how much "a portion" is. I dislike tea bags for the same reason. I prefer to decide for myself how much I want, and cook accordingly.
A bog-standard ready meal would be far too little for my DH, and far too much for me.

PasturesNew

Don't forget - if you DO make something yourself .... you can go back for seconds if you want 10 minutes later...

On the other hand, as you stare down at 6-8 portions and consider freezing it you think "Blimey - I actually would only want to eat this stuff twice a year, not every week for two months". Once frozen, a "batch cook" can end up being "freezer clutter I'm fed up of seeing" for 6+ months.... and you can end up eating stuff you don't want/fancy just because it needs to be eaten.

Nelski

I can see the benefits of both. I enjoy batch cooking and am quite happy to spend a day in the kitchen cooking stuff for the freezer. I know exactly whats in it and i decide my own portion size. Downside is the freezer gets full very quickly, I don't always fancy whats in there, yes there is a lot of mess to clear up (well in my case anyway)

My mum gave up cooking completely when my dad died. She eats either portions of my batch cooking or Morrisons ready meals. She doesn't like the cheapy ones so they are not full of salt and sugar at all. She finds they usually last her twice but shes OK about that and of course that makes the price half too.

Swings and roundabouts I guess why not try a batch cook recipe and alternate with your favourite ready meals.

Out,_Vile_Jelly

If you're not a confident cook there is no need to rush into replacing everything with cooking from scratch. Take a look at the ready meals you usually buy, and see which ones are simple to make, and lend themselves to batch cooking, freezing and reheating. Typically these will be one-pot stew/chilli type dishes where you just chop ingredients, add seasoning and stir- nothing intimidating.