Can't believe the "food" you can buy now

calleyw

I don't work at the moment but have done in the past. So both me and hubby where out the house from about 7.30am until about 5.30/6.00pm.

Even then we never relied on ready meals. Cooked meals in the steamer they would take 30 to 40 mins. Never occured to me to use ready meals.

Even if I lived alone I would not rely on ready meals because in my words I am fussy Moo.

Don't like cheese, onions, garlic, a lot of pastry. So I would need to cook to see what was in it.

As I said before who are we to judge. But if people where truthful a lot able bodied people are just lazy. Just look at how they veg out in front tv or on the internet for hours on end. But ask they to spend 10 mins preping a meal and putting it on to cook they would moan about it.

Ever seen ready steady cook they prep and make a meal ready to serve on the plate in 20 mins. I grant you they are chefs. But once you the have ideas there should be no stopping you. And they have all the gorgeous recipes on-line.

Yours

Calley

Bogof_Babe

I guess it boils down to what you want to spend your spare time and energy on then. I do watch RSC but there is rarely anything on there for veggies.

As I type, I am (rather messily) eating Sainsbury's veggie burgers in bread rolls, with onion rings and oven chips, and a *tin* :eek: of mushy peas (hub's request).

Time spent = 10 mins, cost = max £1 each. Nutrition = ???? but I don't reckon we'll have "night starvation" .

If you think about it, there really isn't much HM food for a strict veggie (no fish either) who doesn't like pasta or rice, or potatoes in their simplest forms.
He likes bought veggie burgers, i.e. brown ones like the real thing, so mixing up a bit of veg and potatoes isn't what he fancies after a day's slog.

Lotta_Littlies

sparklewing wrote:

Hi just been reading through and thought i would let you know:


YOU CAN BUY FROZEN CHEESE ON TOAST!!!!
MCAINS MICRO TOASTIE

to be found on shelf beside micro pizza, micro chips and micro nuggets

Yeurgh! :eek: _pale_

Whatever will they think of next, I wonder?

Lotta

calleyw

I agree it is down to what you want to do with your time and money. But at one stage a few years ago both me and hubby where working two jobs. One full day time and one part time two nights a week stacking shelves in a supermarket. As well as both studying for OU degrees.

I was shattered all the time and never had a life but still never used ready meals. I used now as I did then frozen veg apart from potatoes bung it all in the steamer and chuck something in the oven to add to the veg and walkaway. Allowed me to relax when I got in have a shower etc. And still have a healthly meal on the table in about 30 mins.

I do have instant mash for when I need a instant mash sandwich. Yummy. As well as tinned potatoes for when making a salad during the summer. I even shock horror buy ready made tinned rice pudding for my husband. But the value stuff is so cheap at 15p a tin and he likes it cold. But I can't seem to make it in the oven tried and after two hours in the cooker it was still a bit runny. Might have a go at making it in the steamer when cooking something else. So I am not perfect by any means.

I know people who use ready meals as it helps there portion control. That is fine but I do dread to think about how much fat and salt they are eating. And I do understand older people using them. My 82 year old MIL use to have meals on wheels at one stage. For us it meant we knew she was having at least one cooked meal a day.

It just depends if you value money over time. My free time has no value so to me hanging out my washing and not using the tumble drier to dry it is a better use of my time and resources. Cooking a meal at home is better value then going out. Granted I have to do the washing up but it is worth the extra £20 or so pounds in cost compared to making at home. To me not really.

But if we don't cook we can hardly expect are children to. It is an art that is being lost.


Yours

Calley

bargainqueen_2

calleyw wrote:

Ever seen ready steady cook they prep and make a meal ready to serve on the plate in 20 mins. I grant you they are chefs. But once you the have ideas there should be no stopping you. And they have all the gorgeous recipes on-line.

I agree with most of what you say and although some things really are convenient, in my opinion it is doable to cook more or less from scratch. OH and me did it when we both worked 2 jobs.
However Ready Steady Cook is a con as having been in the audience myself it actually takes hours. What you don't see on telly is how one thing gets stuck in the oven but a ready one is already in there, some things are ready chopped beforehand, etc etc. So although they are fairly speedy meals, even the chefs can't make them in 20 minutes!

(Sorry to disappoint the true addicts. The countdown is fake :eek: :eek: :eek: )

Curry_Queen

Ohhhh BQ you've ruined my illusions now

I did wonder though sometimes, especially when it came to cooking things like chicken breasts as surely they couldn't take a risk of them being undercooked

bargainqueen_2

Yeah totally, it is just not possible, even for an extremely brilliant chef, to create 3-4 fancy courses in 20 minutes. Especially not when there is a film crew, people muck up, applause scenes have to be re-taken etc. Ah well, I still like the show.

Sarahsaver

most processed food astounds me, and luckily my children too. Mum sneaked cookie crisp cereal into them when I had to go away on a course - have you SEEN how much sugar is in that stuff! If you sat a child in front of a bowl of half cereal/half sugar you wouldnt feed it to them. Same for fizzy drinks. Cheese strings OMG ! Get a garlic roulé and some crackers! Some HM fast food is much healthier than the junk processed version, last nights steak chips and salad being a case in point. I make my own convenience foods, do twice as many roasties as i need and freeze half, have done the same with chips and it works too. Takes a couple of minutes to rustle up noodles and fresh veg - or frozen veg too, or pancakes, these are two of my kids' favourite meals. We save the crud for special occasions like birthdays, but even then they now demand carrot sticks, cheese, breadsticks, grapes and hoummous. Ds1 had smoked salmon at his party:) (tesco value stuff of course)
If you are pressed for time slow cookers are fantastic, and also baked potatoes are a house favourite. I cant state strongly enough how MUCH i hate processed food.

MrsB_2

My dh came home last night from a meeting at a colleagues home. The colleague's son (11) came home from school at about 4ish, saw dad was in a meeting, and knew that mum and sister were ill, and asked if they could have pizza for tea. Dad's reply - "dont think we've got any". "No worries" says 11 yo, "I'll make one".

When my dh and his colleague went through to the kitchen a few minutes later the son was making (Very proficiently) home made pizza dough. He turned round and said, we've got tomato paste, pepperoni, pesto, and cheese, so I'll just make one.

How cool is that??? It's obviously something his parents have done regularly enough with him to become easy for him. I was just so proud of him and I dont even know him!!

Sarahsaver

That's it, good words there from Mrs B., doesnt take much to get kids to think the right way.
Same for people who say their kids will ONLY eat nuggets. I spose toddlers go into the supermarket and buy them? LOL
Watch the film 'Like water for chocolate' and you will never see food in the same way again. You will want to make your food with the best ingredient - LOVE.