Do you buy ready made meals.

brevity

When I have the time I make it myself, when I don't a get a kit or a jar.

That's what they are for really.

Pac1Man

Speedwell wrote: »

Nobody's talking about forcing anyone to eat anything. But my cooking would not be the same if I couldn't use a wide range of ingredients, many of which are highly processed, high-salt foods.

I just know that I wouldn't enjoy eating something knowing it was highly processed with a high salt content.

Mesrine65 wrote: »

How healthy do you want to be when you die?

That falls into the same bracket as when people say 'you can't take it with you' with regards to overspending money.

I would like to be a grand old age before that time comes. Avoiding (within reason) processed foods can only help that.

fleet_admiral

No never. I make everything from scratch. Soup, pizza sauce, pesto the lot

StupidLikeAFox

Everything from scratch here as well.

Pasta sauce is ridiculously simple and cheap to make. Fry onions, mushrooms, garlic, chillis (if you like), add in tin of tomatoes and some herbs (herbs de provence from lidl, or some combination of basil, oregano etc.). Add salt and pepper.

You can tweak it as you like. It is made from scratch in the time it takes to cook some chicken and the actual pasta. Blitz it in a blender for better coverage. Can be used on pasta, in a bolognese or as a sauce for pizza. Would never go back to the jars

Allinall

I think the word "processed" is misused, and often misunderstood.

If you cook a meal from scratch, using all raw, fresh ingredients, the end result is "processed".

A lot of "ready" meals are cooked just the same as you would do yourself, except done in bigger batches.

c68zapdsm5i1ru

Allinall wrote: »

I think the word "processed" is misused, and often misunderstood.

If you cook a meal from scratch, using all raw, fresh ingredients, the end result is "processed".

A lot of "ready" meals are cooked just the same as you would do yourself, except done in bigger batches.

Most of them seem to have a lot of additives that would never appear in home cooked food.

coffee_cake

I buy pesto and normally i dont buy sauces at all but the Lloyd grossman tomato sauce thingy is quite nice and doesn't seem to made of sugar so i use a bit of that

meeeeh

Not really. I buy pre-made pesto and some curry pastes, also sausages and cured meats but that is as far as I will go.

Allinall

Kace Scary Robber wrote: »

Most of them seem to have a lot of additives that would never appear in home cooked food.

Agreed. But then, all additives are not necessarily bad.

It's all about understanding the ingredients.

Similarly with "E" numbers. people just assume their all bad, whereas all it is is a pan-European method of classifying additives.

TPD

I'd use jars of curry, and 50/50 whether I make my own tomato based sauces for bolognaise etc. I bought a ready-meal shepherds pie in aldi a while back, not particularly tasty so won't be buying again, but was surprised to see the ingredients weren't much different to what I'd use making it from scratch.

ScumLord

Where can I get this "scratch" that everyone's making their dinners out of? Sound's like really versatile stuff.

I don't have a microwave so I can't cook the really ****ty ready meals. My problem with having a load of ingredients in the house is that I can't go through it before it all rots. Feels like a waste to buy all the ingredients, use a fraction of it to make a dinner and let the rest rot. In a prepared meal I'm just paying for the meal.

Speedwell

I buy ready-made ingredients such as passata, just as lots of professionals do. It would be silly to try to make all of your passata from supermarket tomatoes. Simple, relatively unprocessed ingredients allow you to get good flavors out of season or that aren't local. Heavily processed ingredients might be things you wouldn't normally make in your own kitchen, like tofu (which I have made, it's just a complete pain) or shaped pasta (which I have made in a commercial kitchen but would never make at home) or, you know, sugar.

But none of this is the same as buying a complete ready-made meal. Even buying a ready-made casserole, if it is not the whole meal, isn't exactly what I think the OP meant.

Scumlord, consider making your own "ready-made meals" and popping them in the freezer in foil trays. That way you can use up your ingredients, benefit from your own cooking, save time and money, and eliminate most waste. Just plan to heat them up in the oven.

mariaalice

mariaalice wrote: »

Maybe it is an age thing or maybe not as my daughter aged 32 agrees with me: why would anyone buy a lasanga kit or the like? I never give much though to the fact that we cook almost everything from scratch but even if you look at what is for sale in supermarkets there must be a large amount of people who buy ready made pies ect for their dinner.

I was watching a foreign language documentary that my partner had to translate a transcript for on the subject of ready meals recently. I did not understand most of the language - but the general subject of the show was they randomly purchased a few ready meals from all the brands in all the top shops in that country.

They then got professional chefs to cook those meals and they brought them out to the street and put them on tables next to blown up pictures of what the packaging _said_ the meal looked like.

And every single one of them bar none turned out to be sloppy masses of goo bearing almost no resemblance to the pictures. Most of them irredeemably sticking to the packaging they were meant to be cooked in in places (microwave meals seemingly very much more guilty of this than oven cooked).

That coupled with the masses of salt and other artificial flavor and shelf life enhancers that go into them - I can not imagine ever wanting to buy such meals myself ever.

I know I am a snob when it comes to food as I cook and prepare my own (even make my own bread and pasta and other things people might buy for convenience as part of an otherwise entirely home cooked life style) - even to the point of growing or farming what I can on my limited time and budget (veg - herbs - eggs - hunted rabbit and fished meat and so forth) but shows like that kinda make me feel somewhat justified in my quiet internal snobbery all the same.

jam_mac_jam wrote: »

I eat soup that is ready made. That would be about it.

Soup is one thing I really love making myself. Or risotto. Or anything that involves stock or the like. Mainly because I grow a lot of my own veg and I have loads of stalks and leaves and cuttings and left overs. So they all go into a stock pot pretty much daily. As do bones and more.

So by the time I end up making soup or risotto or something - I have a really pure and deep flavoured vat of stock to use in it. Works great.

ems_12 wrote: »

Time mainly; why spend an hour + making something that you can make in half the time?

That was likely a rhetorical question but I will answer it anyway. I guess the reason why many do it - like myself - is that we see the process as a means in itself rather than a means to an end.

In other words many people see the process of cooking as a hindrance in the way between them getting the food ready and eaten so they can move on to other things they want to be doing - gaming, tele, reading, going out, whatever.

But for many of us cooking itself is a hobby and a pleasure in and of itself. So questions like "Why bother" are as meaningless to people like me - as putting in the effort is to others

I think a lot of people _want_ to eat healthier and tastier and better - but many fail at it. And the reason they fail at it is they do not learn to enjoy the challenge and the process and the experience in and of itself. The cooking is an inconvenience in-between them and where they want to be.

All that said - when you get into it and get good at it and more importantly you get into a routine of it - you would be surprised how little time the day to day preparations actually take. With some skill and experience you can hammer down the length of time you have to invest in it quite a lot. And you get quite good at planning meals in an order where the left overs of the process for one feed into the next.

For example you talk about the time saved buying ready made sauces and the like. But I would, to give an idea, make shakshuka one day - which is basically eggs poached in a rich and flavoursome and multiple spiced (especially cumin) tomato sauce.

Then the next day I could make home made pizza and the left over sauce from the shakshuka makes for the base sauce of the pizza.

And the left over dough mix from the pizza would go into a break fast bread for the next day.

And so on and so on. So a ready made pizza sauce would save literally _zero_ time - and would be inferior in multiple ways.

Pac1Man wrote: »

I would like to be a grand old age before that time comes. Avoiding (within reason) processed foods can only help that.

Allinall wrote: »

I think the word "processed" is misused, and often misunderstood.

From studies and articles I have read recently I believe we are finding that salt is not _as_ bad for us as people have previously thought. That said I would like to avoid it myself in wanton and unnecessary quantities - but I do not concern myself overly with salt intake in general.

My issue with salt in ready meal like things is more for taste than health therefore. I would prefer to eat meals that do not rely on silly quantities of it just to be subjectively edible.

As for "processed" foods - that is a hard bag to unpack because what constitutes "processed" is actually a lot more general than people think. "Processed" food is anything that is altered or modified. Smoked, pasteurised, certain packaging, freezing - all of this constitutes "processed food".

So there is now a sub category that exists called "Ultra Processed". Which is defined as "The ready to eat - or ready to heat - foods usually made up of multiple processed elements".

So it is less "processed" foods that are worthy of avoidance so much as anything with added fat - particularly trans fats - and refined carbs can lead to over eating and insulin spikes.

And Ultra processed foods tend to be lower in fibre. Which means people tend to over eat - and they are calorie dense. And fibre aids digestion. So not only do you over eat but you are over eating the wrong kind of thing. No wonder LCHF diets work for many people.

Mesrine65

I tend to cook fresh from raw ingredients as I enjoy cooking (& eating), but I don't have an issue with ready made meals for convenience sake.

As long as it's an occasional thing, what harm?

12Phase

mariaalice wrote: »

Maybe it is an age thing or maybe not as my daughter aged 32 agrees with me: why would anyone buy a lasanga kit or the like? I never give much though to the fact that we cook almost everything from scratch but even if you look at what is for sale in supermarkets there must be a large amount of people who buy ready made pies ect for their dinner.

I usually make from scratch but if I do buy ready meals I'm very fussy about what's in them.

There's an enormous difference in quality and type of ingredients and it can vary from pretty healthy to absolutely junk food.

I would tend to use ingredients that I can cook with minimal prep time though.

The most important things you can have in any kitchen are good, sharp knives, good chopping board and a very controllable cooker (induction or gas) and some decent pots and at least two good pans. Add a decent fridge and a good oven and a microwave.

Once you've those things; cooking is fun.

You don't need umpteen gadgets

riffmongous

One thing I won't buy is shop pesto, the one I make myself is much nicer, hard to say if it is healthier though.

I also find in general I like to cook something new and exciting every now and again, but usually cooking for one after coming home from work in the evening feels like a chore. I don't have a microwave so I dont have so many typical readymade meals, rather oven pizzas and the like

HensVassal

I buy them on occasion just for emergencies...but not the pasta based ones. They're just shit. If I do a big Saturday shop I'll always throw in a few steak and onion pies. They're grand if you just want a quick bite. Also often pick up tho old ready-roasted chicken in a foil baggy. All you need to do with that is put on some peas and spuds and bam.. nice chicken dinner fairly quickly and leftovers for sandwiches.

And those ready meals while not the greatest are still way better than a fast-food meal.

Don't like frozen pizzas.

The Backwards Man

I pour boiling water over the spuds in the drills and attack the cow with a blowtorch in the byre.

mathie

Look at the amount of (good/bad/indifferent) ingredients in a fajita from Old El Paso.

http://www.generalmills.com/~/media/Images/Brands/Nutritional_Images/Old_El_Paso/Dinner_Kits/Dinner_Kit_Fajita.jpg

Fajitas are just eggs, flour and water. Pop them in a nutri bullet for a few seconds and you can fry them yourself.
Sure it takes 10 - 15 minutes but I'd rather eat natural than something pumped full of chemicals to aid a longer shelf life.

Keane2baMused

mathie wrote: »

Look at the amount of (good/bad/indifferent) ingredients in a fajita from Old El Paso.

http://www.generalmills.com/~/media/Images/Brands/Nutritional_Images/Old_El_Paso/Dinner_Kits/Dinner_Kit_Fajita.jpg

Fajitas are just eggs, flour and water. Pop them in a nutri bullet for a few seconds and you can fry them yourself.
Sure it takes 10 - 15 minutes but I'd rather eat natural than something pumped full of chemicals to aid a longer shelf life.

Do you use on of those presses to get them really flat?

I'd love to start making my own

mathie

Keane2baMused wrote: »

Do you use on of those presses to get them really flat?

I'd love to start making my own

No I just fry them up like pancakes
I use buckwheat flour to give them a bit more "healthiness"

Keane2baMused

riffmongous wrote: »

One thing I won't buy is shop pesto, the one I make myself is much nicer, hard to say if it is healthier though.

I also find in general I like to cook something new and exciting every now and again, but usually cooking for one after coming home from work in the evening feels like a chore. I don't have a microwave so I dont have so many typical readymade meals, rather oven pizzas and the like

Agreed but pine nuts are flipping expensive! 3.50 for a pretty small packet of them in Super Valu

Boskowski

I used to sometimes but I actually like cooking and of course we all know they're rubbish and a guaranteed path to 20 stone. So I haven't bought one in a long time. Rather than seeing preparing your meals as a nuisance in your busy day I now embrace it. I suspect what most people mean with 'busy day' is it eats into their couch and rubbish tv time anyway.

Speedwell

Keane2baMused wrote: »

Agreed but pine nuts are flipping expensive! 3.50 for a pretty small packet of them in Super Valu

Walnuts are also traditional in pesto alla Genovese.

Keane2baMused

mathie wrote: »

No I just fry them up like pancakes
I use buckwheat flour to give them a bit more "healthiness"

Oh ok I didn't think they were liquidy I had the impression it was more of a dough.

Interesting I must look them up

Speedwell

mathie wrote: »

Look at the amount of (good/bad/indifferent) ingredients in a fajita from Old El Paso.

http://www.generalmills.com/~/media/Images/Brands/Nutritional_Images/Old_El_Paso/Dinner_Kits/Dinner_Kit_Fajita.jpg

Fajitas are just eggs, flour and water. Pop them in a nutri bullet for a few seconds and you can fry them yourself.
Sure it takes 10 - 15 minutes but I'd rather eat natural than something pumped full of chemicals to aid a longer shelf life.

I'm a pedant from Texas. Fajitas is the specific cut of skirt steak used for the meat in the recipe. I think you mean "tortillas". They're not difficult to make yourself and they do not contain eggs.

Only if I'm ropey as feck.

Keane2baMused

Speedwell wrote: »

Walnuts are also traditional in pesto alla Genovese.

Nut allergy here unfort shouldn't have pine nuts really in case of cross-contam but I can't give it all up!:D

Speedwell

Keane2baMused wrote: »

Nut allergy here unfort shouldn't have pine nuts really in case of cross-contam but I can't give it all up!:D

Oh no, that's awful A quick search of the "memory banks" throws up a possible substitute in the form of fried chickpeas. Pesto only uses a few so it may be adequate.

Keane2baMused

Ooh sounds interesting!!