Useful food buys to save time.

Any prepared veg, with arthritic hands it's the only way I can manage them. Usually frozen as it's easier for portion control when you live alone.

Ready made parsely sauce and mash for a fish pie; ready made mash on cottage/shepherds pies.

When my son was at school and needed cakes for something I would buy a couple of packs of plain fairy cakes, ready made butter cream and a couple of packs of dolly mixture. I had a stash of food colours and sprinkles. So a dash of colouring in some icong, spread on the cake and then go mad with the dolly mixture and sprinkles. (Or let son do it).

Elegran

Tesco Chef's Base, a 400g bag of finely diced onion, carrot and celery (called mirepoix by professionals) Use as a base in recipes for soups or casseroles.

I swear by this. It's so useful, we always have some in the freezer.

Blondiescot & Nanna8
I also thought of Xmas mincemeat - thought it was rather unusual and was actually going to try it! ? That's how bored I am with my own cooking.
However I do sometimes add raisins to my curry.

Puff pastry, microwave rice or grains, frozen mash.

A quick 10min meal that I enjoy is a tub of carbonara sauce & fresh tagliatelle served with crispy bread,I always have some in as an emergency and find it very satisfying.

I never peel potatoes...anyone else?

nanna8

I always have mincemeat in the freezer and buy it in bulk for pasta dishes, curries, shepherds pies etc. Also, when we go to Costco I buy bulk chicken fillets and fish, divide it up into 2 serves and use that thing you get in Aldis to vacuum seal it and then freeze it. Always something there to eat.

I read the first line of that and thought...ewww! Then I realised you meant minced meat - mincemeat to me is what you put in xmas mince pies!

I use a packet of 'Pasta 'n' Sauce' with extra milk for a macaroni cheese, adding a topping of panko crumbs and grated cheese. The last packets I bought were Asda brand at 20p, each making 3 servings.

I also have a selection of Parsley Box meals which are useful when I am counting calories. They are surprisingly tasty, but I wouldn't use them every day, preferring to cook from scratch most of the time.

Same here spottysocks.

Soup mixes from the fresh veg section. We have bought leek and potato, vegetable, carrot and coriander. Veg already chopped. Just add water and a stock cube. A bit lazy but cheap (about £1 ish) and quick.

One of my favourite lunch dishes is garlic mushrooms on toast. I find garlic puree (in a tube) a convenient shortcut. And recently I bought a tube of smoked garlic puree, which lent a certain je ne sais quoi to a very easy lunch.

Puff pastry.

My most useful one is Pateks Curry Paste, in different Indian flavours.
I prefer milder.
I usually get at least four curries from one jar and the rest keeps in the fridge.
Oh and coconut cream to throw in at the last minute.
Oh and 2 minute microwave Wholemeal rice.

Certainly Schwartz mixes - chilli especially, and sausage casserole. Tubs of “five-cheese sauce” from the supermarket when I can’t be bothered to make my own, and M&S do a lovely ready made dill and lemon sauce. Packs of microwave rice, and other grains, are useful for a small portion. Always JusRoll puff pastry. Life is too short to make it from scratch. And am I the only one who can’t get on with frozen mushrooms?

Do the little jars of ginger , garlic etc taste as good as fresh ? I have always avoided them thinking they might be bland in comparison. I could be converted.

Waves at MaisieD I make my own mayonnaise. But not all the time in case you think I'm some kind of mad thing. I use the diced veg packs from Tesco if I'm making lentil soup but that's all really. I have plenty of time to faff about in the kitchen so I'm happy to chop etc and make roux.

I have a selection of frozen veg in the freezer including/especially chopped onions and peas. I use the chopped onions for batch cooking but not if I just need one onion.

My tip is to buy frozen cauliflower cheese from Sainsbury's. You can use as much or a little as you like, is gluten free and delicious.

I always have mincemeat in the freezer and buy it in bulk for pasta dishes, curries, shepherds pies etc. Also, when we go to Costco I buy bulk chicken fillets and fish, divide it up into 2 serves and use that thing you get in Aldis to vacuum seal it and then freeze it. Always something there to eat.

Pesto, pizza bases, tomato puree (does that count?) Bird's custard powder, puff psstry.
Shorter list now there's just me & semi-retired. Alternatively,
love (-ed) eating out

Buerre manie is flour and butter mashed together that you can drop raw bits of into any lquid to thicken it. Classic white sauce is flour and butter cooked, a roux, to which you add milk and beat or whisk like mad as it boils and thickens.

I'd call cornflour a shortcut for sauces, but I always use it to thicken gravy and stews made in the pressure cooker.

I think commercial mayonnaise is a shortcut, but who makes their own mayonnaise?

A beurre manis with butter and flour is the “proper” way to thicken milk sauces but I normally use cornflour. Tesco did frozen cheese sauce until recently which was great if you just wanted a bit.

Jaxjacky I use a lot of cornflour, always have, but someone suggested it was a shortcut instead of using a more time consuming process and rack my brains, though I have I cannot think of any more complicated for thickening sources.

Some things can be thickened by reducing them, sauces, especially with milk, what is the alternative to cornflour or flour?

MOnica I use it in Indian breads, some Chinese and Indian meals and on the rare occasions (visitors) I make desserts, it’s gluten free and helps with my acid reflux.

Frozen diced onions and frozen cabbage, the former to save time and the latter to save waste.