Is there such a thing as delicious ready meals?

Mollygo but what a palaver doing it yourself. You'd also have to have pastry, spinach, white sauce ingredients in stock too.
Sainsbury's salmon en croute is lovely - so lemony 😋

Aveline

Mollygo but what a palaver doing it yourself. You'd also have to have pastry, spinach, white sauce ingredients in stock too.
Sainsbury's salmon en croute is lovely - so lemony 😋

I'd make it more like a Koulibiac without the white sauce..

I will try the Sainsburys one as you've recommended though..
many thanks

It tastes extra nice if it's reduced!

extra thanks..

Aveline

Mollygo but what a palaver doing it yourself. You'd also have to have pastry, spinach, white sauce ingredients in stock too.
Sainsbury's salmon en croute is lovely - so lemony 😋

Precisely. That’s why I don’t any more. I’ll try the Sainsbury’s now you’ve mentioned it.

I buy meat from Donald Russell and they do quite a few ready meals . You can see them online as they only deliver. Minimum basket is £50 but I love their steaks and their fillet steak burgers. I would never normally have a burger but these are lovely .

After a very tiring day out with all 3 Gdcs yesterday, I was v pleased when dh suggested nipping to Waitrose for a couple of ready meals for us. I had a pad Thai, he had his favourite nasi Goreng.
The Gdcs had sushi, a treat for them - ready made from Itsu.

M&S are pretty good, I like the chicken chow mein, also the spag bol.

HelterSkelter1

Yes, Charlie Bigham's do need oven cooking but not for long.

Some were on offer in Waitrose today. As I'm struggling to cook at the moment and DH tries but dislikes cooking, we've bought three or four, put a couple in the freezer.

I used to spend ages cooking but it is surprising how quickly you can throw a simple meal together and freeze some.

Thanks for the tip about the spinach.

I find a lot of ready meals have (too much) sugar and cheese to make them palatable but I make an exception for Bigham's fish pie. We sometimes buy Cote at Home meals and their portions are large enough in some cases to serve two meals rather than one. But most ready meals from elsewhere don't make the grade.

Before I realised this was an old thread (but for once it’s still relevant), I came on to recommend Chef Akila. I see others have too but I think it’s well worth repeating.

They’re hand made from quality ingredients. Also healthy, decent portions and, above all, delicious. We always have some in the freezer.

www.chefakila.com

I had never heard of Chef Akila and the food looked gorgeous. My main problem will be to empty a drawer to fit them. My f/f is 50/50.

Amazon Hello Fresh sometimes has Charlie Bigham foods on yellow stickers and below 1/2 price but they go very quickly.

I used to love M7S curries, especially chicken Jalfrezi but it does not have the same taste for me these days. I find Prawn Bhuna tasty.

Is there such a thing as delicious ready meals?

The simple answer is 'No', unless you make them yourself.

I disagree, Monica. Chef Akila and her team, making meals from traditional family recipes in small batches, produce much more delicious and authentic Indian meals than I ever could. Indeed they’re better than many I’ve had in Asian restaurants (and living in West Yorkshire, I’ve had a lot!).

For really good ready meals I don't think you can beat M&S, but most of the time I make a lot of food one day then put leftovers in the fridge to eat within the next couple of days, it means that all I have to do is warm up the leftovers. When family/guests come to stay there are generally a lot of leftovers, and what they can't take home with them we eat up over the next couple of days.

Since I last posted on this thread, I've bought Cook products from a garden centre. There isn't a big variety for vegetarians - curries and pasta dishes. The linguini dish I had yesterday was heavy on the pasta and short on the sauce which didn't taste of anything much. I certainly wasn't worth the £5.55 I'd paid. The best of their dishes so far has been the Katsu curry. DS1, a qualified chef (tho' not a chef nowadays), has offered to cook up some dishes for my freezer, but I know I could do it myself if I could be bothered!

I also find Cook a bit hit and miss. Plus they're expensive given that they are smaller than the normal portion for one.

Cooking bores me to tears but I like to eat fresh every day. In our town one shop cooks cottage pie, lasagne and fish pie. So I buy these and add the veg. There are few shortcuts to eating healthily.

I think there are many ways to eat healthily without resorting to ready meals. I detest cooking, particularly all the faffing about chopping and assembling ingredients. I’m a great fan of Jamie’s and Ainsley’s five ingredients books, which both have lovely recipes which take minimum effort.
One range of ready meals I do like though is the Authentic brand. They only do curries, chilli con carne and faggots I think, but their curries are excellent. It’s far too much faff to make a curry yourself, which won’t taste as good, although the vegetable one in one of the 5 ingredients books is nice.

Glad to know there are others who find cooking a chore. I never really enjoyed it when all the family were at home but needs must, and they loved it so I cooked up a storm for over 45 years and still do when they visit. But now I want to hang up the apron and go easy with the cooking. As for my DH he swears he can cook but am afraid his experiments are usually dreadful, still he makes good rice and a mean tagine on occasion.