Packet mixes and convenience foods

[Morning Glory]

Do you ever use them? I don't really - but confess to using a 'bread sauce packet mix' once in a while. I like to cook from scratch but of course, packets mixes offer a shortcut if you don't have time. Tell us which packet mixes or convenience foods you use! Or do you eschew them?

 

[Cinisajoy]

Packet mixes,
We always use a taco seasoning packet.
Also an enchilada sauce packet.
Gravy packet mixes. Both cream and brown.
Sometimes a marinade or a sauce if I have got them cheap enough.

 

[buckytom]

Hey, are we busted plumbing? Chopped liver? Cin and I get no respect for inspiring you to think of the use of packet mixes?

I'm kidding. You can delete this...

 

[Cinisajoy]

Hey, are we busted plumbing? Chopped liver? Cin and I get no respect for insliring you to think of the use of packet mixes?

I'm kidding. You can delete this...

I think we confuse morning glory on a regular basis. I don't think they use many convenience foods across the pond.

 

[Morning Glory]

I think we confuse morning glory on a regular basis

I'm permanently confused! But I do remember the 60's which means I wasn't there.

 

[epicuric]

The only one I can ever remember using was the chicken seasoning mix that comes in those enchilada kits

 

[Yorky]

I don't avoid them as such, it's just that we do not have access to many over here. I have used the "cha siu" mix because I have had minimal success starting from scratch with that. There are various Italian style tomato sauces in jars on the shelves but I find that they are usually easy to make successfully if I have the ingredients. I was given a packet of Atora Herby Dumpling mix once which I used but really it's just flour, suet and a few herbs.

When looking up "puddings" in connection with another thread I came across "Angel Delight" which I haven't seen for 25 years. I'm sure it would make me sick if I ate it now.

 

[Morning Glory]

I think we confuse morning glory on a regular basis. I don't think they use many convenience foods across the pond.

Believe me there are lots of convenience foods. There are aisles of chilled not frozen 'ready-meals' in every supermarkets - you just pop the tray in the microwave. There are 'gourmet' ranges of ready-meals' too and they cover all kinds of cuisines. Some people live on them. I think for this reason, packet mixes are probably less popular here although there are some (mainly sauces, cake mixes and bread mixes). Jars of sauce for pasta and curry are very popular here too.

Here are some of the categories of 'ready meals' from Tesco's:

 

[Morning Glory]

I amended the title and top-post to include all convenience foods.

 

[The Velvet Curtain]

I think we confuse morning glory on a regular basis. I don't think they use many convenience foods across the pond.

There are plenty of convenience foods used here. I tend not too, the occasional supermarket pizza and I do like a particular brand of ready made fish pie. I justify the fish pie simply because the effort required and shopping list to make it myself would be too great given the quality of the pre made item. I do use a packet fajita seasoning mix regularly, and as I have posted before there is a packet beef gravy mix we really like.

 

[Ken Natton]

I am, by trade, an engineer. Until about five years ago I worked for a company that supplied equipment to the food and confectionary industries. I have been inside the places where they make these products. Actually about 15 years ago, I was in one factory where they were making individual portions of lasagne at a rate of around 4000 portions per hour, and at that time, the final supermarket price for those individual portions was 99p. It always mystified me as to who was buying all these portions of ready-made lasagne.


Well, the other side I suppose would be someone I once knew – only vaguely. He was a middle-aged bachelor and, surprise surprise, something of a curmudgeon. He used to give vehement expression to his sense of the utter pointlessness of spending hours and hours preparing something that took less than five minutes to actually eat.


So I suppose, what I am saying is, clearly there is a market for ready-made convenience foods, and perhaps no-one should be too judgemental about that. But I would, of course, be preaching to the converted here if I suggested that it is possible to produce something of much higher quality that isn’t that much more expensive and doesn’t actually require that much more time or effort. Of course, beyond that, there is a question of making something truly wonderful that does take a lot of time and effort and some skill that requires an amount of development, but those of us who choose to do that do so for the same reason that anyone pursues a particular interest or passion that they have. All of us understand that not everyone shares that particular interest or passion.


Using tinned tomatoes instead of fresh tomatoes in certain recipes seems to me to be a perfectly valid thing to do. There are, of course, a range of quality of tinned tomatoes. Using a packet chilli-con-carne mix or a jar of Uncle Ben's Sweet and Sour cooking sauce seem completely unnecessary to me, because producing something so much better requires neither more time and effort nor more skill.

 

[Morning Glory]

Using a packet chilli-con-carne mix or a jar of Uncle Ben's Sweet and Sour cooking sauce seem completely unnecessary to me, because producing something so much better requires neither more time and effort nor more skill.

The same goes for all those jars of pasta sauce. I couldn't agree more - yet these jars of sauce are very big sellers. I think it is simply that there are a lot of people who are just not interested in cooking (and/or rightly or wrongly, think they don't have time).

 

[Addie]

I love cooking. But living alone, sometimes it is not in my best financial interest to cook all dishes from scratch. The one I use most is McCormack's gravy mixes. It makes just enough for one helping for one person. Perfect for over steaks and other leftover meats. Jarred pasta sauce. I buy the smallest jar on the shelf. I don't like a lot of sauce on my pasta. Just a couple of spoonfuls. Frozen Philo dough. I hope no one thinks I would even consider trying to make it myself. Pillsbury dough if I have a lot of baking to do for the family at holiday time. There are very few prepared foods I buy simply because I love cooking. Why let someone else do it for me.

 

[Addie]

I think we confuse morning glory on a regular basis. I don't think they use many convenience foods across the pond.

When checking out, you can spot the "Queens of the Freezer." Their carts are loaded with convenient foods. Instant mashed potatoes, frozen "Salisbury Steaks",( Hamburgers in gravy) and some frozen peas. Dinner's on the table. The hardest part of that meal was reading the directions.

 

[Ken Natton]

I love cooking. But living alone, sometimes it is not in my best financial interest to cook all dishes from scratch.

Yes Addie, it is a telling point - oh and hello to you, by the way. I lived alone for a lot of years - and actually it is during those years that I learned to cook at all. I did have a tendency to favour dishes that I could make extra portions of and freeze the extra portions. Huh, I used to save margerine tubs as the containers I would store extra portions in for freezing. There's a memory that has me shaking my head right now! But also, I have to be honest, I would buy ready made Chicken Kievs for example. (I did once, much more recently, have a go at home making Chicken Kiev. It was a bit of a disaster and I haven't tried again.) And the other relevant piece of honesty is that I used to throw a rather large amount of both raw ingredients and uneaten cooked extra portions in the bin.