ready meals

You may have read the Caregivers Chat thread that my Mother had a bad fall a few weeks back. She's not eating and DH & I feel that she's just not physically able at this point to deal with a frozen TV dinner type of meal. Heat, lift the film, stir, recover, heat, wait 2 minutes, stir again and...

Are there food items you usually buy ready-made? A good example might be mayonnaise which I think most people buy 'off the shelf'. Is it worth making your own when its so easy to grab a bottle from the supermarket? For me its often bread that I buy ready-made, though I'm very capable of making...

I normally don't do pre-made dishes on account that they are so wicked salty. I'm on a low-sodium diet. But some cooks do that. So what about you? Do you find this practice necessary? Or do you just leave the dish as is & just 'wing it'? :wink:

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?