Convenience foods

medtran49

medtran49

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I thought we had a thread where you could give your opinion on frozen dinner convenience foods, but I can't find it.

I've been buying these type of meals when they are BOGO or deeply on sale, and if I feel they are something we might like. We have them once a week to every other week generally to give me a break.

Tonight, we had a Bertolli skillet meal, chicken parm. It was edible and that's about all you can say about it. Not something we will buy again. I'm glad I made the cheese bread earlier today.

A while back, we tried Farm Rich, I think that was the brand name, jalapeno poppers. That's something we won't be buying again either. The breading had a texture like sand, and tasted like it too. The jalapeños might as well have been green bells for all the heat they didn't have.

We've tried a few of the P.F. Chang bag meals and they have been pretty good. I do usually make rice or noodles of some kind as a side.

The InnovAsian meals have been fairly good as well. We have only had them twice, but they were on BOGO this week so are in the freezer for next week.

What convenience meals do you like if you buy them?
 
medtran49 said:
I thought we had a thread where you could give your opinion on frozen dinner convenience foods, but I can't find it.

I've been buying these type of meals when they are BOGO or deeply on sale, and if I feel they are something we might like. We have them once a week to every other week generally to give me a break.

Tonight, we had a Bertolli skillet meal, chicken parm. It was edible and that's about all you can say about it. Not something we will buy again. I'm glad I made the cheese bread earlier today.

A while back, we tried Farm Rich, I think that was the brand name, jalapeno poppers. That's something we won't be buying again either. The breading had a texture like sand, and tasted like it too. The jalapeños might as well have been green bells for all the heat they didn't have.

We've tried a few of the P.F. Chang bag meals and they have been pretty good. I do usually make rice or noodles of some kind as a side.

The InnovAsian meals have been fairly good as well. We have only had them twice, but they were on BOGO this week so are in the freezer for next week.

What convenience meals do you like if you buy them?
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I or we dont buy meals like that except pizzas. And then I add to them.
I freeze a lot of stuff like nacho mix. I can get a meal ready in 15 mins.
Savoury mince is the same reheat and on toast is a meal.
I keep home made sausage rolls in freezer too . And cheese rolls.
I'm not lazy but will cut corners if I'm tired or want something quick.
I need me time too. Lol
Dont know if it's a kiwi thing? We tend to freeze a lot here.

Russ

Russ
 
Well, MrsT just ate a Gorton’s beer-battered fish filet, she likes those a lot. Frozen potato products, like tater tots, are always a hit. Most of the dinners, we don’t like much, but I do have a nostalgic soft spot for really cheap frozen pizzas and pot pies.
 
I buy a couple of HEB store-branded foods. I love their tamales, which are a PITA to make at home. They also have very good egg rolls.

I agree with medtran49, Those FarmRich jalapeño poppers are terrible. The only ones I have tried that are usually good are the TGI Friday's brand. P.F. Chang's meals are tasty, but they are sodium bombs, so I can't have them.

I buy Ore-Ida frozen potatoes, both French fries and tater tots. I deep fry them (double fry). I can't do any better making from scratch, so why bother. it is also nice that I can pull out just enough for one serving anytime I want.

On that same note, if I just want one serving of mashed potatoes, I use Idahoan powdered potatoes, in the single-serving cups.

I don't buy frozen pizzas. I either make my mini pizzas (often), or order a pizza delivered (a few times a year).

CD
 
I like Marie Callendar's chicken or turkey pot pies, the single person dinner size ones, not the little ones. The filling to pastry ratio in the little ones is way skewed in a not good way. Craig is okay with them.

Craig tried the shepherd's pie once, nuff said.
 
medtran49 said:
We will occasionally get French Bread pizzas for a quick lunch but otherwise it's homemade or takeout.
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I used to have those often as a teenager. It's been decades since I've had one. I really liked them. But IIRC, you had to be careful with them right out of the oven, or you'd destroy the roof of your mouth.

CD
 
I don’t buy them, but I do like the tubs of premade mashed potatoes, and there used to be a brand of mashed potato discs, sort of like small frozen cookies, that you could microwave with milk or water and those weren’t bad.

Ramen noodles, I do like those, but I don’t eat them very often.
 
...of the dozen or so meals that I prepare weekly, a couple of those will be convenience foods - frozen fish fingers, chicken nuggets, frozen fries, baked beans, sausages/hot dogs, packet pasta/macaroni and so on.

I don't buy ready meals here in Singapore per se - there isn't a lot of selection of those here anyway and take away food is cheap and plentiful. If I were back living in the UK though - that would be a different story: Tesco, Sainsburys, Waitrose, M&S - they all have a wide range of adequate ready meals (and some of them are really good q.v. M&S Chicken Tikka!), you just pop them in the microwave or the oven and bang - you have a reasonable iunch or dinner. Loads of choice there and I eat quite a lot of convenience food when I'm visiting my folks in London, though the price of them has been creeping up like everything else.
 
We're still in the 19th century regarding convenience foods. They just don't exist here.
In the UK last year, we had to order ready meals for my mum and dad. The ones I cooked (ie. reheated) and tried were dire. Underseasoned, overcooked, bland - just like school dinners 60 years ago!
 
I try to stay away from ultraprocessed foods, there's some early evidence that shows that kind of food has no health benefits, and here in Portugal that kind of food is a lot more expensive than fruit, veggies, etc, so there's no real advantage to buying those foods.

Also the kind of convenience foods we have here in Portugal is really limited, and probably poor quality. I can still remember when I first bought a schnitzel from one of the biggest supermarkets brands here in Portugal. It was one of the most disgusting things I've ever had in my life. I was hungry and I couldn't eat it, just tossed the entire thing in the trash (and remained hungry), the seasoning was really off. That was 12 years ago and it was such a traumatic experience I can still remember it.
 
caseydog said:
Another major sodium bomb. How do they get that much sodium into that tiny flavor packet?

CD
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I use the noodles but toss the flavor packets now and add my own flavorings.

I went through a period of eating the ramen noodles for lunch years ago because it was quick to make with very little clean up. Then, I'd get bad headaches later. Stopped eating the ramen and the headaches stopped.
 
HEB stores here in Texas have a section called Meal Simple, which has meals prepared and packaged for you to take home and cook. I get my Tamales there, and they are excellent. I have not tried anything else, but they have sections for Asian, Italian, Mexican, and a few others. They even have a Vegan section.

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