Just Add ... Instant Meals

flyinglentris

flyinglentris

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When was the last time you ever used an instant meal like Hamburger Helper or boxed Macaroni & Cheese.

I gave up on this sort of thing a long long time ago.
 
All instant food I eat are Indomie noodles, as someone with Indonesian roots this is part of our culture. But we add toppings to it like fried onions, seroendeng and leftovers.

I don't eat any other instant foods .
 
It's been decades, though things like HH were on my path to cooking-dom, early on.

I do still eat pot noodle and the occasional frozen pizza.
 
flyinglentris said:
When was the last time you ever used an instant meal like Hamburger Helper or boxed Macaroni & Cheese.

I gave up on this sort of thing a long long time ago.
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We don't get so many things like that in the UK. We get aisles and aisles of ready prepared chilled meals though. All you need to do is heat them up. Instant noodles are popular here - that is the only thing I can think of. But I seriously don't know when I last ate an instant meal of the type you describe.
 
Morning Glory said:
We don't get so many things like that in the UK. We get aisles and aisles of ready prepared chilled meals though. All you need to do is heat them up. Instant noodles are popular here - that is the only thing I can think of. But I seriously don't know when I last ate an instant meal of the type you describe.
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From way back in the 60s, I remember TV Dinners. Those have largely been replaced by frozen ready made entrees that don't mix a main entree with two sides like vegetables and mashed potatoes. I might from time to time buy some things like a Marie Calendar Pot Pie or other pre-processed meal. Micro-nuke time savers is what they are. And some of them pass as good meals.

My original post referred to those box meals that you add water and/or ground beef, etc. I mean you got to be living on food stamps to buy that stuff to save money. Or you have to have no confidence in your capacity to cook.
 
Instant noodles for me, I like them.
Just add a little hot water and they are ready in 2 minutes. I don't eat them often but I like the idea of something that still sounds exotic to me - well, although not as good as the original.
 
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I haven't had instant dinners (foods that need an additional ingredient or process) in so long I cannot recall.
I eat frozen meals (ie. Lean Cuisine, Stouffer's, Marie Callander, etc.) a few times per month.
 
Just instant rice noodle-soup packets here too. I can't think of anything else. Not whole meals, anyway.

As Morning Glory says, it's not a common thing in the uk. I can think of cuppa-soup, pot noodles and there are some pasta ones with sauces, but I dont think they are popular. Pot noodles are the most popular of the three, I think. They are all a bit 80s.
 
flyinglentris said:
My original post referred to those box meals that you add water and/or ground beef, etc. I mean you got to be living on food stamps to buy that stuff to save money. Or you have to have no confidence in your capacity to cook.
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I know - there are very few such things in the UK. I remember a cooking challenge on another forum where using box meals was the challenge. I had to search what that meant! As Herbie says, we get a few sachets of dried things like soup or bread sauce but that's about it.
 
MypinchofItaly said:
Instant noodles for me, I like them.
Just add a little hot water and they are ready in 2 minutes. I don't eat them often but I like the idea of eating something that still sounds exotic to me - well, although not as good as the original.
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Exotic? The only Instant Noodles I ever tried were Ramen or Cup O' Noodles. Both had too much salt in their Bouillon Powder.
 
We have 2 large and 2 fridge freezers, full of frozen stuff. Quick fix is pies ( individual) weight watcher meals ( wife's) cheese rolls ( ready in 10min) sausages and all types of snacks. Yesterday like most days I only eat one meal at night. Stomach reflux and habits of a lifetime. But I regularly cook good meals. I can whip something up pretty dam quick. My time and motion skills still amaze my wife.

Russ
 
Vesta curry! They were sold in the 60s. I got one in my freshers pack at university in '94 and had to ask my mum what it was! I think they were trying to relaunch them. Vesta do frozen meals now but I dont think they do dried now
 
very little . . .
Manwich now and then - really just a spicy tomato sauce as you have to add everything else.
mac&cheese and pizza around here is strictly from scratch - pizza crust and all....

"pot pies" - the Marie C are decent; but if I have left over baked/roasted/stewed chicken, I spin my own altho I do use Pepperidge Farm puff doughs for the shell.

Barilla pasta meals in a bag - a number of those are quite tasty and not too chem ladened.
try them, be picky....

probably our biggest "prep food" is rolls - crusty, soft, whatever. it's just super-dicey to home make 2 dinner rolls....
Costco Artisan are dang good - and freeze well. we buy two dozen and just extract 'as needed'
Sister Shubert _soft_ dinner rolls are good - but for crispy/french crust we go with Rhodes.

(sigh)

we've done turkey&side leftovers, tonight is turkey rice soup from scratch - simmered down the carcass - it gelified - gotta be yummy! - bits of left over turkey converted to turkey salad for sandwiches, then I froze the rest - a (qty) whole breast and a (qty) whole leg in meal size packages for later.....
 
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