Useful food buys to save time.

The jars of chopped garlic are well worth having Witzend. Spread on any bread with a teaspoon of pesto as well, pop in the oven, and you have a quick side. I also use this mix for baked fish with sliced tomatoes on top. Or spread the garlic on chicken breasts with mushrooms or other veg for lovely flavour. I use about a teaspoon per serving. I don’t mind chopping fresh garlic at all but it’s the spreadability of the quick garlic that is useful- no need to mix with butter or olive oil. It lasts ages in the fridge too.
I always make at least double the mash needed too so I have some another day for fish or shepherds pie, potato cakes etc. If I do freeze some, I just mash but don’t add milk or butter to prevent the watery-ness when defrosted.

What a lot of ideas here which I wouldn’t have thought of. I’m a bit fussy about additives in prepared stuff, but admit to occasionally buying M&S ready meals for a cooking break at weekends. Favourites are prawn and chorizo risotto, and gastro pub chicken Kievs.
Otherwise it’s just tinned lentils, beans and tomatoes for convenience am afraid.

Gagajo. I prepare mash and then add a beaten egg and stir in, before freezing. I normally pipe into rosettes and it doesn’t go watery.

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I do not enjoy cooking, I did buy a soup maker and its brilliant. Only takes 19 mins start to finish. My favourites are leek and potato ?, mushrooms ? ,I also make veg , last week I made celery. I usually have a mug for lunch.

Interesting, I might give frozen mash a go. It's a real comfort food for me, but so much fag when it is only me eating it. Thanks ladies!

Tesco chef base for me too. Inspired! Plus chopped frozen garlic, ginger, chillis. And various frozen herbs. Quick and more cost effective in the long run as I dont end up using it once then wasting.

I try and cook from scratch whenever possible, I'm Diabetic, and quite sensitive to some food additives, and added salt in dishes whether natural or chemical soon leaves me dehydrated and itchy.
This rules out using a lot of the sauce mixes, ready meals, and some types of flavourings including cheese. I do buy ready prepared vegetables, especially the more tough ones to chop, but prefare fresh Onions and Mushrooms, as I find the frozen type quite watery, often yielding more water when defrosted than the vegetable itself. One of the worst culprits for high salt is anything with a Breaded coating, even worse if it's one of the flavoured variety, Southern Fried, Garlic and Herb, Sweet Chilli type of thing.
I do use some things like the Sainsbury's microwave rice pouches, frozen Aunt Bessies oven Chips, and Heinz Mayonnaise. Our Meat, Fish, and Dairy produce we buy fresh from local suppliers and freeze ourselves.

Gagajo i always use frozen mash, just microwave it in a bowl with a little milk and butter and it's not watery at all.

GagaJo I find that home frozen mash thaws badly as does freezing the ready-made chilled supermarket mash.

The bought frozen mash must be made differently as it does not go watery when thawed. The only tip I would give is you need more than you think with about a third of a bag for one portion, or am I just greedy.

Does bought frozen mash thaw out like homemade frozen mash? I don't like mash that I have frozen (on a cottage pie for example).

Oxtail soup added to a beef casserole makes a lovely rich gravy

Oh yes...I do the same ....buy up the M & S mix of casserole ready veggies, add either chicken or steak (sometimes don't bother to brown it) ,,,sling it all in the slow cooker overnight, and have enough single meals to last for five days (don't eat the same every day for 5 days ....freeze portions so on days I don't want to cook I have a nice nourishing meal !)....I also I have to say, buy low fat frozen mince and mashed potato with a shepherd;s pie mix so then I can just make a single one ...difficult when there is only one of you as single things are hard to find in a supermarket .....sometimes can find packs of 1 chicken breast, but little else comes in small packs ......

I buy plenty of frozen vegs ,including onions - no waste, no tears, no preparation required. I like Sainsburies frozen casserole pack for making soups and casseroles.

If I had to pick one thing ir would be frozen mashed potato. Sainsbury do a very good one. So useful for topping Shepherds Pie etc and it hasn't anything in it you would not use at home.
Second would be tins of Eazy Onions, well drained and used as per recipes in Delia Cheats.
Third would be those Maggi seasoned and flavoured papers for cooking chicken and salmon portions. They work well. I use my griddle pan.
Am cross that they have withdrawn the dill one though.
I am another who uses Campbells condensed soups for sauces.
A tin of lentil soup, some curry paste and a mix of veg makes a great veg curry served with rice.
Bachelors curry noodles mixed with some microwave veg are another lightning meal fix.

Campbell condensed soups, mushroom or tomato, to use as a sauce for pasta. Frozen vegetables, including diced onions, mushrooms and peppers for when I don't feel like chopping and slicing.

I buy carrots, onions, sweet potatoes etc and spend a morning chopping them all up to put in freezer bags to use at later dates. I can then make stews, casseroles,etc and just lift the bags out of the freezer when needed.

Minimoon. I love Spice Tailor too. Discovered it a couple of months ago.

Frozen veg. Buying more and more. kittylester Yes to the cauliflower (£1 a bag) brilliant value and so good. Will look for the cauliflower cheese next time. Also get Sainsburgy's frozen charcoaled grilled mediterranean veg. Makes brilliant stir fry and soup.

Frozen mashed potato from Iceland or elsewhere is mine.You need a lot, so I'm not sure quite what it is mixed with but some left over bolognese with that one top makes for a quick cottage pie.

I use Simply Cook spices together with their recipes for quick 20 minute meals. Taste much nicer than your own mix of spices.

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Like Greyduster I couldn’t get on with frozen mushrooms. Mine were watery and rubbery no matter what I did.

Conversely I am having success with frozen grated garlic from Asda. I thought it might be bland but it really isn’t. In fact, I’m working my way through this shop’s scratch cook ingredients plus I like their frozen mixed cabbage.

I used to buy a pack of ready prepared veg in tesco and make soup. Cook it in stock, season and blitz. Add chopped parsley and serve.

Cooking used to be more like a hobby for me. I even used to demonstrate yeast cookery at WI. I still don’t like to use jars ready made jars of sauces. But now I cannot stand because of arthritis I rely on packs of frozen stewing vegetables, chopped onions, mashed potatoes, raspberries etc. Much less waste. However I wish the packs were smaller because I only have a small fridge.
I wouldn’t be without my slow cooker and do miss the pressure cooker which I got rid of because it was too big and dangerous.

Frozen berries and frozen nuggets of spinach. Both invaluable for weekday breakfasts when in a rush to get to work. Into smoothies, berries for porridge, spinach for omelettes and eggs florentine. Couldn't be without!

I like Spice Tailor Curry kits. I also keep garlic, chillies and herbs in frozen packs in the freezer for quick access.
Blue Dragon stir fry sauces make a regular appearance and some of the microwave rices are good, though not Sainsbury’s own.