Useful food buys to save time.

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.

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.

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.

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Am cross that they have withdrawn the dill one though.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.

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.

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 ......

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

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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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.

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.

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.

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.

I like mashed swede as a veg but find fresh swede really difficult to chop up so I have been known to buy the ready cubed variety from Asda. I've bought a few packs when it is reduced for a quick sale, cook it all, mash with butter, then freeze in portions to reheat in the microwace. I do bulk cook quite a lot as living alone makes some things difficult to buy for one so having home made 'ready meals' in the freezer is always good. Some can just be reheated in the microwave, though some, like shepherd's pie, are best left to defrost then reheat in the oven.

I do buy some ready meals from supermarkets too, especially if they are in the reduced section, as sometimes can't be bothered to cook from scratch as it's just for me. I received a leaflet advertising parsley box ready meals. I wondered how many of you have tried them? I haven't yet but thought they might be handy as they don't need storing in the fridge. With lockdown meaning going shopping less often I sometimes struggle to fit everything in the fridge with a big shop! I'm only recently retired so bulk cooking is my best option but as I get older I wonder if I'll rely more on ready meals.

So many lovely ideas but most of these things aren't available here in Germany. Does anyone remember when the first "cheats" did the rounds - using a tin of cream of mushroom soup for a chicken casserole, for example? Tins of mushroom soup are still not available here.

I have started buying far more frozen veg. Especially frozen sliced peppers and onions and mushrooms ( though they tend to have an odd taste) also things like frozen herbs, garlic and ginger. Definitely just throw everything into a slow cooker. Forget all that browning malarky. Last week bought a soup maker. Awesome!! But it is best if I put it through the process twice. Did buy a bag of frozen mince from Iceland, but I am not really keen. Will mix it with fresh mince and do a large batch cook.

I buy a bag of potatoes, peel, cook and mash with butter and milk and put into small dishes to freeze. Tedious to do but worth it for the time that they last. I don't find them watery when defrosted.

Jocork. With regards to swede, have you tried the singing swede trick? I haven't but my friend , who loves swede, does it all the time. Just put a whole swede in the microwave and wait till it sings! Then cut it open and spoon it out.

And Aunt Bessie's frozen Yorkshire puddings. Can't believe that for so many years I was a Yorkshire pudding snob!!!

We find frozen or bought mash too smooth!

I still use tins of condensed soup - mushroom added to the minced beef and onions along with half a beef stock cube makes a lovely shepherds pie, and tomato reduced with chicken stock and added to sautéed onions and risotto rice makes a nice tomato risotto. Nice with homemade meatballs. I’ve also used the mushroom one in a chicken pie.