OT as hell: ready meals

<Boggle>

Do you know how a microwave actually works?

Actually, if you look at the packs of most frozen RMs, they tend to say
"Best cooked from frozen" or similar.

 

I imagine that in most cases it isn't true, but in most foods
microwaves do penetrate further and faster than simple
externally-applied heat.

However, ever tried softening butter?

 

Absolutely not. Might take a bit longer though.

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Well, as Pip says, to a degree they do. I've never managed to nuke a
dish to get the edge burned and the inside tepid.

 

Occassionally. I tend to have in the freezer a frozen curry or something
from Iceland, which costs £1.50. Gets used sometime if we get home very
late and haven't eaten. Usually eaten with some bread or rice. It's not
so much the speed aspect, but the hassle-free aspect. Bung it in the
oven/micro, and leave it.

Sometimes also a Sainsbury's chilled meal, usually something Thai or
Japanese.

 

Indeed.

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message

A few years ago, when my pa was dying, my ma had a stroke - not a bad one,
but enough to incapacitate her for a while. The old feller, who had never
bothered to learn to cook, went off and bought armfuls of ready meals, to be
able to feed the old dear. He acknowledged that they were expensive, but
even he [in extremis] thought they were disgusting. Anyway, he died and she
made a fairly good recovery and we were left with loads of ready meals. I
tried a couple, but the packaging was more tasty and more nourishing, so I
gave the rest to a local homeless refuge. Frankly, however hungry I was, I
would prefer biscuits'n'cheese, a sarnie or anything including going hungry
overnight - other than be forced to eat that crap again. Perhaps quality
has improved since then, but I completely agree that it's a bloody expensive
way of eating badly.

 

TOG@toil, ,

I have - though I may well have a rubbish microwave.

Frozen food absorbs less microwave energy than thawed, and consequently
heats up more slowly. Inevitably, though, it's the food on the outside
of a frozen block of chicken tikka that heats up first, turning to
liquid (or goop). This liquid then shields the food inside the frozen
murghsickle, causing the centre to heat more slowly while the outside
boils away merrily.

This is why microwave defrost programmes have a stop/start action - the
"stop" is to allow transfer of heat from the outside to the inside to
occur, hopefully melting a little more of the centre. Foods in a more
liquid state heat more evenly because convection can occur, moving the
food around a little, allowing more of the food to be exposed to the
radiation.

Back to your original post, though - frozen plated roast dinners
probably microwave from frozen reasonably well because the food is
spread out thinly on a large plate - so you don't get large volumes of
food being shielded from radiation.

 

On Thu, 11 Jan 2007 21:25:50 +0000,

Rarely but them, and only really good brands, and only when reduced in
price. They go into the freezer for those 'can't be bothered' days.

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I make a lot of soups for my old Mum, who can't cook at all, never
could, and loves soup. Favourites are lentil, onion and carrot (smooth
style), vegetable (lumpy), minestrone (lumpy), and potato and leek
(smooth). She won't eat meat, but doesn't mind meat stock, so it's a
way of getting some goodness into her.

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Not at all. Just boil away for about 30 minutes, should be fine.

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Well, as Pip says, to a degree they do. I've never managed to nuke a
dish to get the edge burned and the inside tepid.[/QUOTE]

Very easy to demonstrate. Just put a bowl of thick soup, as prepared
above, in the microwave for about four minutes. You'll find it's gone
all brown and sticky round the edge while still being cool in the
middle.

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We get most of our veg and some of the fruit via a Riverford Organics
box scheme - it's all good quality and comes complete with encrusted
earth

And does last a lot longer (and taste a lot better) than the
shop-bought stuff - probably because the pick -> ship -> buy cycle is
much shorter than with supermarket stuff.

Likewise - and I prefer to buy my meat from the local butcher because I
know that it comes from local farms and hasn't incurred a huge
carbon-debt by being shipped from half-way round the world.

Phil

 

Or Firmly-Whippingstool as he's known in various places..

Indeed. It might be sustainable for *him* but not for all and
sundry[1].

Phil.

[1] We would run out of land before then.

 

Sainsburys are doing some food pouches that we tried t'other day
(needed a quick mean before going out to fencing club).

One was a haddock pottage (very nice) and the other a muchroom
strogonoff (not so nice).

They don't need freezing and they need stuff cooking to go with it as
it's just the main dish but they were actually both quite palatable.
And cooked with proper ingredients.

I must admit to using AB's large Yorkshire puddings on occasion - if
only because mine tend to end up like shoe leather.

Phil

 

Sounds like our chicken glop. Take jelly from the roast (Cheryl roasts
the chicken over a large tray of water and all the juices end up making
a lovely stock with the water. We just scrape the fat of the top and it
jellifies as it cools.) and add potatoes, pearl barley (essential!),
carrots plus whatever is in the cupboard. Add leftover chicken (or
goose - which we did after Christmas) plus seasoning of choice and
simmer for 1/2 an hour.

Produces a wonderful, thick stew. I'm salivating at the very thought of
it.

Phil

 

"24-hour breakfast - because that's how long it's been on the hotplate"

Phil

 

No, but a hand blender is, while not essential, damn useful.

No, just a big pan. Lack of pressure cooker just means you simmer it
for 20 minutes or so before blending rather than 5 mins.

The random soup recipe I put in the caff is a good one.

 

ginge says...

Paging Ivan Reid.