Received an idea from Fred @Fred123 regarding reviews of easy meals available at most supermarkets and some convenience stores . These meals are usually frozen .
Naturally all tastes differ and what one might find appetising another might not share this opinion . That being said it will give us a rough guide to the culinary content of such meals …
Thanks @Fred123 for the idea .
One easy meal that is quite tasty is Aldi’s International Cuisine Lamb Shank with Red wine sauce . A frozen 320gr meal it is prepared in the microwave in a matter of minutes .
Pros
Very tasty
At $4.49 very competitively priced
Cons
Very high sodium count 710 mg
Only %46 local content
Contains Emulsifiers and anti oxidants and preservatives 450,222,330,220,1422.
3.5 Health Star rating despite high salt content
Would eat on the odd occasion but the high sodium content would prevent it from being my regular fare .
I have discovered McCain Healthy Choice Whole Grains this year: single serve for $5.00 (occasionally reduced by $0.50, on “special”). The 7 meals in this (frozen food, microwave & oven)) range are limited, in my nearest shopping town, but are stocked by both Woolworths & Coles.
I haven’t done any nutritional lists (easily obtainable on the website), and am buying them for personal convenience - ie, when i can’t be bothered…! - and taste.
Healthy Choice Wholegrains Beef & Chia Meatballs with Wholemeal Spaghetti 350g
Healthy Choice Whole Grains Chicken & Mushroom Risotto 350g
Healthy Choice Whole Grains Japanese Teriyaki Chicken 340g
Healthy Choice Whole Grains Chicken & Roasted Cherry Tomato with Wholemeal Fettuccine 320g
Healthy Choice Whole Grains Slow Cooked Beef Ragu with Wholemeal Fettuccini & Black Beans 320g
Healthy Choice Wholegrains Tandoori Chicken with Brown Basmati Rice & Lentils 340g
I am stocking my freezer with, in descending order of favouritism, the Risotto, Chicken & Roasted Cherry Tomato (which I can’t get any more, despite lodging requests!), Tandoori chicken, Beef Ragu/Japanese Teriyaki Chicken and Italian Beef & Meatballs (this one comes last because the pasta is too thin, and so is the tomato sauce - which tastes suspiciously sweet…).
I have been pleasantly surprised by how satisfying one small tray can be, and the unexpected “hits” that come from the different grains etc. All I need to add to the meals is a good grinding of black pepper!
PS Don’t expect the chicken to taste of anything, & it doesn’t resemble it either! And it’s probably the same for the beef, although the meatballs look like meat…
Ruffie Rustic Foods - Sold At Woollies.
The Ruffie range is absolutely delicious. They are made by Patties Foods and are stocked in the self-serve fridge displays in the Deli section.
https://pattiesfoods.com.au/Articles/2019/01/17/Ruffie-Rustic-Foods-Announcement
The quiche and the friatta are $12 for a pack of 2 and the sausage rolls and the party pies are $10 for a pack of 8, but I usually get them on special or marked down when short dated.
These are the 4 our local Woollies stocks but their website shows a few different ones.
https://www.woolworths.com.au/shop/search/products?searchTerm=ruffie
My wife and I share a quiche or friatta for lunch, or for dinner with salad so we get 2 meals out of each pack.
Highly recommended.
Coles “Made Easy” Meals.
We have tried several of Coles range of “Made Easy” meals.
They are in their own section in the meat cabinet.
https://shop.coles.com.au/a/a-qld-fnq-earlville/product/coles-rspca-chicken-breast-sizzle-mushroom
Delicious.
https://shop.coles.com.au/a/a-qld-fnq-earlville/product/coles-rspca-chicken-breast-involtini
Very nice but not as good as the one above.
Very tasty.
https://shop.coles.com.au/a/a-qld-fnq-earlville/product/coles-rspca-chicken-yellow-curry
Absolutely disgusting. One of the worst excuses for a curry I have ever eaten.
yes! Love these! (the ruffies). Also, ‘Amy’s’ macaroni cheese and also burritos they’re in the organic section of the supermarket freezer and they’re from the US, but, I can’t fault them. They are so good! The soups are to die for, especially the chunky tomato.
Good one @Fred123 and @vax2000
I was wondering if this topic might serve some further purpose. While not on our regular shopping list, for the elderly still at home on their own they might be a useful alternative. It is also an efficient way to prepare different meals from the rest of the family, where you have an elderly member at home who cannot always share the same main.
We have one passed 91yr old family member who finds them a convenient alternative, sometimes adding extra fresh veges and the universal Tomato sauce. Something about aged taste buds no doubt.
Knowing which products are good value, have the nutrition levels clearly presented, are easy to eat with the false teeth in, easy to open with weak arthritic hands, etc might also be a useful purpose.
From some work an aged care nutritionist did with my elderly father who shared with us, it is still important to consider individual needs. Some products may not suit everyone’s needs. Anything that did not readily fall apart (mushy almost) was a choking hazard. Some things we might think need minimising for good health may be less critical once you reach a certain point in your timeline. Best to get some help, which we arranged through dad’s GP.
Aldi’s International Cuisine Veal Cordon Bleu Frozen Dinner .
Pros
Price $4.49
Very tasty
Cons
Only %22 Australian produce
1200mg of sodium yet rates 3 out of 5 Health Stars
Too high a salt content . Would eat occasionally if too time poor to prepare a meal .
That is very high…
And very disappointing since Australia has some of the best quality fresh foods in the world. It might be a case of driven by profit…
Bought a pack of these Buffalo Wings at our local Coles 2 days ago marked down by 25% and my wife and I ate half of them for our lunch yesterday.
https://shop.coles.com.au/a/a-qld-fnq-earlville/product/coles-rspca-chicken-buffalo-wing-nibbles
She really liked them and the sauce and I enjoyed them so I grabbed another pack yesterday which were marked down further to 50%.
We tried a pack of Coles Asian Special Fried Rice for lunch today which I bought marked down.
https://shop.coles.com.au/a/a-qld-fnq-earlville/product/coles-asian-chinese-fried-rice
The most disgusting apology for fried rice I have ever tasted. Bland, gluggy, sloppy mush.
Our local Coles was having a “food festival” consisting of pop up stands throughout the fresh produce section yesterday.
One was offering samples of Coles Tex Mex Peri Peri Chicken & Rice.
https://shop.coles.com.au/a/national/product/peri-peri-chicken
I ate a couple and it was very tasty, and to their credit, Coles were using small cardboard containers and bamboo spoons/forks.
I bought a marked down pack of Coles RSPCA Approved Black Bean Chicken & Egg Fried Rice and had it for lunch today.
https://shop.coles.com.au/a/national/product/coles-black-bean-chicken-egg-fried-rice
Very tasty.
I juat ate a pack of Coles Beef Madras Curry I bought marked down.
https://shop.coles.com.au/a/earlville/product/coles-curry-pot-meal-beef-madras
It was very tasty but was let down by the beef pieces being very small and very sparse. It definitely needs more and larger pieces of meat, especially if one is paying the full price of $7.50.
Make sure you read the labels carefully where is the food from not a fan of supermarket branded products but do purchase the odd thing though.Normally prefer to do some wise shopping and pick up specials from the big brand products and still pay about the same price but get a better quality product
Link doesn’t seem to work.
My view is that anything claiming to be ‘food’ that comes as a pre-packaged heat and eat, or jar sauce, soup, etc, etc, is not actually ‘food’. If you can keep it down, it doesn’t kill you, and it comes out as pleasantly as possible then that’s all one can expect or hope for. Which is not to say I’ve never bought such stuff, but all I’ve really bought is convenience at the cost of nutrition, health and happiness 
Something has changed since I posted it.
I will check again tomorrow.
One of th guys in Whirlpool recommended boxed meat from Woolies. I tried it on the last shop… absolutely delish. I will never attempt a roast beef, myself, again. Advantage? Can be microwaved. I cannot bend for the oven, so MW is essential.
The only disadvantage that I can see is that its a meal for two, but you can’t avoid cooking all of it, so its going to be lunch then dinner, or dinner then lunch the next day, reheated. (or have a mass pigout)… Also the plastic package isnt that easy to break into after cooking.
We have been buying those as a ‘convenience dinner’ since we first saw it. Quality has been consistent and while we use the oven they have always come out good. Not comparable to a good cook’s home spun main, but tender and flavourful enough plus the gravy works on a variety of sides.
I might try the microwave now, so thanks for the comment!
Re ‘from Woolies’ we buy a boxed meat of some sort every few weeks and find certain ones are much better at Woolies, and others are much better at Coles, and the difference has been consistent over time.
This more recent product from Coles can be microwaved as can most of the boxed varieties - we always used the oven and it has consistently been very good so cannot vouch for other methods.
