why, oh why...

[CoolGirl]

.... don't ready meals end up looking like they do on the packaging? Take, for example, the fancy M&S shepherd's pie I just had for my dinner. The cover shows a pic of the cooked dish with the mashed potato neatly nestling on top of the veggie bit. On the grounds that the dish doesn't have a collapsible side, it ended up as an unappetising slop once dished up :pale: Same thing happens with lasagne - car crash on a plate.

(I don't eat ready meals very often but I thought I'd have a go as I'm poorly and couldn't face cooking)

[Lou M]

Quite a con really isn't it? I've had the occasional ready meal, especially when I lived on my own, and was always dissapointed.

[Gene genie]

its quite obvious coolgirl, they don't show what they actually end up looking like because no-one will buy them.
they have a close relative which is the dreaded in-flight meals.

[Baph]

I know someone that works as a photographer, taking pictures for all sorts of things like this. So I can tell you the real answer if you like, but if anyone doesn't want to know, stop reading. :D

Apparently, for any one shoot, lets say frozen burgers (not ready meal, just normal burgers). To get the single shot that's used on the packaging, the photographer usually has to cook a couple of hundred boxes of the things to get the right look, the right light etc etc, the right condition of the food, blah blah blah.

Also, in order to get the photo's to look good, the food isn't always cooked as per instructions on the packet. Sometimes it's not even edible after it's been 'cooked' for a photo.

But the times it is edible, it's free food. :D Just that those ones aren't usually the ones you see on the packet.

[Gene genie]

is your mate overweight baph?;)

[squirrel_hunter]

As a man who lives off of Nuclear Food I totally agree with you.

However I have over the years of ingesting this 'food' came up with a cunning solution to circumvent this problem. My solution is two fold and thus:

Firstly serving the meal, there is no way to remove a freshly radio active Sheppard's Pie or Lasagna from its plastic cage without reducing it to slop. This is fact. So don't try. Eat the glowing meal from the container in which it was cooked. The meal remains together as intended and if you squint or follow point 2 of my solution can even resemble the picture on the outer packet. As a side effect of this solution I have noticed a sizable reduction in washing up, as I have no need for the use of a plate. I am currently working on refining this solution involving the card packaging to remove the need of a fork which is required to be washed.

The second part of this solution is to drink. Alcohol. Lots of it. I recommend drinking before, during, and after the act of digestion of what is best described as nuclear waste. You need to start drinking before the sitting to lower your inhibitions so you will actually allow that stuff to enter your mouth, and often to even entertain the idea of 'cooking' it. You need to drink while you consume the meal, this helps to keep your mind off of what your are eating and to enable you to keep shoveling it in. Finally continue drinking after the meal to get the taste out of your mouth and to try and erase the memory of what you have just done.

HTH

[Baph]

is your mate overweight baph?;)

Nah, his photoshoots miraculously happen to be around the same time as his house parties for the majority of the time.

Even then, food goes to waste.

He's a damn good cook though. :)

[shonadoll]

M&S food is the only ready made stuff I would touch. Their vege buckwheat pancakes with a sour cream and goats cheese sauce is divine.e

[Gene genie]

Their vege buckwheat pancakes with a sour cream and goats cheese sauce is divine.e
are you sure?:)

[shonadoll]

Yep! For convenience food it's ace.

[Electro]

If it dont baaa, oink, cluck or moo, that there foods no good for you :)

[Viney]

Never take them out of the packet then youa re never disapointed! I sometimes have sausage and mash for lunch at work from Tesco. Its got about as much flavour as the packaging, but at £2 for a lunch, its ok and bareable

[Miss Alpinestarhero]

M&S food is the only ready made stuff I would touch.

+1

I always make food from scratch (even chips!) unless it is a reeeeeeeally time consuming meal like Moussaka. I had a ready made one from M&S last week. Its was good...but not as good as homemade.

Maria