4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[Guest]

DH went earlier to M&S in Warrington, which is huge but they still managed to sell out of ALL the main course items! He said the place was packed to the rafters so he just left, he didn't even get me the cream eggs I asked him to grab while he was there never mind.

[TAJ]

We got the deal today - the lady at the counter said that branch had sold 2,000 meal deals FRiday and it was pretty full this morning! Apparently, depending what you choose it was up to £40 worth for £20. I trouble is as it is valetines there were more 2-portion items than normal and I am looking for things that will go around 3. So scallops for starters, then rack of lamb with asparagus & broccolli and rasberry & white choclate cheesecake to finish - plus the £8.99 red wine you mentioned.

 

Tracy

[Cinnamon]

I think that with tills & deals you have to run all the things through the till for it to pick up on the deal & give the discount.

 

The rose was not my thing either, so I popped it on my SIL's grave on the way home

 

We had the peppercorn staek & mediterranean veggies last night & it was just yummy - & I am not a steak person.

 

Does it count as a ready meal when you get pieces of meat to cook yourself?

Interesting thought.......

[TAJ]

I think that with tills & deals you have to run all the things through the till for it to pick up on the deal & give the discount.

 

The rose was not my thing either, so I popped it on my SIL's grave on the way home

 

We had the peppercorn staek & mediterranean veggies last night & it was just yummy - & I am not a steak person.

 

Does it count as a ready meal when you get pieces of meat to cook yourself?

Interesting thought.......

 

As you say - was it a 'ready meal' - we had raw scallops and then a rake of lamb - just like buying a joint.

 

Tracy

[susanbb]

Everything looked rather delicious when I saw it this morning

[The Dogmother]

My friend went down to our local M&S and reported back that is was apcked to the rafters and that the roses were a tad manky but that they were offering a box of chocs instead.

 

 

She saved £11 something.

[BarbaraJ]

We had the pate (which could have fed 6!!) the peppered steak, brocolli + asparagus and chunky chips, choc mousse and wine . was delish!!! oh and the rose. sorry that made me laugh about the rose

[Ms Marple]

We had the pate (which could have fed 6!!) the peppered steak, brocolli + asparagus and chunky chips, choc mousse and wine . was delish!!! :

 

We had pretty much the same except I bought a french stick to go with the pate - only used half of it. we also had fruit tarts instead of the choc mousse. The wine - well-recommended Cinnamon - was lovey. chocs instead of rose.

Good job YS has gone skiing as he could have eaten it all by himself I reckon. Is it only me with tall sons who never stop eating?

[Ygerna]

We Coquilles St Jaques, followed by Cook! Parma Wrapped Chicken & Cheese with Mediteranean vegetables (to which I added some roast new potatoes) and dessert was melt in the middle chocolate puddings. I did pick up some wine, but I already had some opened at home so thats in the fridge. I also made sure I got the rose as hubby never buys flowers. Ever.

 

The meal was lovely, as we have three children and one is still breastfeeding we can't go out for a meal and for us, this really does work well. We do their dine for £10 too:clap:

[WitchHazel]

 

Does it count as a ready meal when you get pieces of meat to cook yourself?

Interesting thought.......

 

Good point Sarah, and I suspect the answer depends on where you're starting from.

 

Fom my POV (and I can see I am probably in the minority - as I said, it all depends on where you're starting from), it counts as a ready meal" because most of the items on offer came in plastic, along with everything necessary to heat them up. The scallops (which I bought) were all prepped, came with chorizo already chopped, and little pats of butter;

 

The other items had differing degrees of "ready prepared-ness". The steak was ready seasoned, but still needed frying/grilling; the lamb was aready covered in pinenuts and pesto and really just needed bunging in the oven; the potato was ready mashed and "for best results microwave"; the cheesecake was made and portioned, etc. etc.

 

I hope I didn't come across as judgemental. Until a few years ago, we nearly always ate ready meals (I mean, remove the sleeve pop in the oven type), usually from M&S or Waitrose. They always tasted great, and were very convenient. I used to buy ready prepped veg a lot of the time as well. I'm trying to remember what prompted the change, as I know we did it deliberately, but I can't remember why. It wasn't money, it started long before I stopped working.....

 

(there's been a long gap here)

 

I've got it!

 

I started to change when I wanted to lose weight and needed more control over the amount of fat and sugar I was consuming. I started on Weigh"Ooops, word censored!"chers (not in a group, this was by myself), and the lightbulb moment for me was discovering that one slice of a delicious marks and spencer loaf was 3 weight watchers points (so 1/6th of my daily allowance, on on slice of bread with nothing else on!).

 

Anyway, sorry, I didn't mean to go off at a tangent.

[..lay a little egg for me]

I had a look and couldn't see that I would be saving much money. I think the high cost of the pre-prepped veggies makes it look like a bargain, but if you work out how much it would cost to buy the ingredients and make it yourself it comes out cheaper than £20. I think the dine in for £10 is probably a better bargain, but only if you get the higher value items. I also have a problem with the amount of packaging, which makes me feel very guilty when I compare the amount of rubbish generated with just one M&S meal compared with my normal cooking.