Frozen food blocks - delivered to you.
Discussion
In the process of trying these and am rather impressed. The food is allegedly ‘chef prepared’ without many of the preservatives and additives found in ‘ready meals’. It’s then frozen in to small rectangular blocks and delivered to you in bags of 8. You need three or four blocks per person and add your own rice, spuds, pasta etc. The brand I’m trying has about 30 flavours and all the ones I’ve tried so far have been very tasty and quick to heat up.
Anyone else tried these and what are your thoughts?
Anyone else tried these and what are your thoughts?
probably talking about -
https://stockedfood.com/products/build-a-bundle
No interest in buying this kind of thing myself would rather make my own but I can see the appeal for some
https://stockedfood.com/products/build-a-bundle
No interest in buying this kind of thing myself would rather make my own but I can see the appeal for some
P2KKA said:
Seems like a good idea. Somewhere like Iceland should venture into it, maybe at a cheaper price point or limited options.
They are probably watching very closely and if it proves popular they will no doubt follow suit. And then lower the quality and then get it made in China or Thailand.I appreciate the convenience of it, but give me a tenner and I could make a Bolognese, Chilli, Curry for 10x portions, with maybe 20 mins prep time for each, for the same price and then chuck it in the freezer.
MattsCar said:
P2KKA said:
Seems like a good idea. Somewhere like Iceland should venture into it, maybe at a cheaper price point or limited options.
They are probably watching very closely and if it proves popular they will no doubt follow suit. And then lower the quality and then get it made in China or Thailand.I appreciate the convenience of it, but give me a tenner and I could make a Bolognese, Chilli, Curry for 10x portions, with maybe 20 mins prep time for each, for the same price and then chuck it in the freezer.
craigjm said:
This is pretty much what I do but I would struggle to make 10 portions of for £10 more like £20. Case in point you would need at least 1.5kg of mince for a 10 portion bolognaise and that would mean even with supermarket meat you are looking at £15
https://groceries.morrisons.com/products/morrisons-british-beef-and-pork-mince-1kg/115192111?srsltid=AU7gw4XMiAjHdgoWu1cYLD5MJBm5tV-cQ-tg6ylqkz3B7zwnqEEzaLdw...Carrots, celery, onions, a whole garlic bulb 3 tins of tomatoes for £1-2 and then chuck a couple of peppers and a courgette in to bulk it up (yeah I know it is not technically a Bolognese if you do that) and it is less than a tenner (minus a few herbs and a stock cube).
MattsCar said:
craigjm said:
This is pretty much what I do but I would struggle to make 10 portions of for £10 more like £20. Case in point you would need at least 1.5kg of mince for a 10 portion bolognaise and that would mean even with supermarket meat you are looking at £15
https://groceries.morrisons.com/products/morrisons-british-beef-and-pork-mince-1kg/115192111?srsltid=AU7gw4XMiAjHdgoWu1cYLD5MJBm5tV-cQ-tg6ylqkz3B7zwnqEEzaLdw...Carrots, celery, onions, a whole garlic bulb 3 tins of tomatoes for £1-2 and then chuck a couple of peppers and a courgette in to bulk it up (yeah I know it is not technically a Bolognese if you do that) and it is less than a tenner (minus a few herbs and a stock cube).
Nowt new. We’re in our 70s and have been batch cooking for years. Bolognese/Chilli/Curry/Chinese/Cassoulet/Petit selé the list is endless.
If you’re going cook, do a big portion and freeze several servings for later. Pretty much the same prep time and same energy costs.
But then, someone pops up on t’internet and says ‘Buy this - what a great idea!’
If you’re going cook, do a big portion and freeze several servings for later. Pretty much the same prep time and same energy costs.
But then, someone pops up on t’internet and says ‘Buy this - what a great idea!’
I did something similar last winter when work got hectic, and honestly the convenience side of it is real. The trick I found is to be a bit picky with what you buy frozen in blocks. Sauces, curries, stews and chilli all freeze brilliantly and reheat fine, but anything with pasta or rice cooked in already goes a bit mushy for my taste, so I would cook that part fresh.
One thing I would say on the cost side: it rarely beats batch cooking your own if you have the time and freezer space. A big pot of bolognese or chilli done on a Sunday costs pennies a portion. But there are weeks where it just does not happen, and on those weeks a freezer full of decent portions beats a takeaway order by a mile. I would treat it as a backup plan rather than the main plan.
One thing I would say on the cost side: it rarely beats batch cooking your own if you have the time and freezer space. A big pot of bolognese or chilli done on a Sunday costs pennies a portion. But there are weeks where it just does not happen, and on those weeks a freezer full of decent portions beats a takeaway order by a mile. I would treat it as a backup plan rather than the main plan.
danydan said:
I did something similar last winter when work got hectic, and honestly the convenience side of it is real. The trick I found is to be a bit picky with what you buy frozen in blocks. Sauces, curries, stews and chilli all freeze brilliantly and reheat fine, but anything with pasta or rice cooked in already goes a bit mushy for my taste, so I would cook that part fresh.
Indeed. I would never suggest batch cooking anything with something like rice or pasta already in the dish for exactly that reason. I guess the problem the companies have is that if you really are too lazy to do basic batch cooking you probably also cant be bothered to cook anything to go with the dish. I guess this is where the full on ready meal steps in. With the product shown here I imagine most of their customers are single people who probably eat just what arrives in the bag and thats it. The adverts talk about feeding families etc and I cant see that. So many of these products only make sense to singles. Nemophilist said:
I tried these a few years ago when I saw their dragons den pitch
It seemed a great idea but in reality it was more faff to divide frozen stuck blocks into the portions and defrost time.
I didn t find them tasty enough to be worth while over making my own and freezing it
I'm using those - you don't 'defrost' them as such - just cook them in the pan from frozen with a tiny bit of water. I take ten minutes to do that from them coming out of the freezer. I personally find them very tasty but its subjective of course.It seemed a great idea but in reality it was more faff to divide frozen stuck blocks into the portions and defrost time.
I didn t find them tasty enough to be worth while over making my own and freezing it
craigjm said:
I guess the problem the companies have is that if you really are too lazy to do basic batch cooking you probably also cant be bothered to cook anything to go with the dish. I guess this is where the full on ready meal steps in. With the product shown here I imagine most of their customers are single people who probably eat just what arrives in the bag and thats it. The adverts talk about feeding families etc and I cant see that. So many of these products only make sense to singles.
I'm single and its great for me because I wanted to get away from reliance on chilled 'ready meals'. The blocks allegedly have far fewer preservatives etc and they require me to 'cook' pasta, rice or potatoes to go with them so me its a great half way house between full on meal cooking and ready meals. So far so good!Edited by Mark V GTD on Friday 16th October 10:15
Mark V GTD said:
I'm single and its great for me because I wanted to get away from reliance on chilled 'ready meals'. The blocks allegedly have far fewer preservatives etc and they require me to 'cook' pasta, rice or potatoes to go with them so me its a great half way house between full on meal cooking and ready meals. So far so good!
When you compare the ingredients to similar meals sold chilled like the M&S range etc they certainly do contain far fewer preservatives, emulsifiers, thickeners and additives for sure. If your alternative is ready meals then yes this is a good step forward in terms of how healthy and "home cooked" the dishes actually are. What you have to watch is the portion sizes of the rice, pasta, potatoes etc you are putting with them otherwise the calorie saving against the ready meals evaporates rather quickly. I have found over the years that people are often surprised at how small a portion of rice, pasta or potatoes actually is. For example a portion for one of rice is 75g of dried product. When you cook that and look at what it is then its less than half of a portion of rice from a take out. Cheese is a big one there too, A portion of cheese is the size of an old fashioned match box and 30g. Looks tiny if youre used to pouring loads over your pasta.
What I dont like about these kind of companies is the subscription models. I can understand why they do it but for this one just buying a meal works out at £5.50 a portion because really an adult meal is 4 blocks and if you subscribe its £4.75 if you subscribe. At those prices its quite expensive because none of the dishes are that hard to make. If i pick a couple like the cape curry, the tagine and the bolognisae there are similar to what i could cook regularly and with really good quality ingredients my versions work out at about £2.50 a portion. If youre eating these meals 6 days a week thats £28.50 subscribed vs £15.00 do it yourself. Im lucky though in that I work from home so all this kind of stuff can cook all day while im working.
Good move on from ready meals and definitely from take out and in some ways I reckon its probably better than the likes of hello fresh
Excellent points Craig!
I tend to eat only one 'proper' meal a day most days so I tend to go for a larger portion of pasta or rice but point taken.
The prices you refer to are the 'screen prices' as it were and substantial discounts are available without much effort. No subscription is required - I just purchased as a one off order and it worked out at 83p per block - about £3.31 per four block large meal or £2.49 for a 'regular' one.
I looked at Hello Fresh but decided it was too much 'work' and this was an acceptable compromise.
I tend to eat only one 'proper' meal a day most days so I tend to go for a larger portion of pasta or rice but point taken.
The prices you refer to are the 'screen prices' as it were and substantial discounts are available without much effort. No subscription is required - I just purchased as a one off order and it worked out at 83p per block - about £3.31 per four block large meal or £2.49 for a 'regular' one.
I looked at Hello Fresh but decided it was too much 'work' and this was an acceptable compromise.
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