Basically what the title says.
What is the best frozen meal taking in all the factors? Taste, size, nutrition, price, brand, satisfaction.
Is it Coles.. Aldi.. Woolworths or somewhere online?
Is there Anything you can easily add to improve it?
Poll is for where you buy it from.. not necessarily the brand.
Looking for a cheap easy lunch every now and again :)
I feel "Frozen meal" might not be as much a thing in some countries. i've had a lot of asian people assume i was eating actually frozen food without heating it first.
Lol
ice with beer
Aldi Lasagna
Got sick of the Aldi lasagne, the Coles one is better.
The aldi lasagne is disgusting. Tried it once. It was inedible. Had to throw it out.
Thank you for sharing. Did you microwave it or place it in an operational oven for the required set time?
For me, oven only. Will never use a microwave. Food tastes like plastic in one of those things.
For the $ these are hard to beat although theyve gone up 30% recently. More meat in the sauce than other cheapies which are mainly pasta.
Add mushrooms, pizza cheese and whatever. Much better in oven or airfrier than microwave
Frozen meat pie with a side of frozen veges?
I like the Herbert Evans Pies as they don't put in as much "mince" filler as usual freezer pies do. More of the larger pieces of beef.
The normal price is $9 but Woolies often have them on discount where they are down to around $6. That's when I buy half a dozen or so which keeps me going until the next discount.
Youfoodz? I think coles sells them..
Green peas
Balfours square pie with a Chiko roll and Coles crinkle cut chips, maybe some Steggles crumbed fillets
.
Frozen yogurt and Gelato aren't bad either.
choc and choc chip, thrown into a milkshake maker and turned into smoothy… HMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
and a ripe banana to make it healthy…
Y ripe
Ice
Bolonese cooked in bulk then thrown into the freezer.
Bolonese
Anthony ?
I usually put ti in a bowl before placing gently into the freezer. I find just throwing it in there makes a hell of a mess.
Usually? So not always? Sometimes you still like to throw it in your freezer for laughs?
McCain Pub Size is my go-to frozen meal. Chicken Bacon Bake, Southern Style Chicken and Chicken Kiev are tops for me.
i first read chicken bacon shake… which is probably just as accurate
what about frozen dumplings (from actual dumpling restaurants)? you buy them in packs of $20 for like $10, boil them in water and they're ready in less than 10mins
Costco dumplings are pretty good as well. Did a comparison between a local restaurant and costco ones, costco have much thinner dough than anything a restaurant can do by hand.
The soup dumplings from Costco have a crazy amount of packing materials.
Fridge (not frozen) meals are usually better. Even the Woollies and Coles own brands. They have expiry of at least 1 week.
These can be frozen after buying. I sometimes buy them at half price with zero or one day expiry date.
None of these fresh or frozen meals have decent nutritional value, in my opinion.
Coles frozen spaghetti is 377 calories with 25g protein, 55g carbs, 4g fibre and low saturated fat. Used to be $3, recently it's gone up to $4
The only one that rates in my house: Aldi World Kitchen Butter Chicken with Basmati Rice
these guys do the great bureks you see around euro delis & grocers….best bureks/pita ever (apart from your mums)
https://www.burek.net.au/shop
I've bought from their warehouse a few times directly…
Yes, very good…..
did you get them delivered or do they have a store at the warehouse?
Not really a store, there is a door on the side of the warehouse, and you can purchase direct.
Nothing really is on display, so you need to know what you want to order from their website.
https://goo.gl/maps/vx37Fgg1tWpCmkSB7
If you are heading out that way, try this place too… They make the best falafels and pita bread in Melbourne.
https://goo.gl/maps/cf3JW9RQBxrGrboq8
Also, the Mr Donut factory outlet is just around the corner
https://goo.gl/maps/5NRMkm2z43EFYETC6
You will have enough carbs to last you all year from 1 trip !!!!!!!
also, unless you live close to there, ring the burek shop first to make sure they're open.
@jv: interestingly enough no real price difference between where we get our euro stuff and the burek place…they must get good pricing
Super Nature Sweet Potato Cottage Pie Meal - Coles has them on sale semi regularly
Sometimes I have to eat 2 to be full.
I do like the Aldi frozen chicken quesadilla
and am regularly eating the Aldi frozen chicken carbonara
My Muscle Chef - don't come frozen but you can freeze it if you like
Youfoodz is OK but not as good as MMC IMO.
frozen sweet potato fries airfried in Airfryer
Recently been loving the frozen Pork Gyoza from Aldi. About $8-9 per kilo from memory.
Pan fry them in about 12 mins as per instructions, which is the same amount of time to cook rice the microwave…
They turn out amazingly crispy/crunchy on the bottom and nicely steamed on the top, with very subtle gingery flavour on the inside.
Pair with a bit of soy/vinegar/chili mix… asian cravings sorted!
Costco does some good bulk foods, like curries, that you can freeze into portions. They thaw out pretty good.
That looks interesting. Thanks.
Ice Cream
Aldi lamb & spinach gozleme with home made Greek salad is pretty good. The Aldi one definitely tastes better than Borgs fom Coles and Woollies.
From the Fridge section.
COLES PERFORM
WOOLWORTHS FAST FUEL
Those frozen meals are so depressing
Every now and then I think you know what I'll give it a go and it's worse than airplane food
With how easy it is to throw together something why would you do that to yourself?
You'll be surprised how little meat (and good quality) is in these meals
Home made frozen meals are alright. Pulled pork. Put in a zip locked bag, flatten to about 1cm thickness and squeeze out all the air. Freeze. When you want to eat it, take it out, chuck straight in frying pan with some BBQ sauce. Cooks in about 5mins.
Goes amazing. I do this with a vacuum sealer and sous vide bath but this method sounds like it'd give a pretty similar result. If you're doing a full boston butt I find leaving the fat cap on helps stop the pork drying out during the reheat. What sauces you rockin? I've been digging PP burgers with a vinegar based bbq sauce and a honey mustard coleslaw.
ghetto Aldi/Woolworths sauce. But I'd be keen to get a bit more creative. Maybe some hot sauce in there or something. Could definitely go for something with a bit more acidity. I usually use Apple Cider vinegar (amongst other things) in the pressure cooker with pork shoulder.
I tried the Aldi frozen spag bol once, had good flavour but I try and avoid meat so I dont get. Ilike Griffs curried prawns at IGA, was just on special for 4.98. I love Birds Eye Deli chips, rosemary and sea salt, Birds Eye Fish Fingers, Coles Frozen SnackApple Pies and a few other things
Lite N Easy is really good, never tried the ones from Aldi before.
Aldi Cauliflower Bake and Broccoli Bake, together in one pan.
Definitely like these as well. Especially the cauliflower.
While in the UK i used to buy TV dinner that was like xmas food, turkey, peas, yorkshire pussing, etc. was great. Like two quid from Iceland.
Aldi's calimari rings….. ive tried the branded ones but aldi's ones just so much better for some reason
Yes
I saw a kebab shop owner (figured from his shirt) buying almost the entire contents of the freezer - calamari + some other stuff.
mccain veal. on special at woolies this week, its pretty good https://www.woolworths.com.au/shop/productdetails/22349
lean cusine satay chicken noodles I get regularly https://www.woolworths.com.au/shop/productdetails/116911
After having Lite N Easy dinners, I can barely deal with supermarket options anymore - the meal portions and quality are amazing, and taste good microwaved. They're not cheap though, and need to be delivered, so there's that!
The woolworths beef ragu lasagne is the bomb..
The bloody poll have lite n easy. It ain't cheap that for sure.
Ozb = Aldi fans anonymous! (including me)
Buy those family size lasagne packs and cut them up to your serving size… freeze what you dont intend to eat immediately
Coles Satay Chicken - https://www.coles.com.au/product/coles-meals-satay-chicken-3… used to be $3.30 but is now $4 or the Lean Cuisine Beef with red wine sauce and garlic mash when it can be found on special for $4 - https://www.coles.com.au/product/lean-cuisine-beef-with-red-…
I freeze lamb loin chops then put them straight into a pre-heated air fryer at 200C - turn after 5-8 mins - total maybe 15 mins to taste - when crispy outside they still have some pink in the middle - if I cook 3 chops for me I'll guess that's around $6 - as a carnivore, when I eat that I don't have anything else - completely satisfying for me just those alone thank you very much.
the one you cook yourself and freeze.
Woolworths Spaghetti Bolognese. Now $4, up from $3.
Still the one you make yourself and freeze.
I like my Frozen Meal microwaved. lol