Yep! I resorted to a packet dinner last night. On my fortnightly menu plan (yeah, I know totally anal!) I had planned to have lamb chops for dinner last night but have been unable to get hold of them for the last 2 weeks. One of the drawbacks of living in Red Dirt Central - popn 13,000 - is that we have Coles and Woolworths for our food supplies and that's it. No butcher or specialist meat shop like Lennards, no green-grocer or vegetable market, no specialty dessert shops like The Cheesecake Shop. Just Coles and Woolies.
Don't get me wrong, after living in a smaller town than this I think that having the choice of both is terrific. They carry a wide variety, try really hard to cater to a fairly multi-cultural poplulation and generally I can find what I want or at least a substitute to use in it's place. But... when they can't get hold of something or they have just plain run out, like lamb chops, you are reminded that you are a long way from the metro area. Anyway, while doing the middle-week vege/bread/milk shop (I shop fortnightly and do a mini-catch-up shop in the 'middle week') on Wednesday I found a packet mix for chicken that looked decent. I knew I had lots of chicken in the freezer and since there were still no lamb chops I decided it would do for dinner on Thursday.
I admit that to me it tasted a little "packet-y" but Hubby and Offspring #1 loved it and have requested it again. I added more vegetables than the recipe on the back of the packet - some brocolli and cauliflower as well as an extra carrot - but for ease, convenience and general taste it wasn't too bad. Even better, there are enough leftovers for the boys to eat it for dinner tonight. I'll cook some rice to go with it, and Offspring #2 has some vegetables in the fridge ready to go. I'll be running from a doctors appointment at 5pm to scrapbooking at 6.30 so I think I'll probably make do with a piece of peanut butter toast somewhere in the middle, as long as the doctor is running on time.
Question Of The Day: Do you ever resort to packet meals? What kind?
2 comments:
If you can get them, Ainsley Harriot's Risottos rock. Of course you have to add to them, but hey. Wild Mushroom is best.
I like Zatarain's Jambalaya mix.
Occasionally I'll use a packaged mix of sorts in a recipe (I did last night but I won't get to blog about it until next week) but besides the Zatarain's, I can't think of any packaged mixes I would use straight up. Either they're too expensive, don't make enough or don't taste good.
That looks really good.
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