Meal for Two for £20?
@owlwings (43897)
Cambridge, England
February 13, 2016 5:47am CST
It seems that every supermarket here is vying for attention by offering complete cook-at-home meals for two for £20 (about $29). This is a very convenient and fairly reasonable way of choosing a rather special dinner for two.
From time to time these stores have a similar selection of ready-to-cook meals for £10 and I usually find these very economical because they often actually provide us with two or even three meals.
For this particular Sunday I have chosen the following selection from Marks & Spencers:
Starter: Whitebait
Main Course: 2 Salmon Medallions with a Mascarpone, Lemon and Garlic stuffing
Side: Mixed steamed vegetables (I shall also add some potato Rosti which I already have in the freezer)
Dessert: Banoffee Cheesecake
Wine: Marques de Alarcon Rosado (a Spanish Rosé which seemed nice and a suitable accompaniment for the salmon)
All finished off by a small box of six heart-shaped chocolates.
Maybe the stores in your locality have this sort of 'cook at home' meal selection. What would be your choice for a special meal or would you rather splash out on a restaurant (which would doubtless cost at least twice as much for the same menu)?
21 people like this
18 responses
@Morleyhunt (21741)
• Canada
13 Feb 16
We won't be dining out, but I rarely pick up a meal, ready to go from the supermarket, I will likely pick up something special for the entree (meat dish) and for the rest, forgave in my cupboards or freezer.
3 people like this
@sueznewz2 (10409)
• Alicante, Spain
13 Feb 16
yes I've seen these... but have not tried one yet.... and like you say they are ssooo economical.... I know frozen meals used to have a bad reputation of being horrible and all the goodness cooked out of them etc, but they are much better these days .... I often have a frozen lasagna from waitrose or tesco and they are very nice... the meal you have chosen sounds very nice... especially the dessert...
2 people like this
@owlwings (43897)
• Cambridge, England
13 Feb 16
These aren't frozen. They are fresh and chilled and not precooked (except for the whitebait and the dessert). I do sometimes buy ready prepared frozen meals but I always inspect the ingredients list. They are handy to have in the freezer if one needs something quick and easy.
1 person likes this
@sueznewz2 (10409)
• Alicante, Spain
13 Feb 16
@owlwings aahhhh my mistake.... yes I remember now.... they are in the chiller.... I hope you enjoy them....
1 person likes this
@owlwings (43897)
• Cambridge, England
13 Feb 16
The salmon is fresh and ready prepared with the stuffing prepacked in a foil container. All I have to do is to put it in the oven. The whitebait are floured and, I think, precooked. They just need heating through on an oven sheet. Normally I would rarely buy pre-prepared (marinated, garnished or stuffed) food to cook at home because it's a lot cheaper to buy the raw ingredients but, in this case, I have a full menu which will only take me about half an hour to cook and serve and, though I haven't worked out the shelf cost of the individual items, I think that they are discounted by at least 25% buying them as a 'deal'.
2 people like this
@AbbyGreenhill (45490)
• United States
13 Feb 16
You lost me at whitebait - what is that?
1 person likes this
@AbbyGreenhill (45490)
• United States
13 Feb 16
@owlwings Oh, OK, thanks, I'll take a pass.
2 people like this
@AbbyGreenhill (45490)
• United States
13 Feb 16
@owlwings It sounds like deep frying bait LOL!
2 people like this
@pgntwo (22405)
• Derry, Northern Ireland
14 Feb 16
I was with you up to the Banoffee Cheesecake, which sounds like an amalgamation made in, well, not Paradise... a hybrid of cheesecake with banana and toffee sounds a little, well, different - but don't let that detract from your enjoyment of this fine Valentine's Day repast! 
With several mouths to feed here, our repast will consist of a selection of items, but the Valentine aspect will be to have a delightful glass or two of a really Brut Cava with the meal. And hopefully an early night thereafter 
.
With several mouths to feed here, our repast will consist of a selection of items, but the Valentine aspect will be to have a delightful glass or two of a really Brut Cava with the meal. And hopefully an early night thereafter .1 person likes this
@owlwings (43897)
• Cambridge, England
14 Feb 16
Cheesecakes come in all sorts of flavours. I didn't see anything at all odd about Banoffee Cheesecake. Mind you, some years ago, before I knew what cheesecake was, I came across a recipe for Strawberry Cheesecake and the first thing that came to mind was Somerset - the village of Cheddar, in particular, which is noted for both strawberries and cheese - and I wondered what on earth cheese and strawberries could possibly be doing in the same concoction! I soon realised that the cheese used is very young and without the particular flavour of salted and matured cheeses!
1 person likes this
@pgntwo (22405)
• Derry, Northern Ireland
14 Feb 16
@owlwings I'm all for a mature cheddar and marmalade sandwich now and then, and a good Banoffee Pie or a cheesecake (my #1 dessert of choice is baked cheesecake, where available!) would also be fair game.
There used to be a wonderful baked lemon and raisin cheesecake available in Marks in the 90s, sold in single portion-sized packs, that hit the spot.
I hope the amalgamation of banana, toffee, cheesecake and biscuit base work, the meal menu sounds super!
@Dragonairy1 (1722)
• Newcastle Upon Tyne, England
14 Feb 16
It sounds like a good deal, although I'd have had to go with the non fish option 
1 person likes this
@jillybean1222 (6406)
•
16 Feb 16
We really don't have these things at the stores that I shop. I mostly cook at home though. We rarely go out to a restaurant these days
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@owlwings (43897)
• Cambridge, England
14 Feb 16
I do sometimes look at those ready to cook preparations and think 'I could do that', so borrow the idea and prepare it myself. Sometimes it works out a little cheaper but very often the £10 'meal for two' deals are such good value (and feed two of us for two or even three meals if I choose carefully) that I can't resist them!
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (381759)
• Rockingham, Australia
14 Feb 16
These seem really good value. They don't have such combinations there. When we're deciding if something is expensive or not, we often go by how much a serve it is costing us. Sometimes a roast seems expensive but will provide quite a few meals.
1 person likes this
@Jessicalynnt (50523)
• Centralia, Missouri
13 Feb 16
that actually sounds pretty nice, the only thing I really see around here are the frozen meal variety. Then again never really looked to see if I could find a full, cook at home, homecooked preprepped meal.
1 person likes this
