Can anybody recommend a french ready meal?

I am recovering from a very heavy cold and have not felt like cooking.


Apart from eggs, bacon beans etc.can anyone recommend such a thing as a decent french ready meal to keep on hand in the freezer or larder?

Thanks to everyone, I am now well, it took three weeks as I developed a severe chest infection. Lunch today is poulet basquais, to use the last of the red peppers from the garden.

@Jane. Blanche, the lady that kept the bar down the road once gave me a time saving tip for making Tartiflette which was to use frozen pommes rissolées instead of starting from scratch.

@Marijke Did you leave the white wine out deliberately ?

Marijke, thanks for the recipe for tartiflette. At the time I was too ill to cook, which was the reason for my question.

I can get lard in Atac, Carrefour and intermarche. The problem seems to be that they classify it diffferently , eg intermarche stocks it will all the pig things, pates sausages etc.

My pork pies have gone down well with the locals in the village bar. Biggest problem has been finding the lard, Leclerc is the only supermarket that always have it.

Thanks again to everyone, both the house and me are coming out of the fog this morning!

Tracy, I live in the Clunysois, between Cluny and Charolles. I used to have a small cookery school in UK, and cooked for my friend's polo club, dinner parties etc.

Thinking of the school reminds me that I must look out my raised pie mould, I fancy a pork pie for Christmas. I am now retired, so no coookery school, but if you would like to come down here , we can recommend some really good Maconnais and Beaujolais wines!

We should be getting our new freezer later this week and I think I will make a few pies, casserole fillings for it.

I really wasn't able to cook at all, my cold turned into a chest infection, but curried pork on the lunch menu today.

Jim's cookery is very basic,but I had just cooked a large chicken before going to bed.

Thanks once more for all the suggestions.

Hi all. Jane, I hope you are feeling better by now. We live in a flood zone so I stocked up on some ready meals. Couscous (in a tin). Stuffed tomatoes and rice (cook in microwave) although I prefer my own recipe which is more labour intensive. I also have a couple of tins of Gratin Dauphinois and a couple of tins of champignons a la greque (hope I've got all the spellings right!). All are available in Intermarché. Take care.

Actually they have these Brandade de Morue which I love as comfort food when I'm too busy or too ill to cook. It's mashed potato, salt fish, creme fraiche and chives.

Hi Jane, we just had a ready meal last night, ok I pan fried the 'cerf' (venison?) but that took about 6 mins, with a splash of port to deglaze the pan and a spoonful of homemade cherry jam to make the sauce. Served it with frozen dauphinoise pots with foie gras and bundles of green beans wrapped in bacon, also straight out the freezer. It was amazing and where did it come from - Aldi so it was really cheap too.

It was so good we're probably going to do it as our main on New Year's Eve with their frozen marinated salmon as the 1st starter and a few fresh scallops after, ymmmy. Don't get me wrong, I love cooking but sometimes...

Incidentally, you say you are a professional chef, where are you in 71 and do you do cookery lessons? There seems to be quite a demand for it at the moment in Burgundy.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I like the Liebig soups and we usually have a tin or two of cassoulet on the shelves. We have a sort of alsation pizza which is very easy and good. I have tried picard and have been disappointed and also found them very expensive. I will have a go at the paella and the st jacques. Jim says beer and peanuts! I shall have to make some pies and put them in my new freezer when it arrives.

We always used to buy the lamb shanks with root vegetables from Tesco finest when we got back to uk after our long drive from Burgundy. we filled it up with red wine and put it into the oven and when everything was put away we sat down to a great meal.

Jim says peanuts and beer!

Coquilles Saint Jacques in the frozen section are quite good! 15 or 20 minutes in oven and ready to consume. Easy comfort food. (The seafood is covered in a white sauce). They are small so you can eat two of them and it is not too heavy.

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Stay off of all dairy products, so bacon and beans fine, add an egg no! Seriously you will recover much quicker if you avoid dairy as it only produces more mucus(sorry too much detail!).

Good soups here without any doubt, although buy those without preservatives.

Lots of fish which is an easy quick meal, can be quicker than a "ready meal"

Get well soon.

Sorry you're feeling poorly. I microwave some cherry tomatoes with a little olive oil and basil ( the dried kind is fine if you can't get fresh) and smear it on some bread. Delicious.

How about pasta packets stuffed with four cheeses ...or ham...or mushrooms...just boil for eight minutes...drain...add a jar of tomato and basil pasta sauce...heat for a minute...add some Parmesan...voila. I always keep a couple of packets in the fridge..you can freeze them too.

I call them my comfort food. Yummy

God Bless You

Effie

E.Leclerc have a very good "hot counter " and you can always freeze the portions and defrost as the mood ( or hunger ) takes you .

The frozen Poele a Campagnarde is lovely, cooks from frozen, just push it around a pan for 8 minutes - the pack says you can microwave it but I have not tried that.

Actually Picard is very good for ready stuff. Not all of it is great, but its passable if you cannot be bothered. Good meatballs!

Frozen tomates farci.

Picard is nice but my purse is allergic to shopping there!

One of our "ready" meals is confit de canard in a tin. Just open and put the duck in the oven with some oven chips. Or, a tin of Cassoulet "mais le vrais cassoulet anglais a la menthe". A nice soup, fresh baguette and butter.