They've been offering us more choice than we knew about.

:32gcegdc

Waitrose own brand:

Minced Beef (18%), Cooked Free Range Egg Pasta (15%), Chopped Tomato, Water, Milk, Onion, Mushroom, Tomato Puree, Single Cream, Grana Padano Cheese (2%), Cornflour, Red Wine, Beef Stock, Butter, Wheat Flour, Garlic Puree, Basil, Salt, Olive Oil.

That £2.39 for 400g. So in essence, one portion.

Waitrose Essential:

Minced Beef (19%), Chopped Tomato, Cooked Free Range Egg Pasta, Water, Milk, Passata, Onion, Tomato Puree, Single Cream, Mushroom, Mature Cheddar Cheese, Cornflour, Wheat Flour, Butter, Rapeseed Oil, Red Wine Vinegar, Garlic Puree, Olive Oil, Demerara Sugar, Salt, Basil, Caramelised Sugar Powder, Oregano, Black Pepper, Ground Bay Leaf, Nutmeg.

£1.79 for 350g

Tesco Finest

Milk,British Beef (17%) ,Tomato Passata ,Free Range Egg Pasta ,Pork (10%) ,Carrot ,Onion ,Tomato ,Celery ,Italian Merlot Red Wine ,Tomato Purée ,Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese ,Mature Cheddar Cheese ,Vegetable Oil ,Sundried Tomato Paste ,Wheat Flour ,Beef Stock ,Sugar ,Basil ,Garlic Purée ,Salt ,Thyme ,Oregano ,Black Pepper ,Cornflour ,Bay Leaf ,Nutmeg ,White Pepper ,Mustard Powder ,Free Range Egg Pasta contains: Durum Wheat Semolina ,Egg ,Water ,Sundried Tomato Paste contains: Rehydrated Sundried Tomato ,Vegetable Oil ,White Wine Vinegar ,Garlic Powder ,Salt ,Black Pepper ,Rosemary ,Basil ,Beef Stock contains: Beef ,Water ,Cornflour ,Sugar ,Salt ,Beef Fat ,Onion ,Tomato

400g for £3.50

Tesco Everyday Value

Cooked Egg Pasta,Beef (20%) ,Tomato ,Water ,Tomato Purée ,Tomato Juice ,Onion ,Milk ,Cornflour ,Mature Cheddar Cheese ,Wheat Flour ,Single Cream ,Salt ,Beef Stock ,Butter ,Garlic Purée ,Oregano ,Black Pepper ,White Pepper ,Cooked Egg Pasta contains: Durum Wheat Semolina ,Water ,Pasteurised Egg ,Beef Stock contains , Mature Cheddar Cheese (1.0%) .

72p for 300g

So the largest percentage of beef is in the lowest price one.

Yes.

• All the above were taken straight from the respective online grocery sites, apart from Waitrose, which was from Ocado. Nothing about these lists – not even punctuation etc – has been altered.

When you look at the endless lists of ingredients for manufactured chilled or frozen food and then compare to a recipe for (say) a lasagne that would feed a family of four, you have to shake your head and wonder how we got to this situation.

And why do frozen foods need preservatives ?

Indeed. Part of the con has been people being convinced that those sort of prices are cheaper than anything they could make. Combine that with a loss of basic cooking skills. And the laziness that 'convenience' breeds.

I wonder with my mother whether, had there been more convenience food around in the 1960s and '70s (of the 'right' sort, obviously), we'd have been fed more like that. Nowadays, she readily says that she feeds herself and my father a vast amount of ready-made food. But she convinces herself it's fine because it's from M&S.

Which is an excellent illustration of how this is not a straightforward class issue, where we're just talking about it being the food of the 'working poor' or the non-working 'chavs'.

I was having a long chat with my parents (just over a year ago, one night in the bar of the Queen's Hotel in Leeds, as it 'appens) and the subject of food arose. It's a relatively safe one. I said something about how, over the last few years, I've got into the habit of making my own stock. My mother observed that, "well you won't feel like doing that when you're 80!" I hope that, if I'm still alive, then unless I'm doddery beyond doing anything (heaven forefend), I'll very much still be making my own stock. But I think that comment reveals a perspective of how she cannot imagine actually enjoying doing such things, never mind just appreciating the end result.

And I think that's partly the key.

I love seeing those programmes where, say, Raymond Blanc is back in his home village in France, and Maman Blanc, who is somewhat older than my mother, is absolutely still cooking. And while reality [imay[/i be different than perception, it never looks as though she finds it a dreadful bore.

The older I get, the more I want to cook and, increasingly, grow whatever I can. And stuff like this convinces me I'm right to do that, as well as it being enormously pleasurable and rewarding in so many ways.

I imagine the preservatives are in the form of binding agents, to prevent separation of ingredients as the product thaws & cooks and anti-oxidants to prevent oxidation spoiling the look of the product.

You have far to much spare time

You have far too much spare time

pah, says the man who posted the same thing twice!

Waited for over a minute and it did not post, so I did it again. Bloody computers.

What amazed me was the miles these cheap lasagnes etc. cover to get to our supermarket freezers.

The whole thing is bonkers.

I'm more amazed at the number of companies who make a profit out of each meal.
Some of this meat is going through 6 or 7 companies before it gets to the end meal.

Can be done, if you're good at a bit of horsetrading

I took the ingredients list to mean that 53% of the meal was 'minced beef filling', of which 22% was beef, making beef 12% of the total meal.

Not too surprisig when you consider the grade of beast that enters the food chain. The cheap mince used in burgers and value meals hasn't come from a beef herd, it's from knackered old dairy cattle, that sell for around 2 balloons & a goldfish at market

... and today's withdrawn product is ... Tesco Spag Bol. www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21418342 As the report says ... "[iTesco took the frozen bolognese off the shelves =#FF0000when it found out Findus was concerned about the source of its meat processed by Comigel, based at Metz, north-eastern France[/i." ... am I being unreasonable to wonder why they hadn't spotted it themselves rather than keeping it on sale until Findus spotted a problem, especially given the other products Tesco has had to withdraw recently? Does this not suggest that Tesco have failed to check their full range of products that purportedly contain minced beef?

... and today's withdrawn product is ... Tesco Spag Bol. www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21418342 As the report says ... "[iTesco took the frozen bolognese off the shelves =#FF0000when it found out Findus was concerned about the source of its meat processed by Comigel, based at Metz, north-eastern France[/i." ... am I being unreasonable to wonder why they hadn't spotted it themselves rather than keeping it on sale until Findus spotted a problem, especially given the other products Tesco has had to withdraw recently? Does this not suggest that Tesco have failed to check their full range of products that purportedly contain minced beef?

Good point. Bloody ingredients labels, eh?

Mind, that would still be a high level of meat given the price and the prices/meat percentages of the other versions.

[url=http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/tesco-staff-forced-to-wear-arm-monitors-that-track-work-rate-29060257.htmlTesco may not know where your meat has been but they sure as hell know where their employees are...[/url

Ponies now: www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z2Kd4Uox7D Mind you, if they insist on correct labelling of contents I'll be steering clear of Bird's Eye burgers.

Ponies now: www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z2Kd4Uox7D Mind you, if they insist on correct labelling of contents I'll be steering clear of Bird's Eye burgers.

From an email that's doing the rounds:

A woman has been taken into hospital after eating horse meat burgers from Tesco
Her condition is said to be stable

Not entirely sure how Tesco are going to get over this hurdle.

Waitress in Tesco asked if I wanted anything on my Burger.
So I had a £5 each way !

Tesco Quarter Pounders: The affordable way to buy your daughter the
pony that she's always wanted!

had some burgers from Tesco for my tea last night....
I still have a bit between my teeth

Tesco are now testing all their vegetarian burgers for traces of unicorn

Anyone want a burger from Tesco? yay or neigh?

"I've just checked the Tesco burgers in my freezer...AND THEY'RE OFF"

I'm so hungry, I could eat a horse....."

Tesco now forced to deny presence of Zebra in burgers, as shoppers
confuse barcodes for serving suggestions.

A cow walks into a bar. Barman says 'why the long face?'
Cow says 'Illegal ingredients, coming over here stealing our jobs!'

I hear the smaller version of those Tesco burgers make great horse
d'oeuvres.

These Tesco burger jokes are going on a bit. Talk about flogging a
dead.. NO! NO NO NO!

Said to the Mrs these Tesco burgers given me terrible trots

To beef or not to beef.
That is equestrian

Is it a coincidence that HAMBURGERS is a anagram of ....SHERGARS BUM

There have been some funny ones around.

[url=http://www.itv.com/news/granada/update/2013-02-15/horsemeat-in-lancashire-schools-cottage-pie/And now – horse meat cottage pies in Lancashire schools.[/url

I'm sure the amount of horse eaten will be "minute" - given the cutback portions they give kids at school these days.

Depends on the school.

I was shadowing a school cook in Shorpe a few weeks ago and the portions were very generous.

Unlike in this situation, however, it was all cooked from fresh ingredients, on the premises.

You don't think you observing could have influenced portion sizes?

maybe the cook thought the observer might ask for one.