Friday 8 November 2013

Two Minute Warning

amie 15 minutesIf you watched Jamie’s 15 Minute Meals [sponsored by Uncle Ben’s] you may have seen him using pre-cooked microwaveable rice - “Ready in Two Minutes”

unclebens riceThis rice comes in 250g packets – and in Sainsbury’s at the moment, it costs 1.65 [which is £6.60 per kg] as compared to regular wholegrain [£1.40 per kg] and basics long grain white [40p per kg] At that price, you can understand why I have not rushed out to purchase any.

However on Monday…

…we went into Leicester on the Park’n’Ride bus and both picked up a free copy of The Metro newspaper. They contained vouchers for a free packet of the rice from Tesco. We tore them out [but left the papers for other passengers to read] On the journey back, there were still loads of Metros on the bus seats [and on the floor underneath], so I took a third voucher. Then we went to Tesco.

tescoThe rice there was £1.69 a packet [or on offer for 3 for £4] so I took my three packs to the checkout [along with a load of greatly reduced vegetables]

I felt slightly guilty when I realised on the way home that my vouchers had got me a £5.07 refund – and then the computer had also given me a £1.07 multibuy refund. Including my yellow sticker stuff, I’d ended up paying just £4.89 for shopping which originally would have cost £14.92. I decided to be grateful for the bargains and on Tuesday night made a vegetable curry. And served it with one pack of the 2 minute rice. The curry was fine, but the rice…

Yes it was hot. Yes the grains were cooked BUT neither of us enjoyed the rice at all. It tasted strangely synthetic to me – Bob said he couldn’t think of a word to describe it, he just didn’t like it! I was glad it had been a freebie – I’d hate to have spent good money on such a disappointing product. I notice that now it has been reduced to 3 for £3 – so maybe other people don’t like it either, and it isn’t selling well. We will eat up the other two packets, because I am not wasting food, but next time there are vouchers in The Metro, I’ll leave them for someone else.

9 comments:

  1. I have occasionally bought Sainsbury's own version of the m/wave rice, on offer for about 90p. (which is still a lot compared to the price of loose) But easy to have in the cupboard for an emergency!

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  2. You are a great bargain shopper, Ang!
    When the kids were growing up, I used Minute Rice, but you are so right when you say it is less than wonderful. Now I use a rice cooker and jasmine rice. YUM! Have a great time at your speaking engagement!

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  3. I would rather do without than use microwave rice,I gate the taste. However I have discovered it is a great substitute for recipes that use precooked rice, like rice and tomato soup and it is also fine if you cook something in a slow cooker and add the micro rice about an hour before the end as it absorbs the flavour and looses the nasty taste, you end up with a sort of risotto.

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    1. thanks for these ideas. A colleague at school says this rice is excellent for making egg fried rice quickly in the frying pan

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  4. Oh PP, jasmine rice. Yum. I could do with a rice cooker for more than four portions. What rice do you usually use, Ang?

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    1. I try and buy a huge container of cheap white rice from one of our local asian supermarkets - but if I run out, or for holidays, I use sainsburys basics. Oh and pudding rice- I always have that around - which is good for risottos when you want plumper grains, as well as for puds x

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  5. That's a shame! But glad it was a freebie. x

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  6. I love jasmine and basmati rice. I don't mind the sticky rice they use in sushi either. But the microwaveable packets are really the pits, I agree.

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