Any sort of "convenience pre-pak" food is a rip-off financially. The Supermarket chains only sell it because there is a higher profit margin than on scratch ingredients. Even worse, The Govt assumes that any person on any sort of "assistance" is always going to cook everything from scratch ingredients - so they don't factor in the extra cost of "convenience foods" - even a pie with peas at the corner shop...

I admit that at times, one is not very capable of spending much time preparing pasta from scratch, then at thit time, one has probably already spent a considerable portion of one's finances on liquid nourishment, the digestion of which incidentally inhibits the digestion of all other nutrients untill one is sober. But there are other times when one is not in the best of health, and preparing food from scratch is a pain. The only solution is to prepare some stuff in small bulk and freeze it - but then you need the luxury of a decent freezer... and the time to prepare it.

Robin