Ready-to-Cook Meals: An Ideal Solution for the Juggling Work From Home Person

For this past year, I have listened to way too much grouses from friends who had been forced to work from home (WFH), about the challenges that they have had to overcome, juggling not only work but family issues during work hours. Believe me, I understand very well, but if I were to receive RM1 for each minute as rental for a listening ear, I would be rich. LOL

Here’s an ideal solution that I discovered this week that would make WFH parents feel like they are superhumans, as they take care of work and the family, whipping up tasty meals from the kitchen, macam air tangan sendiri, with these Ready-to-Cook (RTC) dishes from Weil Gourmet.

Of course, ready to eat food by delivery is also a reliable option but that’s more suitable for singles, not so for families on a week day, in my opinion.

WEIL Gourmet Ready-To-Cook is a recently launched food range by WEIL Hotel Ipoh. There are about ten different popular Malaysian dishes available, freshly prepared by the hotel’s very own capable culinary team. The food packets are then sealed and frozen, ready to be cooked at any time.

This method of packing and freezing is known as Cook-Chill, ensuring the authentic flavour, meat textures and overall quality are preserved, and for longer, even without preservatives. For storing, these packs are kept frozen at -18°C (or 0.4°F).

Some of the dishes currently available, in serving size of 500g per pack, include Steamed Salted Herbal Chicken, Beef Rendang Tok, Beef Stew, Dark & Sweet Lamb Stew, Beef Bolognese and Chicken Bolognese.

What makes this WEIL Gourmet Ready-To-Cook premium brand so worthy of attention is not only the convenience of having hotel-standard popular Malaysian delicacies served right from your kitchen, but that these dishes are without MSG (don’t listen to Uncle Roger lah!), artificial colouring or preservatives.

I had the opportunity to give WEIL Gourmet Ready-To-Cook a try, ordering three items: Lamb Bolognese, Chicken Curry with Potatoes and Chicken Kuzi. These packs were delivered to me in an ice box at a time convenient to me. Upon receiving them, I placed them in my refrigerator for about 24 hours to thaw them. Instructions are stated in English and Bahasa Melayu on the back of every packet.

To reheat using a microwave oven, remove the packet from your fridge, then tear open the outer packet only. Place the vacuum pack in a bowl that is filled with about 300ml water, then reheat at 800W – 1000W for 8 – 10 minutes. Remove from the microwave oven, open the vacuum pack and pour out the ingredients into a serving bowl.

Alternatively, reheat using a pan or wok. Remove from the fridge, tear the outer packing as well as the vacuum pack inside, and place the content into your pan or wok. Stir-fry for 10 – 15 minutes under medium heat, and it is ready to be served. Voila, you’ve got your quick yet satisfying meal settled, without slaving in the kitchen!

Ready-To-Cook Lamb Bolognese
As you are aware, this is a classic Italian sauce for pasta. This rich, thick sauce has minced lamb meat and chunks of tomatoes. Other ingredients that are less visible are onion, celery, carrot and garlic. Opening the vacuum seal, the distinctive smell of lamb wafted up to hit my nostrils. This is good stuff, I told myself. I ran out of pasta at home, so I had this with rice. There was no compromise on taste, quality or the generosity in the ingredients – there was a good bite of meat and tomatoes.

Ready-To-Cook Chicken Curry with Potatoes
This is an all-time favourite of Malaysians. Ah, now, there is no longer the need to extract coconut milk (santan) from freshly grated coconut, and stress over the consistency of the santan! This flavourful pack has pieces of chicken and potato cubes. In true Malaysian style, curry leaves are also used, and can be spotted in the mix. The meat is tender and easily parts from the bone, yet still retains its succulence. Best served with piping hot rice but with bread ready to wipe clean the curry off your plate.

Ready-To-Cook Chicken Kuzi
Kelantan being the only other state, besides Perlis, that I have yet to explore, I was particularly interested in this Kelantanese speciality. Chicken Kuzi is an onion-based curry with a good balance of sweetness and spiciness. Similar to the Chicken Curry mentioned above, even those who cannot tolerate spicy food may actually enjoy Chicken Kuzi for its moderate level of spiciness.

These WEIL Gourmet Ready-To-Cook dishes are ultra convenient, there is virtually nothing else that you need to do except to thaw and reheat. However, if you wish to personalise your dishes or to enhance your presentation, you can garnish with chilli, onion, parsley or mint leaves.

So, the takeaway message from this post is that if you want to take a break from cooking from scratch, WEIL Gourmet Ready-To-Cook is the answer to your prayers. For more details, contact WEIL Hotel Ipoh at +6052082228 / 2021 (Tiffin) or drop an email at fnb@weilhotel.com. The hotel delivers our orders directly to us. Price is from RM17 per pack.

Video: WEIL Gourmet Ready-To-Cook

To cater to a wider foodie community, WEIL Gourmet Ready-To-Cook is available online on Shopee; delivery covers KL and Selangor areas! This is the URL, for you to look see: WEIL Gourmet @ SHOPEE.