If I pour microwave-warmed jar sauce over spaghetti that I’ve prepared myself, is that cooking? What if I brown some chicken but then I add in green curry paste from a jar and a can of coconut milk? Is that still cooking, or “almost cooking”? Or how about if I peel back the top of a ready-made meal and bang that in the microwave? Sure, I’m applying heat to food, but that isn’t cooking. That’s just reheating, right?

I ask these questions because ever since food preparation became about convenience in the 1950s and 1960s, the line between cooking and not cooking has continued to blur.

Over the decades, we have become increasingly time poor, with a lot less time to spend in the kitchen – but we’re cash poor, too, so it helps that almost cooking is usually cheap cooking. Yet in this culinary nether world, there must be a safe spot for tastiness where we can live without the snooty foodie (nowadays it’s your child – or someone else’s – as often as it’s some pompous bloke in a cravat) food-shaming you.

Central to any almost-cooked meal are pre-made ingredients. You could DIY these elements, certainly, but then you are in danger of actually cooking. So, with this is mind, here are some of my more successful adventures with pre-made stuff I’ve cooked (almost).

LOADED SWEET POTATO FRIES

The Italians have lasagne, students have the bolognese jaffle, and we in the almost-cooking world have the air fryer and a packet of frozen sweet potato fries. Don’t just serve them with that leftover melty cheese-topped bolognese; they’ll work as well (if not better) dunked into leftover chilli, leftover curry or with a sprinkling of ricotta, feta and oregano.

Related story: 20 ways to be a better cook with Matt Preston

POTATO GEMS ATOP A CASSEROLE

There is a special squeal emitted when horror and delight erupt with equal force. That’s the noise I made a few years back when a certain recipe developer I know said she was going to top her shepherd’s pie with frozen tater tots, or potato gems, instead of mash. Not only does it look like an artisanal, yellow brick-cobbled road when baked, but it’s far quicker and easier to open the packet than it is to boil potatoes and then make mash. Since then, this kid-delighting, family-friendly idea has been lifted by every recipe developer and their dog – usually without any credit. This is truly the most innovative kind of almost cooking.

PICKLED EGG SALAD BAGEL

Weirdly, some Brits have a real thing for pickled eggs that float like lonely eyeballs in cloudy, vinegary water. But we can take that idea and make it better: warm some vinegar with sugar and a little water and salt, then pour it over hard-boiled eggs in tight container. Leave it sealed for at least a day, turning over every so often to pickle evenly. Slice the eggs and serve on halved, toasted bagels with iceberg lettuce, Kewpie mayonnaise and coriander. These last three are there for foodie camouflage, but feel free to step up the dish by using cheap balsamic vinegar for pickling so the eggs get a lovely mahogany patina on their surface in contrast to their white and gold interior. 

CHOOSE-YOUR-OWN-ADVENTURE PASTA SAUCE

“Choice” is the catchcry of the modern era as much as “convenience” is. To that end, make a Napoli sauce using a jar of passata and some onion and garlic powder (if you can’t be bothered peeling/mincing real cloves). Serve this on olive-oiled pasta alongside bowls of crisp bacon, sausage meatballs, grated parmesan, chopped parsley and de-seeded chillies. Then your family or guests can take their pick, being as fancy or as simple as they wish. Add just the bacon and it’s a matriciana. With just the chilli, it’s an arrabbiata. Add everything and it’s simply deliziosa.

UNFRIED RICE 

In your rice cooker, cook your rice, frozen corn and frozen peas with some garlic and onion powders. Add a few spring onions and diced smoked chicken breast at the end of cooking and dress with soy sauce. Remember that with “almost cookery”, life is too short to spend time crushing garlic or chopping and frying onions. You can just buy crispy onions, shallots or sliced garlic in a jar to sprinkle over for a little golden crunch. 

SMOKY BARBECUE CHOOK FILLETS 

Cut each chicken breast into three thin escalopes and beat them between kitchen paper to an even thickness. Brush them with smoky barbecue sauce on both sides and cook quickly on a hot grill. Serve them sandwiched in a white bread roll with some packet slaw and mayo. 

Share your favourite almost-cooking secrets (the ones foodies would turn their noses up at) by finding me on social media. Note that instant ramen noodles, an area of almost-cookery all to themselves, are discussed in a dedicated piece online at delicious.com.au. 

Related story: Matt Preston shares 15 soup-rising ways with instant ramen noodles