British convenience

The U.S. is supposed to be the land of convenient, of convenience foods, of packaged stuff, of everything-to-make-your-life-easier, no?
I've actually found, that for my taste, it's all more convenient here.
Especially the food thing.
I know that sounds absurd. Let me give you a couple examples.
I like to do a homemade minestrone. My mother's recipe, natch. And other soups. Especially in the winter.
But frankly, I never liked all the chopping involved beforehand to make a good one. The onion, the garlic, the carrot, the celery, all the veg you want to put in, all chopped up small. Use just one, or two, of what you buy, rest you gotta use for something else before it goes bad in the fridge.
Not here.
Here, in my local grocery store (I've got four nearby), they sell something called "soffrito" in a packet, (very Italian, yes) which is a chopped up onion, a carrot, a celery stick and some garlic. All fresh, and ready to just throw in the pot with a bit of olive oil to get the minestrone started.
Yep. I'll have that.
Then, they sell a medley of interesting vegetables in a bag together, again in small bits. Hmmm. Saves me buying two zucchini, a head of broccoli, some French beans, or whatever other vegetables I want to put in my minestrone, all separately, and then maybe not use them all.
Yep. Throw that in the shopping cart.
Oh dear. What do we have here? Three potatoes already peeled and cut up in a bag. Ready to throw in with all the rest.
Wow. That was easy.
Three bags -- which, although it's produce cut up for me, cost less than what I would have spent if I had bought all the ingredients individually.
One virtually effortless homemade minestrone.
If you're not in the homemade mood, there's also just so much more prepared food here. Or semi-prepared.
Just a ton more selection than in the States.
I mean, yeah, they have Whole Foods here too, but a whole lot more than that too.
Marks & Spencer's, the department store every Brit loves and where they all get their underwear and socks, also has a separate food chain, called aptly, Marks & Spencer's Food.
There's one near us, thank God.
They do a nice Indian take-away dinner for two, sometimes for under £10, if you're in the mood for Indian. If you go to M & S Food late, things you can make that day can be heavily discounted. Love that.
They also do very nice prepared soups, salads, pasta dishes, pasta sauces -- all kinds of things really.
My husband likes their breaded cod fillets that you bake in the oven for 15 minutes.
That sounds easy.
May pick that up for dinner tonight.