Pre-made pie crust? Lazy, lazy, lazy!

Some TV chef (Jamie Oliver maybe? said that life is too short to make your own pastry.....but I think he was talking about puff pastry, not shortcrust. I have made my own, and I'm a pretty good baker, but mine is frequently tough from being overworked. Why go through all that when there's an acceptable alternative?

I actually like the Aldi brand that's pre-rolled better than Just-Rol.

I wouldn't call myself a good baker. I cook dinners etc, but generally not baking. I make teh mince pies at Christmas mainly because I want them. First year i mentioned them to DW and she seemed uncertain and said "well, if you want to make them" so I did and she likes them. It's just tradition now that she does the Christmas cake and cookies and I do the mince pies.
This year I used shop bought pastry rather than made it. I wouldn't say I'm good at pastry but these pies aren't as good, the pastry seems too compact to me (it's the ready rolled type) and not as light or flaky as what I've made.

I agree with Tykeman - I find the ready roll stuff tough & uninspiring compared to my homemade crust, although I have used it under time constraints previously.

I really hit a Zen groove with my piecrusts this year for Thanksgiving - it probably helped I've slowly been improving my preprep organisation and planning, so I wasn't flying around the house like a banshee trying to get 10 things done at the last minute. I whizzed the flour/butter mixture up in the food processor, quick as you please - enough for 3 crusts (sorry Albatross! Haha!). Then adding ice water, I was so mindful not to overwork. They turned out really well this year.

I find the justrol stuff shrinks too much when I am making a pie (which is not often), so I prefer to make my own when making any kind of pie (puff pastry being the exception)

I actually use a mince pie tart base that is more like a sugar biscuit dough -so easy and you don't have to roll anything out, just press it into the muffin tin, add the mincemeat, and then press the tops on -and then you cover all of it with icing sugar to cover the lumps. No one is wiser 

The other thing is we don't have a food processor so i have to make pastry by hand. My mum used to make great pastry - she used to make big batches and freeze uncooked pastry and often gave me some so i could make a pie. She said the key was her cold hands!
I just keep putting the mixture outside to get cold around this time of year.

Just had a mince pie and I really must make the pastry next year. I'm just not good at judging how much I need.
I use Nigella's mincemeat recipe and mince pie recipe yet strangely it makes far too much mince for the pastry! I can't remember but I have to double or triple to pastry recipe. I suppose I could half the mincemeat recipe but that wouldn't be as much fun!

The other thing is we don't have a food processor so i have to make pastry by hand.

I do have a food processor, but pastry is one of those things I prefer to do by hand!

I don't have a food processor either. I just use one of those pastry cutter things.

Yep, I used to use one of those pastry cutter thingies, or my hands - hated making homemade pastry like that! It was Mark Bittman of How to Cook Everything who told me - yeah, go ahead & use that food processor. It's a magical beautiful thing! 

I don't do the entire piecrust business in it - just the cutting of the butter into the flour part. Used to always end up overworking it with the pastry cutter or hands, but here it's just pulse - pulse - pulse, done! Then I tip it out into a bowl & gently gently gather it up to dough with ice water & then into the fridge.