It’s been far too long since I last posted a review. After all this time, what could have broken the deadlock? What meal was so interesting/controversial that I just had to try it, capture it, write about it? This one. Ladies and gentlemen, you are looking at a frozen ready meal for 1, at a… [Read More]
Featured reviews
Surprisingly good value – I got this for £3.50. It is a large portion of food, and satisfied me fully for lunch. Considering this is a household name and not some own-brand, you get a lot for your £3.50. That includes rather a lot of packaging; a cardboard sleeve, then a plastic bowl inside another… [Read More]
Published on July 25th, 2020
Sharwood's
I did not have high hopes for this. The portion size when you lift the lid is tiny. The rice looks like a meagre bowl of rice crispies: small, crunchy and yellow. But worse than that, you need a degree in mathematics to follow the instructions. “Fill to the fill line”, it says patronisingly, like… [Read More]
Published on June 27th, 2020
Charlie Bigham
I’ve recently moved to an area that has a Waitrose. There’s an entire fridge section dedicated to ‘Charlie Bigham’ meals. I thought he was the bloke who wrote Black Mirror. A man of many talents then…! These are all marketed as high quality, low effort meals for two. Unlike other Charlie Bigham meals, you can’t… [Read More]
Simple to cook, clean, good recyclable packaging. The only faff is the ‘plastic insert’ used to separate the sauce and the rice – but the result is worth it. Has a real, unexpected kick to it. You can see the flakes of chili on the chicken and throughout. A little beyond my comfort levels to… [Read More]
For a ready meal, this was the biggest faff to prepare. Your first task is to peel back the film lid, and remove the chicken breast with your bare hands, shake the rice off that had clung to it, and place it on a baking tray, which you should put in a pre-heated oven for… [Read More]
When I think of sticky ribs, I picture 4th July in America with a Budweiser and a TBC So you can imagine my surprise when I tasted this and found it’s more like a Chinese takeaway. Which, come to think of it, is more of a British staple than American style sticky ribs. So I’m… [Read More]
Can there be a more quintessentially middle class dish than a vegan, Italian dish from Waitrose? Perhaps only if it the mushrooms were hand picked from the garden. But that wouldn’t have worked very well for this dish: my garden might just about grow a weed or two; nothing as rich and earthy as the… [Read More]
The ingredients list aren’t hugely promising: “smoked British formed ham with added water”. Formed ham. With added water. Doesn’t exactly make your mouth water, does it? Still, each chunk of ham feels suitably meaty at the chew. The meatballs are better ignored. They taste very much of sage and breadcrumb; it’s hard to imagine there… [Read More]
Published on November 9th, 2019
Speedy Chef
Cooked for 2 mins as instructed, in a more powerful microwave than instructed (800W) and took a bite; it was still frozen in the middle. So I put it back in for another minute and a half. That meant it came out PIPING hot, and I struggled to eat it. I was almost the first… [Read More]