Plant Kitchen No Chickn Gyoza (@NLi10)

 Japanese food is great - and it’s even better if everyone can join in. That makes veggie/vegan versions superb.

Here we have some V approved not Chicken Gyoza

All sealed up and ready to fry - so what are they - are they veggie or fake meat?

Well it certainly looks like meaty contents- not great for fans of just vegetables. But nice for those that want a healthier version of chicken gyoza.

Kershaw's Classic - steaklet and chips (@NLi10)

What the fox this?!

We take a break from our healthy eating and find ourselves with a TV dinner to pop in the microwave and consume. I know I'm a fan of bachelor chow, but even the guy in the corner shop that sold me this suggested it'd be like eating the box. But let's give it a fair trial...

We have three frozen portions. Meat, beans and chips. Like the three misunderstood food groups on our broken plate.

Nutritionally we get a wodge of calories, and half the days salt. Not ideal, but I was very tired and needed something where someone else had done all the work.

From experience i know that the microwave option is only for the desperate and leave it for 30 lonely minutes in our oven.

This gives me plenty of time to read the box and discover it's a family company that is in its 70th year. Maybe they know what they are doing then, and maybe they do care!

The portions are a little small - but it was only £1.59 - so I could have had two. The beans are misshapen, the steak is a decent burger, and the chips are fine.

It's all a bit beige so I added some red sugar sauce (or tomato ketchup) on the side. 

And it was perfectly fine. The flavours were muted as you'd expect, but the textures were fine and everything was cooked but not dried out like I'd feared. I'm surprising myself by saying this but is have this again.

If I'd been a bit better prepared I could have added a portion of veg to bring it up to size and to help myself in the nutrition too. As far as frozen meals go this was pretty good value for money and it's no surprise that they are still in business. 

And in fairness to them they do have options where the beans are replaced by some frozen veg but I figured that id go full comfort food.

Hunger Breaks Hot Pots "Chip shop" Chicken Curry & Rice [@Nli10]

In the quest to find a nice lunch I've been working my way down the ready meals aisle at Asda.  This one I bought based on the flavour alone - Chip Shop Curry sauce!

Interestingly it's in the same pots as the Fray Bentos range, but with different colours and a very different recipe.  This is the very height of bachelor chow and is essentially baby food for adult males.

It doesn't need added water AND it has a very distinct flavour and is actually pretty nice.  If you have teenagers that you worry are not eating enough then get some of these for them.  It's probably the least filling of all the ones I've had so far, but not by much.  The texture is very samey and off-putting and it produced a lot of funny looks.  In fact this is very much a school-dinners kind of thing where everything is in one pot.

I didn't hate it, and would happily explore the range to find some others that may be more my thing.  I'd much rather have something from the actual chip shop, but as far as quick snacks go - this is pretty effective.  And it does taste like chip shop curry too!

John West Steam pot - Lemon & Thyme / Sun-dried Tomato [@NLi10]

As part of my ongoing quest to find a lunch that is something to look forwards to I picked up some healthy looking tuna pots by John West to go with my Frey Bentos & curry pots that I had.  I mainly did it out of a sense of balance and to add variety to the range.

I didn't expect these to be my favourites so far!

Spectre has reviewed the Lemon version already but that happened to be the one I'd taken pictures of.  I also had the sun dried tomato version but didn't have my phone on me that day.

In all varieties you get to pots - one of tuna and one with the cops-cous.  It's all pre sorted and has a fill line and lots of things in to make it yummy.  I prefer to make my own flavour to these sorts of things (a bag of plain cous-cous is pence and goes a really long way) but I was surprised by the quality and mix here.  Each variety not only has a different flavour for the tuna but also for the cops-cous so in theory you could mix and match the 6 varieties for 36 different lunches - but I'm guessing they paired them up correctly.

You even get a fill line and they let you in on the secret to a good pot noodle - recover it while the ingredients mingle for the best taste!  While the packaging is good it's not robust enough to be reused like the Fray Bentos one was.  All recyclable though.

Sadly no steam is actually involved (just water vapour - but not all tuna fishermen are scientists so we can let them off_ but it does all end up fluffy and cooked.

As Spectre mentioned - it fills the pot well and there really isn't room for all the tuna.  Just adding it in bits works though.

And much to my surprise it's really good.  It's filling, it has a varied texture, and it's really simple to do - you can even make it with the pre-boiled water in the drinks thing in our break room.  I didn't think that I'd be turning down the meatballs for tuna, but this is tuna done well.

I'm not sure I could replicate this either - while I can mix up my own cous and take that to work, it's the flavours in the tuna that really make this shine.

And while I was googling the varieties for the review I found a 50p off voucher. When I go for my next batch of lunches I'm getting as many of the flavours as I can (without the mushroom one).  It's neither as good as the Pieminister Pie Pots nor as expensive, but I can see myself eating this a lot more as it feels a lot better for me, is cheaper, and is much more readily available. An unexpected win.

Fray Bentos Hunger Burster - Meatballs / Bolognese & Pasta [@NLi10]

In a series of lunch-time related reviews I'm exploring the options that we have for eating when the only things you have are a microwave and a kettle.  

First up was the Fray Bentos range.  This is currently on special offer in Asda and is 2 for £3 instead of £2 each - a 33% saving.  As one day's sandwich in the shop is £3 this is pretty good.

While the Fray Bentos pie I reviewed was passable it wasn't something to be too excited about.  I hoped that these would be at least similar quality.

The containers were great quality - like a can that you could microwave so perfect for eating at work. Indeed I've washed out and kept a container for future experiments.  I started off with the Meatballs and pasta one as of the two flavours chosen it seemed the one I'd like the most.

Rip off the tin lid and it looks pretty hearty.

Nuke it for the allotted time and everything sinks! Guess the sauce becomes less dense when heated. It also becomes insanely hot so allow extra time for cooling! It's certainly flavoursome, but the pasta is as expected and very tinned in taste and texture.  I was considering how similar it was to the tinned pasta and meatballs I'd have from heinz as a child and thinking that it was probably twice the price.

Overall though as I dug down I found a lot more meat than I'd found in those cans and overall I was full up by the end - even though it wasn't anything too special.

About a week later I had the bolognese flavour one - which didn't have the meatballs but did have a much superior taste.

I couldn't identify what the difference was in the ingredients but as I was similarly full I think I'd pick this one up in future first - but both are something I plan to have again until they start serving meals at work again.  And if it keeps me off the £3.75 meal deals I'm saving £2.25 a day on the special offer price - result!

Mediterranean Style Tuna Salad (John West) [By @SpectreUK]

This John West's Mediterranean Style Tuna Salad had an "improved recipe" label on the front and being a lover of most things fishy I just had to try it out. There was a free plastic fork on top of a metal hexagonal dish underneath the cardboard outer shell. This tuna salad sounded perfect for a quick and healthy lunch that I could eat cold on the go, and so I decided to do just that on my way to uni. I even had a can of John West's Sardines in Tomato Sauce on the side. The tuna salad had an easy peel foil lid to prevent the tomato sauce inside from flicking everywhere. Once open I could see lots of chunky tuna pieces in a juicy tomato sauce with thick wriggly pasta, mixed (red, yellow and green) diced peppers and chopped olives. The lovely sweet herby and spicy tomato sauce had a slight vinegary taste and complemented the succulent tuna pieces perfectly. The squidgy pasta chunks added extra body to the salad, with a spicy bitiness from the peppers and slight oily flavour from the green olives. This Mediterranean Style Tuna Salad certainly made for an easy, quick and healthy packed lunch with no washing up. I would definitely have this again, especially for a healthy boost from my usual sandwich and crisps!

Information on the card label;
Produced in Portugal for John West Foods, in Liverpool, established in 1857. 220g salad with 211 calories, 4.2g of fat and 9.5g of sugar. No artificial colours, flavours or preservatives. For ingredients see photograph. Allergy advice contains; fish, wheat, egg, and may contain traces of mustard.

By Spectre

Find out more about the range on their website: http://www.john-west.co.uk

Marks & Spencer ESPANA Marinated Chicken with Patatas Bravas and Garlic Alioli [by @ NLi10]

Recently I got bought a Marks and Spemcer ready meal from their recently launched ESPANA range, and quite enjoyed it!  This has resulted in another trip to the similar Spanish packet meal section with very similar results.

This time we have a few strips of marinated chicken, a lot of patatas bravas and a sachet of what I believe is garlic mayo.  When heated for the required time and plated out it looks like this.

As you can see - I need to practice my drizzle effect.  The food itself was actually again rather nice, but more muted in flavour.  The small amount of strong flavoured sausage suited the other dish well, but the chicken strips get a little lost here.  The potato is more than good enough to compensate though and the balance is still one that is both pleasing  and filling.  I did feel it lacked in the vegetable area, but this wasn't a deal breaker.

I'm sure that we will continue to try this range and discover its full repertoire - at least until they move onto another nationality's cuisine!