Review - new Slimming World ready meal range

Some of the ready meals in the range

Last month Slimming World launched its first ever range of ready meals. The excitement among Slimming World groups that I saw on Facebook and at my own group was amazing; you'd have thought people had won the lottery jackpot.

In some ways they had - when you are pressed for time and want a hot meal there are only so many Mug Shots you can eat. Many of the low fat ready meals on the market are still relatively high in syns on Slimming World and also have tiny portions.

The new Slimming World ready meal range include the sort of things you could make from scratch but might not have time for, and a lot of takeaway favourites, so instead of reaching for the phone you can reach into your freezer. All the meals are completely free on Slimming World - even the sausages, and are on sale in Iceland at £3 each. The portions are generous though my personal trainer pointed out that the protein content is still pretty low - but I think this is the case with all ready meals as the meat is the expensive part.

I like the fact that the packets have the recipes on the back, so when you have more time you can cook these meals yourself. Slimming World isn't trying to encourage people to eat ready meals, just to give them more healthy options when time is short.

But most importantly, what do they actually taste like? I have now tried them all bar one, and here are my thoughts....

Hot-smoked salmon farfalle

Described as "succulent flakes of hot-smoked salmon with farfalle pasta, peas and broccoli, in a rich tomato sauce."

There was a generous amount of salmon and peas though the broccoli pieces were too small and I barely noticed them. I found that the sauce was quite watery though the salmon was a bit overcooked for my liking when I cooked it according to the pack instructions.

This is an easy meal to take to work (if you have a microwave you can use); I spooned it into an empty lunchbox so I could eat it at my desk. I think though that it takes so little time to cook pasta at home, and I often make a pasta salad the night before to take to work, that I wouldn't bother buying this ready meal again and would prefer to make my own salmon pasta.

 

Chicken Piazzola

The second meal I tried was the chicken piazzola. Described as “a tender butterflied chicken breast topped with a rich tomato and herb sauce with whole baby plum tomatoes”, this was essentially a large thin chicken breast in a tomato sauce. It tasted fine but I had expected something a bit more interesting and again the sauce was extremely watery, though I have since been told that this may depend on the power of your microwave.

 

I had this dish with plenty of veg which made a relatively filling meal - you could also have potatoes with it but then you may as well cook your own chicken from scratch and throw a few herbs and a tin of tomatoes over it. The actual recipe is a bit more complicated than that but this is a pretty simple dish.

 

 

 

 

Sweet Potato Curry

 

The same cannot be said for the sweet potato curry – this is something that would take a lot longer to make at home. Described as “succulent chunks of sweet potato with red peppers and spinach in a fragrant curry sauce”, this was not too spicy (I don’t like spicy foods), filling and really tasty, and something quite unusual that I would definitely choose again. I had it with some extra veg and had no need of rice – but if you wanted to serve it with rice then the curry would serve two.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Singapore Noodles

 

As I don’t like spicy food I wasn’t keen on the Singapore noodles – described as "delicious noodles, tender seared chicken, juicy king prawns and vegetables in a spicy oriental style sauce.” I would have preferred the mixture of flavours but without the spice, though as I don’t like certain vegetables I also spent ages picking the green beans and peas out, so for both those reasons this isn’t a dish I would have again. Also, a stir fry is pretty quick to make at home, though it does need quite a few different ingredients that you may not have to hand, so I can see a place for a ready meal of this type far more than the salmon pasta.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Meatballs & Pasta with a  Spicy Tomato Sauce

 

 

That’s not to say I’m against pasta as a frozen ready meal altogether, I just wasn’t impressed by the salmon one. I have to admit I didn’t try the roasted vegetable pasta – there was really no point as I don’t like any of the vegetables in it. But the Meatballs and pasta with a  spicy tomato sauce is a dish I have actually had a few times now as I really enjoyed it. In this meal you get “beef and pork meatballs with penne and whole baby plum tomatoes in a spicy tomato sauce”. It’s not too spicy but has a little bit of a kick and the meatballs are really filling and tasty. I counted seven which is quite a lot as they are fairly large; this is a great meal to take to work and put in the microwave if you want something hot and filling at your desk which is also syn free. Unlike the salmon pasta, I didn’t find the sauce in this dish watery either, so it’s definitely a winner for me.

 

The photo isn't great as I transferred this into a plastic container to eat at my desk but it does actually look quite appealing on a plate.

 

16 syn-free Beef and Pork Meatballs

 

You can buy the meatballs on their own in a bag and pop them in the freezer; you get 16 in the packet which I found was plenty for dinner for my boyfriend and I when served with freshly cooked spaghetti and tomato sauce. My boyfriend is very picky about food and usually dislikes low fat alternatives that I buy, for instance when it comes to sausages, so I wasn’t sure what he would think of these meatballs. I didn’t tell him they were Slimming World and at the end of the meal asked what he thought; he said they were good and was quite surprised when I said they were Slimming World! So these are definitely something I will keep in the freezer for us to have again.

 

Syn-free Pork Sausages

 

You can also buy a packet of syn-free sausages which is the holy grail for some Slimming World members. The Facebook groups are full of discussions over which is better – Linda Mccartney which are syn-free, Quorn which are one syn each, something called Heck which I haven’t tried yet or the various low fat versions from different supermarkets – or do you just blow the sysn budget and have proper sausages? I was very hopeful that the syn-free sausages would be good – and I wasn’t disappointed. The texture reminds me more of bratwurst or even a little like saveloy and they are quite different to other sausages but I really liked them. The sausages are not cheap – you only get 6 for £3 – but these are so good (and syn free) that I would buy them again. I made syn free Slimming World chips and felt like I was having a very naughty sausage and chip dinner when in fact it was completely syn free!

 

 

Beef & Veg Crush

 

I had been putting off trying the Beef & Veg Crush as I didn’t particularly like the sound of it – “chunks of tender beef in a deliciously rich onion and balsamic vinegar gravy with a carrot and swede crush.” In fact it was a pleasant surprise. All too often in a ready meal the beef is chewy or fatty, but this was a much higher quality meat in a flavoursome sauce. The carrot and swede mash wasn’t my favourite as I don’t really like swede but I quickly decided it was OK and it went really well with the beef.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Chicken Tikka Masala

 

Finally the chicken tikka masala. It didn't come with rice so I cooked my own; this is quite a big portion so with enough rice it would serve two. It was fairly mild which I liked - I actually thought the Singapore noodles were more spicy! The sauce was still quite watery though, even though I cooked it for as long as the pack instructed. Even so, I would have it again.

So overall I had mixed feelings about the Slimming World ready meal range; I liked some more than others but I don't really eat ready meals anyway. It is good to have them in the freezer for convenience though and I like the fact that the have the recipes on the back, so really you get the best of both worlds!