As mentioned by a couple of folks a while ago, Morrisons are doing microwave meals, in a bag which you can also boil. In the interests of curiosity, I got a few of these to see exactly what they are like and if they are any good. I'll keep it simple and to the point, as there is only so much you can say about a boil in the bag meal.
I tried the following: Spaghetti; Pork & Beef Tortellini; Spaghetti & Meatballs; Meatballs & Vegetables and Meatballs in Bolognese Sauce.
When I was last in the other day, they were doing them at a 'trail price' 40p for the cheaper and 80p for the more expensive. All 200g. Now the basic reviews, I'll use a rating system : 0 for very bad , 5 for average and 10 for great. I'll use the following categories : Taste, Texture, Appearance and Overall.
Spaghetti
Taste : 4
The pasta was quite plain. The sauce was very sweet, too much for me, not enough tomato flavour.
Texture : 3
Very slippery, sounds silly I know, but there isn't much bite at all.
Appearance : 5
Look like cheap spag, nothing bad or good either way.
Overall : 4
I could eat this again, but I'd really rather not. There are other options out there that will taste better and probably be more filling.
Pork & Beef Tortellini
Taste : 3
I just didn't like it. The taste wasn't so much bad as almost non-existent.
Texture : 3
The pasta was very weak, having no bite, and the filling felt powdery.
Appearance : 6
Sitting on the plate it looked very nice, I was looking forward to getting stuck in.
Overall : 4
Will avoid this in future too. There would need to be massive improvement to both taste and texture for this to work.
Spaghetti & Meatballs
Taste : 5
The spag is fairly much like the above, bland , but the meatballs (of which there was around 8, if memory serves correctly) were not bad at all.
Texture : 6
No bite to the spag, but meatballs were surprisingly nice, firm but not tough.
Appearance : 7
Looked like spag n meatballs on the plate, slightly runny sauce.
Overall : 6
Would get this again, but would be nicer with either more or larger meatballs.
Meatballs & Vegtables
Taste : 6
Quite nice as far as these things go. Meatballs are tasty as were the veg.
Texture : 8
Plenty of bite, no sliminess.
Appearance : 7
Nice looking on the plate.
Overall : 7
What lets this one down is the lack of veg, there were around 12 meatballs and the veg was like a token thought afterwards.
Meatballs in Bolognese sauce
Taste : 8
I was quite surprised by this one, it really was quite nice. Can't recall anything negative really.
Texture :7
Again the pasta is the weak link here, but other than that it's good.
Appearance :7
Looks very nice, if somewhat small.
Overall : 8
Would definitely get this again, was very nice indeed. For 80p? Bargin.
Now there are a few others in the range, like Sausage n Spaghetti etc, I decided not to bother with them as the above certainly gives a very clear indication on whats going on. I did however wonder if I could dehydrate one and then add water and eat it. Would it be the same as before? Or would I be wishing I had soap to wash my mouth out? I picked Meatballs & Gravy.
After using my humble dehydrator (from westfalia) I ended up with 54g of food. I added about 150g of water and left to soak for a couple of hours. I then stuck it into a pan to heat up. The sausage and taters didn't rehydrate very well at all, although they weren't hard. The flavour was somewhat lacking too. It was edible however, although I question the amount of effort required to do this.
I hope the above helps someone out there..
I tried the following: Spaghetti; Pork & Beef Tortellini; Spaghetti & Meatballs; Meatballs & Vegetables and Meatballs in Bolognese Sauce.
When I was last in the other day, they were doing them at a 'trail price' 40p for the cheaper and 80p for the more expensive. All 200g. Now the basic reviews, I'll use a rating system : 0 for very bad , 5 for average and 10 for great. I'll use the following categories : Taste, Texture, Appearance and Overall.
Spaghetti
Taste : 4
The pasta was quite plain. The sauce was very sweet, too much for me, not enough tomato flavour.
Texture : 3
Very slippery, sounds silly I know, but there isn't much bite at all.
Appearance : 5
Look like cheap spag, nothing bad or good either way.
Overall : 4
I could eat this again, but I'd really rather not. There are other options out there that will taste better and probably be more filling.
Pork & Beef Tortellini
Taste : 3
I just didn't like it. The taste wasn't so much bad as almost non-existent.
Texture : 3
The pasta was very weak, having no bite, and the filling felt powdery.
Appearance : 6
Sitting on the plate it looked very nice, I was looking forward to getting stuck in.
Overall : 4
Will avoid this in future too. There would need to be massive improvement to both taste and texture for this to work.
Spaghetti & Meatballs
Taste : 5
The spag is fairly much like the above, bland , but the meatballs (of which there was around 8, if memory serves correctly) were not bad at all.
Texture : 6
No bite to the spag, but meatballs were surprisingly nice, firm but not tough.
Appearance : 7
Looked like spag n meatballs on the plate, slightly runny sauce.
Overall : 6
Would get this again, but would be nicer with either more or larger meatballs.
Meatballs & Vegtables
Taste : 6
Quite nice as far as these things go. Meatballs are tasty as were the veg.
Texture : 8
Plenty of bite, no sliminess.
Appearance : 7
Nice looking on the plate.
Overall : 7
What lets this one down is the lack of veg, there were around 12 meatballs and the veg was like a token thought afterwards.
Meatballs in Bolognese sauce
Taste : 8
I was quite surprised by this one, it really was quite nice. Can't recall anything negative really.
Texture :7
Again the pasta is the weak link here, but other than that it's good.
Appearance :7
Looks very nice, if somewhat small.
Overall : 8
Would definitely get this again, was very nice indeed. For 80p? Bargin.
Now there are a few others in the range, like Sausage n Spaghetti etc, I decided not to bother with them as the above certainly gives a very clear indication on whats going on. I did however wonder if I could dehydrate one and then add water and eat it. Would it be the same as before? Or would I be wishing I had soap to wash my mouth out? I picked Meatballs & Gravy.
After using my humble dehydrator (from westfalia) I ended up with 54g of food. I added about 150g of water and left to soak for a couple of hours. I then stuck it into a pan to heat up. The sausage and taters didn't rehydrate very well at all, although they weren't hard. The flavour was somewhat lacking too. It was edible however, although I question the amount of effort required to do this.
I hope the above helps someone out there..
