Kirsty's gluten, wheat, dairy, egg and soya-free ready meals
Do you remember Worthenshaw's very tasty coconut 'ice creams' and dairy free milks? Well, Worthenshaws have been busy rebranding as Kirsty's – after Dragon's Den winner and founder of Worthenshaw's, Kirsty Henshaw. And, as Kirsty's,they have just launched a range of five totally freefrom (gluten, wheat, dairy, soya and egg free) one-pot ready meals in Sainsbury's.
We have been putting them through their paces but before looking at each one, we really liked the fact that not only were they so totally freefrom but that they genuinely are all-in-one 'convenience' meals, complete with rice, quinoa or mash – and, even at their full price, they are jolly good value.
Chicken Tikka Masala with Brown Basmati Rice - Ooh, nice punchy, generous sauce with excellent tasty chicken chunks. The rice was great (not always easy) and the sauce was light but excellently flavoured – not too hot but nicely spicy.
Spanish Chicken with Brown Rice - a generously portioned and interesting chicken stew with excellent big, flavoursome and tender pieces of chicken in a mainly tomato sauce. Good rice, nicely filling and tasty although we wondered whether a slightly longer cooking time at the making stage might have helped to really bring out the flavours of the long list of fresh vegetables and herbs which had gone into the sauce. But great that there is not an additive in sight!
Moroccan Vegetables with Quinoa - we LOVED the quinoa and lentils, a really nice mix of beans and vegetables with a good Moroccan 'feel'. The apricot worked well and the combination worked well. Maybe even better with a little heavier spicing as the tomatoes had a slight tendency to dominate.
Cottage Pie with Sweet Potato Mash - excellent combination of sweet mash with well-seasoned, tasty mince and chunky carrots and peas.
Sausage with Sweet Potato Mash - We felt that this was the least successful of the meals, although we understand that it is currently running out of Sainsbury's doors! The sausages were very dense and rather 'frankfurtery' and somehow the sweet potato mash did not seem as flavoursome as it had in the cottage pie. But nice gravy with good chunks of 'real' onion!
Anyhow, we would definitely recommend that you give them a try - especially since you can freeze them if you do not want to use them at once.
Available from Sainsbury's for £2.98 (introductory price of £1.89) for 400g.
7th September 2012 - All meals not also available from Ocado.
