SWEET AND SOUR CHICKEN READY MEALS

KC BLAKES PANTRY SWEET & SOUR
CHICKEN €8.99 for 630g, €14.26 per kg

KC BLAKES is something of an institution in Galway city and it has a reputation for producing top quality ready meals. Judging by this product, which is prepared in the company’s city centre restaurant, it’s a reputation that’s well deserved. It has the nicest chicken – although we could have done with more of it – and the best sauce which lives up to its sweet and sour name. The accompanying basmati rice is excellent and miles ahead of the competition. Availability for people not living in Galway is obviously going to be a problem and the price is on the steep side - it’s worth it though.

VERDICT:In a class of its own ****

TESCO KEN HOM’S SWEET AND SOUR
CHICKEN €4 for 400g, €10 per kg

RATHER THAN being a traditional ready meal in which hunks of chicken are left stewing in a sauce, with this Ken Hom-developed product you get seven stand-alone nugget-style pieces of chicken coated in batter and an accompanying dipping sauce. At the outset it all looks a bit grim but turns out to be surprisingly nice – the chicken pieces are good, the batter crispy and not at all greasy. The sauce has a pleasant, fruity tang with a decent ginger kick and the pineapples and peppers are nicely textured. The 400g is not bulked up with rice so you’re probably getting more bang for your buck.

VERDICT:A nice surprise ****

M&S SWEET AND SOUR CHICKEN WITH
RICE €4.99 for 400g, €11.22 per kg

THIS IS made with 37 per cent nicely textured chicken and a decent amount of pineapple and red peppers. The sauce is plentiful but incredibly sweet and we were not at all surprised to learn that this meal would make up 37 per cent of an adult’s GDA of sugar. We struggled to find any sour or spicy flavours in the mix, which was disappointing, but not as disappointing as the accompanying rice which was awful – dry and almost completely devoid of taste. The portion is on the small side and left us feeling decidedly hungry – even though it made up over 500 calories.

VERDICT:Very disappointing **

WEIGHTWATCHERS SWEET & SOUR
CHICKEN €2.33 for 400g, €5.82 per kg

WE HAVE reviewed quite a few dire WeightWatchers products so we approached this ready meal with a heavy heart. While a long way from lovely, it isn’t all that bad. The chicken is decent – firm and meaty – and the water chestnuts and carrots in the mix have a hefty crunch to them. The sauce is a little flavourless and, while there is a lot of long grain rice accompanying this dish, it is pretty tasteless. WeightWatchers also has made the packaging as difficult to open as possible with the plastic film fusing itself to the plastic carton in an alarming and deeply irritating fashion.

VERDICT:Pretty average ***

EXCELLENT *****

GREAT ****

FINE ***

BELOW PAR **

AWFUL *