The current pictured version is now dreadful.
I hadn't seen these around for a while now and by coincidence, my mum had suggested a roast chicken dinner ready meal for when we returned from a hospital appointment and I had seen them in an independent food store a few days before. I made a special trip to town to get these ready for when we would have little time. Firstly, it no longer contains Yorkshire pudding, unlike the heating instructions say here. I heated them as per the oven instructions and the good news is that the potatoes, stuffing ball, gravy and peas were lovely. The chicken and carrots however were extremely tough and both had textures which made them seem insufficiently cooked. I tried heating these further in the microwave but it made no difference to the texture and was inedible. We have tried other versions from supermarket own brand to other famous brands over the past few years and all seem to have this problem with carrots. Maybe they are all produced now in the same factory. The only time we have encountered a good version is when my mum was having what used to be called meals on wheels. Fortunately I know who supplied these so I think I will order some from them for the freezer and will just cook my own roasts when time allows.
Best microwave beef dinner ever!
Bought this on a wim from my village shop as my mum had been getting them and I thought I'd give it a go! Omg! The roast potatoes are so moist and flavoursome, soft and fluffy on inside. They have a little butter cube inside the compartment so it cooks them beautifully. The peas are birdseye peas and are the only peas I eat as they have a sweet flavour and are moist unlike other peas that can be a bit dry/flourey. Carrots and nice and thin. I don't like the chunky ones. You get two Yorkshire puddings instead of one like other brands. I only cook these for 1 minute as it's all they need. They soak up the gravy beautifully. The beef is 50/50 really. It actually tastes like beef unlike other brands where it tastes like some unknown animal. However sometimes it seems to overcook and be chewy. I still eat it as it's so tasty but obviously it's much nicer when the beef cooks to a softer texture. This only seems to happen half of the time though and I don't know why! The gravy tastes lovely like it's made with beef juices and you get loads of it! I like to add salt to the roast potatoes and the beef and vegetables and I tiny bit on Yorkshire puddings as salt just enhances all of the wonderful flavours. It's my come home from work,sit on the couch and stick on a movie kinda food. The only thing is birdseye I can't get this from ANY supermarket! Only from the village shop. What's that about? I would totally recommend this product! I've tried about 8 others and none of them compare to birsdeye. Mostly because the beef tastes really dodgey and the potatoes are always hard. Birdseye win on this category!
