I was handed a pouch of this to try and see what I thought. Typically, I am anti-ready meals, generally they taste bad and are heavily processed. I will always prepare my own food where possible, but I do appreciate that some people may not always have the time, and that ready meals are a very convenient alternative. This one sounded good, so I gave it a try.

Unlike many ready meals, this meal is tailored more towards the needs of an athlete, not just the general public, so should be a healthier option. You can see a picture of the macro-nutrient content bellow.

Ingredients: Cooked Chicken Breast (45%), Mango Juice from Concentrate(30%), Quinoa (10%), Spinach (4%), Red Peppers, Cornflour, Ginger Puree (1%), Coriander, Himalyan Crystal Salt

 

Taste

As ready meals go, this tastes pretty good. I wouldn’t say that it was sensational, but was surprisingly nice. The chicken was a bit dry (not as dry as some ready meals though) and the flavors were quite subtle, but this is a functional ready meal for athletes, not a fresh gormet meal! The taste, although important, shouldn’t be the priority.

 

Macro-nutrient content

As you can see from the table of macro-nutrients, it is much better than other ready meals, and this is where is scores really highly for me. It has an ideal amount of sugars, and most of the carbohydrates complex –  Quinoa is a fantastic food! This meal is also very high in protein, which is something which many athletes want. Overall I am impressed. Would be really nice to see some omega-3’s in there (there will be some from the quinoa, but I have no idea how much), and it is actually quite low in calories considering it is for a athlete – so it might not be for everyone.

 

Micro-nutrients

With ingredients like spinach, ginger puree, red peppers and mango juice, I assume that there are some micro-nutrients in there. I simply cannot find out the quantities though. This seems a little short sighted considering that this is tailored for athletes, who need to focus on both micro and macro-nutrients. The score of 4 is simply an estimate on my part, but I am disappointed that no micro-nutrients are listed.

 

Ease to prepare

Unsurprisingly, as a ready meal this is very easy to prepare – put it in the microwave for a few mins and you are ready to go! It just missed out on a score of ten because I burnt myself on the steam when pouring the food out of the bag – probably more my fault that anything.

 

Final thoughts

This is one of the best ready meals I have seen, but, it still is a ready meal. Having it every now and then will be fine, and is very convenient. The macro-nutrients stack up well, but the lack of micro-nutrient information, the fact that it is still a processed meal, and it need to be microwaved tells me that this shouldn’t be a regular meal if you can help it.