SW Frozen Meals - Roasted Vegetable Pasta

[steph1212]

I always begrudge adding a protein too a meal for cost reasons too. I can be known to be a lazy cook but I do like experimenting.
Lately I have been buying a chilled chicken from aldi (think if memory serves correctly, it's £2.49) I throw it in the oven for 2 hours and I tend to get 3 meals out of it at least (and that's cooking for two of us). I use half of it and make a curry, half for something else and the bits that are left go into a chicken stew.
You could always consider making a couple of meals and throwing the left over chicken into the sw ready meal.
Personally, I think £3 is steep for a meal with no meat in it- a quick pasta bake can be made by chopping carrots, courgette, onions etc and roast whilst cooking pasta. Once pasta is cooked, throw in the dish with the veg, stir in some passata and garlic and put HEXA cheese on top. Cheap as chips! X

 

[lentil2]

How bizarre as i found the WW alright, yeah a little on the small ish side - i just to make sure i had a nice pud to go with it like some fruit salad or Yoghurt combination of sorts. I remeber having the beef chilli with wedges and added my b option bread with it.
You can tell the SW ones are quality but i think they are quite expensive when some of them need a protein adding to it to make it more of a meal. £3 for a small portion of pasta and some veg is a lot.

I personally wouldn't buy it anyway as I said before, it takes as long to make it yourself from scratch as it does to cook the ready made one!! Its got to be one of the simplest things to make! Its the same with the meat balls. I wouldn't bother with those either. I mean, all you have to do is bung some mince in a bowl, chuck in whatever herbs and spices you want, mix and roll into balls. Done! Lets be fair, you are paying for the convenience. We all know convenience foods cost more and that cooking from scratch is cheaper! That's what you are paying, the convenience of having someone else do it for you!

 

[lentil2]

I always begrudge adding a protein too a meal for cost reasons too. I can be known to be a lazy cook but I do like experimenting.
Lately I have been buying a chilled chicken from aldi (think if memory serves correctly, it's £2.49) I throw it in the oven for 2 hours and I tend to get 3 meals out of it at least (and that's cooking for two of us). I use half of it and make a curry, half for something else and the bits that are left go into a chicken stew.
You could always consider making a couple of meals and throwing the left over chicken into the sw ready meal.
Personally, I think £3 is steep for a meal with no meat in it- a quick pasta bake can be made by chopping carrots, courgette, onions etc and roast whilst cooking pasta. Once pasta is cooked, throw in the dish with the veg, stir in some passata and garlic and put HEXA cheese on top. Cheap as chips! X

Blimey, I wish I could make a chicken go that far. We had a roast chicken on Sunday and between me and my husband, we demolished it in that one meal! And that was with loads of roasties and 4 different veggies too!! We do have large appetites!

 

[jen3]

I personally wouldn't buy it anyway as I said before, it takes as long to make it yourself from scratch as it does to cook the ready made one!! Its got to be one of the simplest things to make! Its the same with the meat balls. I wouldn't bother with those either. I mean, all you have to do is bung some mince in a bowl, chuck in whatever herbs and spices you want, mix and roll into balls. Done! Lets be fair, you are paying for the convenience. We all know convenience foods cost more and that cooking from scratch is cheaper! That's what you are paying, the convenience of having someone else do it for you!

Ha ha - I bought the meatballs then thought exactly the same thing as you!!!

Tbh I think I've just been enticed in by all the hype!!

 

[lentil2]

Ha ha - I bought the meatballs then thought exactly the same thing as you!!!

Tbh I think I've just been enticed in by all the hype!!

Jen...I think that's what happened to me too! I never buy ready meals these days but I was desperate to try the SW ones for some reason. I've only had the chicken tikka one which I found ok but I will stick to making my own I think.
Probably the only thing I will use are the sausages as I don't plan on making them myself!!

 

[hannaali]

Jen...I think that's what happened to me too! I never buy ready meals these days but I was desperate to try the SW ones for some reason. I've only had the chicken tikka one which I found ok but I will stick to making my own I think. Probably the only thing I will use are the sausages as I don't plan on making them myself!!

Where do you buy the SW sausages? I can only seem to find WW foods everywhere I go!

 

[lentil2]

Where do you buy the SW sausages? I can only seem to find WW foods everywhere I go!

They are in the new Iceland range, you cant get them anywhere else

 

[lilili]

Had this yesterday, have to say I didn't really enjoy it and tbh I could have made a nicer version myself... way too watery!

 

[lt52]

I always begrudge adding a protein too a meal for cost reasons too. I can be known to be a lazy cook but I do like experimenting.
Lately I have been buying a chilled chicken from aldi (think if memory serves correctly, it's £2.49) I throw it in the oven for 2 hours and I tend to get 3 meals out of it at least (and that's cooking for two of us). I use half of it and make a curry, half for something else and the bits that are left go into a chicken stew.
You could always consider making a couple of meals and throwing the left over chicken into the sw ready meal.
Personally, I think £3 is steep for a meal with no meat in it- a quick pasta bake can be made by chopping carrots, courgette, onions etc and roast whilst cooking pasta. Once pasta is cooked, throw in the dish with the veg, stir in some passata and garlic and put HEXA cheese on top. Cheap as chips! X

I agree - to me i keep costs down as much as possible. Adding left overs to it would be a better way of keeping costs down - but i tend not to have anything left over lol :|

 

[lt52]

Had this yesterday, have to say I didn't really enjoy it and tbh I could have made a nicer version myself... way too watery!

Yeah a little on the watery side - but i reckon thats a theme with them all really. I could have made a non watery version but not sure it would be a nicer version lol :|

 

[lt52]

I did this one in the oven.... found the veg kept its form and was a little less mush otherwise not much of a difference for me.

 

[Wegle]

I know I'm late to this thread but just wanted to chime in with my 2 cents on this meal.

My mother in law kindly snapped me up one of each of the vegetarian SW meals, so The Roasted Veg Pasta and the Sweet Potato Curry. Last night I didn't get home until 9pm so thought it was the perfect opportunity to give one a try. I opted for the pasta and popped it in the microwave for convenience.

Whilst it did take 11 minutes and yes you probably could cook something similar in the same time. By plonking it in the microwave I was able to do some other quick things around the house without having to stir pots so in my situation (getting home very late) it was really useful. The washing up of creating your own version was also minimised so again very convenient for that late at night.

I followed the instructions and allowed the meal to sit for a minute before I plated it up. I topped it with some cheese and left it for a bit longer as I like my cheese melted. When I started to tuck in the sauce was not watery or runny. It wasn't thick like dolmio sauces but it was comparable to ones that I make myself. The portion size was huge! Much bigger than any ready meal I've eaten before. By the time I had finished I was feeling very full and definitely completely satisfied. I take on board people's opinions about wanting to add a bit of chicken etc but for a vegetarian (in my opinion) this was a very satisfying ready meal. It's never going to be as good as something you make yourself but for an 11 minute ping meal I was really impressed.

The price is far too high for what it is IMO. It reminded me of restaurants that charge £10 for a 8oz steak meal and £9 for a greek salad. A bit of a rip off. However for the convience it afforded I could probably stomach it as I would most likely only have this type of meal once or maybe twice a month. So from me it gets a 7/10. What I really liked is that the packaging has the recipe for the dish on the back so even though you can buy the ready meal SW still seem to be encouraging people to make their own food from scratch.

 

[lt52]

I know I'm late to this thread but just wanted to chime in with my 2 cents on this meal.
....................
The price is far too high for what it is IMO. It reminded me of restaurants that charge £10 for a 8oz steak meal and £9 for a greek salad. A bit of a rip off. However for the convience it afforded I could probably stomach it as I would most likely only have this type of meal once or maybe twice a month. So from me it gets a 7/10. What I really liked is that the packaging has the recipe for the dish on the back so even though you can buy the ready meal SW still seem to be encouraging people to make their own food from scratch.

Wow - so detailed and i see your points on the convience and getting things done in stead of having to stir and all the stuff - so with you on that. Never even thought of adding cheese to it - that seems so obvious yet so strange that i haven't done it or not thought of doing it lol.

They defo are a much 'better' quality and portion size meal for what they are and for a ready meal. I don't know any better out there to be honest - i respect the price and will admit to trying a recipe but failing miserably. What has it come to when a frozen ready meal is waaaaay better than your own cooking lol

 

[Wegle]

Wow - so detailed and i see your points on the convience and getting things done in stead of having to stir and all the stuff - so with you on that. Never even thought of adding cheese to it - that seems so obvious yet so strange that i haven't done it or not thought of doing it lol.

They defo are a much 'better' quality and portion size meal for what they are and for a ready meal. I don't know any better out there to be honest - i respect the price and will admit to trying a recipe but failing miserably. What has it come to when a frozen ready meal is waaaaay better than your own cooking lol

Haha! If I could afford my own personal Slimming World chef I would totally have one. I enjoy cooking but it's definitely all a bit "experimental"!

 

[lt52]

I am so glad it ain't just me cuz anything and everything I do is experimental lol. Nothing ever looks or tastes as it should! When frozen meals taste better than your own cooking - I gotta ask some serious questions lol
A personal slimming world chef is an excellent idea! But not a job for me lol

 

[azlan]

I had the pasta and meatballs meal and having read a couple of your reviews about the watery sauces I took off the covering when I stirred it halfway through so some of the liquid could evaporate and the sauce was lovely - not too watery at all. Maybe try this with your next one and see if it makes a difference?

 

[lt52]

Thanks for the tip, I tried it with one of them and me chicken dried out lol.
The oven seemed to not be as watery but it's a very little concern on my part I prefer less thick sauces in fairness