There are often days when I fancy a home-cooked meal but don’t actually feel like cooking it. I usually have a stash of leftover meals in the freezer for such times. However, it would occasionally be nice to not have leftovers but something still homemade in taste, Cook Food aims to deliver just that.
Cook Food are a company that prides itself in producing frozen ready meals using the same ingredients and techniques that you would use at home, so that dishes look and taste homemade. This sounded like a good alternative so I was keen to try. The meals are made from their Kent kitchen and there’s a nice selection of dishes to choose from.
You can shop a number of ways either by the ‘cook menu’ or by catergories such as; ‘award-winning’, ‘fish meals’, ‘guilt-free’ meals etc. in various portion sizes. In the end I opted for one of their ‘award-winning’ meals – Moroccan Spiced Lamb Tagine, and one from the ‘fish meals’ – Hearty Fisherman’s Pie. Both kindly delivered in their very cute customised van.
Moroccan Spiced Lamb Tagine
Each meal tells you who it was cooked by, which is a nice touch. The Moroccan Spiced Lamb Tagine looked the part in terms of it’s rustic home-cooked appearance, but didn’t taste it. The abundance of apricots and dates made this dish far too sweet, so much so that it wiped out the flavours of the other ingredients. I noted on the packet that it won a ‘Great Taste Award’ in 2010 and 2011, but couldn’t see one for this year and wonder if they’ve changed the recipe since. Either way, it just didn’t work.
Hearty Fisherman’s Pie
The Hearty Fisherman’s Pie was a much more successful dish. Creamy mash with decent portions of salmon, naturally-smoked haddock and cod in a well-flavoured indulgent sauce. It’s warming, comforting and one I’d gladly fill the freezer with.
Overall what I tried was a bit hit-and-miss, but superior to similar on the market. They could be a good alternative to a take-away, or even just to stock up in the freezer for times when you fancy a home-cooked meal but without the effort.
Cook Food meals are available to buy across Cook shops in England, Scotland, Wales or booked online for delivery at: www.cookfood.net. The Hearty Fisherman’s Pie retails at £4.50 and the Moroccan Spiced Lamb Tagine at £4.99.
Many thanks to Cook Food for the samples.
Can you tell me if you have a range of your products that would be suitable for a Vegan? Could you email me a reply at your earliest convenience, please. Many thanks.
Would be best to contact them directly. Details on: 01732 759010 or http://www.cookfood.net/contact/
Dear Sir/madam,
I recently bought your cottage pie in the store in East Grinstead which at £13.95 was not cheap. I have to say it was very disappointing, this tasted like tin meat and there was hardly any meat in it,which was probably a blessing. It was sloppy and resembled a basic sainsburys range, Feel gutted that I paid this much money for a sub standard meal.
Bought a Salmon and Asparagus Gratin for one from Booths. Excellent. Lots of fish. Better I reckon than similar from M&S or Tesco.