Beautifully Balanced: Tesco Orchard Review

The lovely people at Tesco Orchard sent me some very handy vouchers to go and try some of their new Beautifully Balanced range; healthy ready made meals and snacks for on the go! Post birth, this is perfect for me as I am trying (and desperately failing) to lose my baby weight, maintain a healthy eating plan as I am breastfeeding and I also do not have a lot of time with a new baby and being a single mummy so this was perfect for me.

My first big question was always going to be… Did they have any vegetarian food on offer? The surprising answer was yes! Quite a lot in fact. There are 3 or 4 different types of pasta with tomato based sauces and one that is Spinach and cheese as well as a couple of different soups and some flavoured Quinoa. Designed as a healthy balanced meal, that doesn’t take very long I was eager to try.

I decided to try the Butternut Squash soup, as I have had it roasted and mashed but have never actually tried the soup. I also worry that when it is a “healthy” soup that it tends to be quite watery and flavourless. Infact, I found the complete opposite and was pleasantly surprised! There was a good strong flavour and for a healthy soup it was relatively thick which obviously is helped by the vegetable used to make it. I did season it myself slightly with some extra salt and pepper but not a lot and I generally do this anyway even with food that I have cooked myself! I bought this frozen, emptied half the pack (when it came time for me to chow down) into a dish and it cooked in 6 minutes in the microwave (though I could of course have done it on the hob too!) Each serving (2 in a pack) was only 124 calories and cost me £1.50 which meant a meal price of 75p (though I did add in a slice of granary bread too!) That’s cheaper than some cans of soup and it was really tasty.

I have a few more vouchers left to use, so I think next on my list will be to try the Quinoa and one of the pastas. The brilliant thing was, that Tescos also gave me a few vouchers to give out to friends and family too, which means that everyone will be eating healthily (at least for a couple of meals anyway!) Also included were vouchers for regular frozen fruit and veg which is great as I love having mixed summer fruits and oats for breakfast or keeping some frozen veg in for emergencies. Furthermore, I discovered that they have added a load of new fresh/frozen (weird and total opposites but I know what I mean) veg such as sliced mushrooms, some new beans and some new casserole mixes which is perfect for yours truly who just so happens to have gotten herself a new little slow cooker (a complete bargain at £10 also from the wonderful people at Tesco!!) So I grabbed a few bags of veg to pop in my freezer for some perfect winter warmer casseroles and stews – delish!

 I am really pleased that Tescos have made the effort to give vegetarians some new flavours to try other than jacket potatoes and that they have expanded their range of available frozen fruits and vegetables. Only thing I will say is that, whilst we have been given 3 or 4 main meals, they are all pasta whereas there is a chicken curry and other such things available for omnivores. So, next on the list… microwave meals for vegetarians with soya in them so we can eat the curry or the sweet and sour with rice too!

Good job Tesco! For new flavours that actually have flavour and for thinking of us veggies…

****A Tutu Rating of 4 out of 5****