M+S eat in for £10 thingy

I had it for the first time last week. The salmon was nice, as was the pain au choc pudding. I gave the wine away. The mash was a lard-fest but I quite like that sometimes. I must admit I was expecting something better than chicken pie, applie pie, etc.

Is it on every weekend now?

The wine alone is a fiver so it's probably worth it.

I don't know if it's every weekend. Don't actually have M+S locally, just happened to be in Oxford. It looked crap. However, I have no idea if M+S food is generally like that anyway, as I haven't really looked at it before.

L
xx

I don't normally shop in there apart from the odd service station sarnie if desperate. What were you expecting it to be like?

I think they're trying to market it as restaurant food at home.

<disclaimer>I've never had it<disclaimer> but I think M&S ready meals are meant to be pretty good as far as ready meals go.

Based on their adverts, not like something you'd get in Iceland for half the price

L
xx

If you are going to have a ready meal M&S ones are far, far superior to any others I have ever eaten (bearing in mind I haven't any for a few years). I don't know if their quality has suffered recently - I imagine that it may have with the frequency they seem to do this deal.

When i used to be at work from 9am to 10pm one day a week I would have an M&S dinner at my desk - an all-in-one main (they did a nice butternut squash risotto I seem to remember, and an OK chicken past thing), one of their low fat chocolate moussey puddings and a non-alcoholic drink, and that could easily cots me a fiver - so 3-courses + wine for two for ten quid does seem like a good deal.

Maybe it is the fact I would never eat a chicken pie or premade mash that has put me off

L
xx

I prefer the Waitrose one that they do now and again. Much better quality and exactly the same price including the wine but with more choice.

Tesco have started doing it now too, with foods from their 'Finest' range, for £9.

We gave it a go last night. Considering we don't normally 'do' ready meals, as an alternative to a takeaway it wasn't bad. I couldn't bring myself to order ready made mash though, and we had chunky chips (which were rather good) with 'Steak au Poivre' (which was OK - it was tender enough, but it's basically pieces of steak cooked in oodles of sauce for 30 minutes, so not usually how I'd eat my steak). We had chocolate cheesecake for pudding, which was amazing, but took ages to eat as it was so rich ?. My biggest gripe was the lack of vegetables, but I don't know how this compares to the other deals around. We haven't tried the wine yet, as they only had white available, and so we had a different bottle of red last night.

The other alternative was salmon en croute, and I can't remember what the other dessert was. They're not showing it on their front page at the moment, so it must be a limited type offer.

Anyway, like I said, not 'brilliant' but not bad either. Better than I expected I think ?

I was a bit surprised to see the chicken pie etc last week, but to get a big hunk of salmon and the wine and nice pud made me think it was worth it as a one-off. I'd never had ready made mash before, and I do mine with skins on and a tiny bit of semi-skimmed milk so it seemed funny to have this buttery pureed stuff. I gave most of the mash to the husband who will eat anything, particularly if it's lard-filled ?

The chicken pie gave me heartburn to my ears - wouldn't recommend it! The apple pie was lovely, the roasties a faff. It wasn't one of their better weeks! I wish they'd give you the choice of a pud or an extra veg. From last week, out of preference I'd have had the chicken, the asparagus and the sticky toffee pudding. However I chose last time so MrKJX got his turn - never again!

We like the offer....

Last week we had the chicken topped with cheese potatoes on a bed of spinich and wild mushrooms (v. nice), asparagus (bit grainy but not in season.... last time it was gorgeous), sticky toffee pudding (Yum... best ready meal pudding I have ever tried) and a bottle of white wine.

Havent tried the Waitrose offer but would like to.

FWIW, we dont have a lot of ready meals, but M and S ones are the best we have come across...

I was tempted to try it a couple of weeks ago, but the chicken wasn't free range so I couldn't bring myself to. I think they sound pretty good value though.

I saw Daylesford has jumped on this bandwagon too, doing the same thing for £15 ?

We had exactly what you would have chosen. It was very good and fed all three of us.

We did it once before as an alternative to a takeaway, and had some gorgeous chicken breasts with pesto, bacon and mozzarella on top to roast in the oven, some veg, and lovely choc souffles - which all really impressed me as I'd never bought M & S food before.

Did it again last weekend and the choice didn't seem nearly as good. There was only one white wine to choose and we had a really lame hot choc fudge cake thingy, which I could have made better myself!

It is good value though, and I'll still go and have a look next time.

We were devoid of inspiration today and considered this - never had it before. Turns out not available this week, the woman told us it was every other week at the moment.

No matter really because I'm not a fan of ready meals and so I came to my senses and went and bought pate and other lovely things.

I did it a few weeks ago and got a chicken, bag of new potatoes, huge sticky toffee pud and a nice bottle of red. I froze the chicken and we're having it tonight. I'll have a look tomorrow when I'm in town but if chicken pie is the best they have to offer I'll give it a miss.

We were going to try it last week, but by 1pm on Saturday our local store had run out of all the mains except chicken pie which didn't appeal, so we didn[t bother. On that basis I wasn't impressed.

[bottle of gaviscon] You had a lucky escape [/bottle of gaviscon]

If you speak to management i *think* they offer a voucher because there is nothing left.I know we have done a few times in our store.

When i have worked on the food department customers are queuing up outside at 8.15am,and rush towards the deal.

I went one week, and it must have been a good one as i bought two deals ?

i got a whole chicken, asparagus (which went in a left over chicken pasta dish) and a moussaka which went in the freezer. then a bag of herb salad (which i did have to ask for as it wasn't on the main display) and 2x 2 creme brulees, both of which i used that night as we had guests round for tea. and the 2 bottles of wine.

so those deals seemed a bargain. i hope they're not skimping on it now though ☹️

we don't have a waitrose, and hell would freeze over before i voluntarily gave tesco money