Venison bourguignon, coq au vin, confit duck, salmon and beef wellingtons: this new range of supermarket meals certainly sounds fancy. But the prices have made people gulp. I taste-tested all five to find out what is good value – and what’s best to avoidLike Tesla cars and the ending of the Sopranos, Charlie Bigham ready meals seem to be rather divisive. On the one hand, people clearly love them: about 31m dishes were sold in the past year alone. On the other hand, they generate a heap of mockery. The critique seems to be that only a gullible idiot would shell out up to a tenner on an oven-ready fish pie, chilli con carne or – as one commentator once memorably labelled it – a tray of “Tory slop”.Those critics will be sharpening their kitchen knives because Bigham, who is a kind of Tim “Wetherspoons” Martin for centrist dads, has just announced the launch of his Brasserie range: deluxe versions of his meals with prices that fetch up to … wait for it … £30! Thirty whole English pounds! Continue reading...
Monday 20 October 2025
theguardian - 2 days ago
‘£30 for a ready meal?!’ Do Charlie Bigham’s new dishes really beat going to a restaurant?
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