You'd be Chicken not to try it! (Weight Watchers Tomato and Basil Chicken)

Member Name: abercrombie92

Product:	Weight Watchers Tomato and Basil Chicken
Date:	13/04/09 (122 review reads)
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I'm really big on cooking, but lately, with being ill and having alot of troubles going around, I just can't be bothered cooking twice a day (plus scrambled eggs or oatmeal in the morning). Maybe this is the lazy way out, but I've found the best alternative to cooking all the time is the Weight Watchers ready meals. The bonus? They assist me with my weight loss too!!

I've been eating these ready meals nearly every evening for the past few weeks, but only now have I decided to share my opinion on them with you. Today it's the Tomato & Basil Chicken one.

According to the front of the box, "Marinated chicken mini fillets in a chunky tomato, courgette, red pepper and basil sauce, served with crispy potato wedges."

The meal comes in a medium sized purple box (slightly different from the image shown above), with a picture of the meal wrapped around one side. This picture looks like a delicious, home cooked meal and it really did draw me in. All of the necessary information is displayed clearly on the box so that even before picking it up in the shop, you can see the calorie content, points value (if you follow the Weight Watchers system) and the fat content. On the back of the box, you are told that the meal has no artificial colours, no artificial flavours and no hydrogenated fats - sounds great, right? The ingredients, company information and nutritional information is also on the back of the box, with the heating instructions on the side.

You can cook this in two ways - in the microwave or in the oven. I opted for the microwave option as the oven option would take 40-45 minutes - the same length of time that I could prepare and cook my own meal. I was told to remove the film lid before cooking and then to pop it in the microwave on full power for 9 minutes, then leave to stand for one minute. The cooking time changes depending on the wattage of your microwave.

Roughly 3 minutes after I put the meal in to cook, I started to get delicious scents circling round the house, who'd have thought a ready meal could smell so delicious?

7 minutes later (remember to leave it to stand!), I had a delicious looking meal sat in front of me. I could see 9 potato wedges of different sizes lying in top of a bed of chunky tomato sauce and chicken fillets. The potato wedges were golden and looked delicious, and sauce was giving off a delicious aroma. I took a bite out of one of the wedges. Perfect. Just the way I like them. Semi crunchy on the outside, light and fluffy on the inside. I ate all of the wedges first as I have a pretty OCD way of eating. Next was the chicken. I found 2 medium sized chicken fillets resting in the sauce. They looked moist and yummy, I couldn't wait to wolf them down. I cut off a chunk of chicken and popped it into my mouth. I was so surprised, it was the best chicken I'd ever tasted. How unusual. Halfway through the first chicken fillet, I was starting to feel full (that's my small appetite kicking telling me to stop feeding it!), so I took a gulp of water and waited a few minutes before finishing the rest off.
The chunky tomato sauce was delicious too. It was thick and full of tangy tomato flavour with plenty chunky vegetables mixed through it. Who'd have thought that something that cost only £1.50 would be so filling and tasty?

I like to eat the ready meals with a side portion of raw vegetables as I feel that the vegetables included in the meal aren't enough to do you any good.

In this 330g meal there is
- 249 calories
- 15.5g of protein
- 30.7g of carbohydrates (8.8g of which sugars)
- 7.1g of fat (2.7g of which saturates)
- 4.2g of fibre
- 0.8g of sodium
- 2.1g of salt equivalent

Compared to the guideline daily amounts for average adults, this is wonderful - these are also included on the box, but I won't bore you with those because you can find them absolutely anywhere!

Contains; Milk, Celery, Celeriac.

I bought this meal (and 4 others) for £1.50 each from Asda, but then found out that they are only £1 in Iceland, so I may have to start heading there to buy them.

Overall, I think this is an amazing meal that I'll definitely be buying again.
It's tasty, filling, cheap, quick to make and keeps my calorie intake down, what more could you ask for?


Thanks for reading!

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