I am not normally into eating quick food and actually enjoy cooking and preparing food, however sometimes this is just not an option. I have been watching what I am eating since the start of the year and like to maintain my weight through out so when I heard about Mug Shots from a friend, I had to give these a try. They remind me a bit of Pot Noodles but I never really liked them and they are a lot fattier than these are as a snack. I sometimes have Mug Shots for dinner or for lunch at work as they are so easy to take in as they are in a packet and all they need is hot water, it really couldn't be any easier.

PACKAGING

So, Mug Shots come in a rectangular paper packet with a foil interior, on the front is the Mug Shots logo and an image of a mug usually the same colour as the flavour code. The flavours are all easy to spot as they have their own colour, the Chicken one which I will mainly speak about is a turquoise kind of colour and down the left hand side it says less than 1% fat which is always encouraging as well as that it is ready in 5 minutes. The packaging is distinct with bright red type. On the reverse are instructions on how to make and nutritional information and a list of ingredients, everything you need to know.

MUG SHOT CHICKEN FLAVOUR

With Mug Shots, I do have my favourite flavours and the reason I like the Chicken flavour is that it is one of the healthiest in the range. Mug Shots contain no artificial colours or preservatives and for allergy purposes they contain cow's milk, wheat gluten and barley gluten. So, these snacks are made up of ribbon noodles in a chicken flavoured sauce with sweetcorn and mushrooms, it is a nice combination and you do get a good balance of all. My main worry was that it would hardly have any noodles but this is not the case at all which makes these snacks great as you do get a decent amount in here.

The nutritional information is quite important to me, they do it per sachet which is the best way. A typical 245g sachet contains 248 calories, 6.6g of protein, 51.5g of carbohydrates which is the worst part and 2.2g of sugar. Also, 1.2g of fat which is really good and 2.5g of fibre which again is really good, the carbs are the worst part of it but if you are on something like Weight Watchers this flavour shouldn't work out too bad for you. To make this snack all you need to do is boil a kettle of water and rip open a sachet and pour the contents into a decent sized mug. You need to add the hot water, I never fill the mug right up.

I tend to fill it up to an inch under the rim of the mug as anymore water than that, which I have done previously, can make the snack really water and bland tasting which is not nice. Just fill it here and give it a good stir and then wait for a good five minutes, if you don't wait the noodles might be crunchy and it isn't the most pleasant. I usually wait a little bit longer than five minutes just to let it cool down slightly and also to make sure the noodles are perfect. On this Mug Shot the sauce doesn't tend to thicken but once left for the right amount of time all of the corn will be the right texture and the mushrooms.

I think you get a great amount of noodles in this snack, the more you put your fork in big bundles keep coming out. It is best to keep stirring to make sure you get no big lumps of powder and noodle which haven't been stirred. I like this flavour it tastes quite obviously of chicken and the corn and mushrooms just give it that bit more. The sauce is a light brown colour but it works very well with the noodles. The whole snack tastes really good and is the right amount really, sometimes I'd love a little bit more but then with other Mug Shots like the cheese one it has a thicker sauces so fills me up more.

This chicken flavour is great, it really is, if you stick to the right amount of water and stir, there should never be any problems with it. These are great on the go and if I have these for lunch at work they tend to keep me going until the end of the day which is really what you want. Even in the evening they are a nice quick snack, it is nice to have something quick which isn't high in fat or calories. These are perfect for any age and they are so handy to have in the house. The chicken flavour is very nice and so different from the other Mug Shots but it is a lot lighter which is why it is nice that it tastes good too.

INGREDIENTS: Dried Noodles (65%) [Durum Wheat Semolina, Salt, Egg White] ,Dried Glucose Syrup ,Potato Starch ,Maltodextrin ,Flavourings (contain Barley, Celery) ,Dried Vegetables (2.5%) (Sweetcorn, Mushrooms) ,Yeast Extract ,Vegetable Oil ,Milk Protein ,Dried Chives ,Citric Acid ,Emulsifiers (Dipotassium Phosphate, Mono- and Di-glycerides of Fatty Acids).

COST

With Mug Shots, they fluctuate in price, Tesco have them on offer for 50p at the minute but normally they charge 75p each which to me is a bit steep for what they are. Your best bet is to do what I do and go to Home Bargains where you get them for 33p each, it is such a huge saving and they usually have the whole range in bar some flavours.

There is no official website for Mug Shots.