Tesco Shortcrust Pastry Minced Steak and Onion Pie

Description: Crisp shortcrust pastry pie filled with tender minced steak and onion in a rich gravy

Cost: Normally 2 for £2.50.

Cooking: Number 6 for 25mins

Verdict: Well, I got lucky down tescos at the weekend. 10mins before closing time and they had reduced the prices of some items down by loads. This pie was 79p! Too good to resist.

Got home, bunged it in the oven and sat back and waited. Normal cooking instructions - middle of oven, number 6 on the gas for 25mins. I put some new potatoes in the pan to boil and served it up with peas.

I was a bit wary, as normally id have a much bigger pie than this just for myself, but I was not disappointed. This is a serious pie. The short crust pasty was much more filling than puff pastry, and they didn't scrimp on the filling, this was very tasty. Nice bit of mince in there, no gristle, and a hint of onion - but not over powering.

By the end of the meal I was proper stuffed and very satisfied. Definitely a lovely pie which I would love to eat again. But.... and here's the big but.... at the normal price of £1.25 each, is it really worth nearly twice the price of the Asda steak pie? That will be a tough choice to make. I think i`ll have to try the Asda one tomorrow and do a back to back test on them.

Rating? Definitely an 8/10 for this bad boy pie.

Asda Deep Filled Steak & Gravy Pies

Description: Diced steak with rich gravy, baked in golden shortcrust pastry.

Cost: 2 packets for £3.50

Cooking time: 30mins on number 6.

Verdict: These pies were a nice surprise. My missus bought these on one of her weekly shopping trips as they were on offer. You get 4 small individual sized pies in a box and its 2 boxes for £3.50. You can buy 1 box for £1.98 if you don't have the room in your freezer.

Being the greedy so and so I am, I stick 2 pies in the oven for myself along with some star shaped chips (shhh.. dont tell anyone). Pie is ready after 35mins and I tip it out of the metal foil onto my plate. That's the first test. It comes out of the foil perfectly, no sticking and no mess.

Cut into the pie and the steak smells good. Crust is puff pastry, so nice and flaky, with right amount of stodge in the base. The insides of the pie are more than acceptable for the price. The steak obviously isn't as good as you`d get from your local butcher, but was more than good enough for me. No gristle and nice and tender. The gravy really did taste good also, although I did make some extra myself to go over the star shaped chips.

I did find that my eyes were nearly bigger than my belly on this one, and after stuffing the chips, the peas and the first pie, I was starting to feel a bit full. But I forced the 2nd one down.

Certainly excellent value at what works out to be 75p a pie. Definitely one of the better pies Ive tried this year so far.

I`ll rate this stomach filler at 8/10.

Asda Deep Fill Roast Chicken and Gravy Pie

Description: No artificial colours, flavours or hydrogenated fat. 
Succulent pieces of roast chicken with rich gravy, baked in Golden shortcrust pastry, topped with a puff pastry lid.

Cost: £2.98 from Asda

Cooking time: Normal 30->40mins gas mark 4.

Verdict: Only 736 Calories per half a pie which isn't bad. Nice bits of chicken in it, a nice colour. Gravy was quite good. All in all a nice tasty pie. It was on offer in the shop too, so I got it for a bargain price! Certainly would buy again.

I rate it 7/10.

McDougalls Upper Crust Chicken & Asparagus Pie

Description: Delicious pieces of tender chicken breast with asparagus spears in a creamy white sauce, topped with heavenly puff pastry You can trust McDougalls Upper Crust Pies to be made to the highest quality standards using only the finest ingredients. In this chicken and asparagus pie, pieces of succulent chicken breast and tender green asparagus spears are combined in a creamy white sauce. The generous filling and shortcrust pastry base are then topped with our famous light puff pastry. Cooking Time: 40->45minutes on number 6. Cost: £3.49 from Tesco / Sainsberrys / Asda My Verdict: First impressions were good. This is a chunky looking deep filled pie with a shortcrust pastry top. I had to do a double take when I saw 1/2 the pie (my normal portion size) was 818 calories!!!! That's a lot. I checked the pie at around the 30minute mark in the oven and the crust was already going a bit black, so the cooking time may have been a bit over the top. The pie smelt nice and came out the oven at the 42minute mark. Cutting the pie open, the reason for the high calories was soon apparent. There was a thick creamy sauce inside the pie, bit like a chicken soup. The rest of the contents were generous sized chunks of chicken which were soft and not grisly at all. The asparagus was a little disappointing, being small shoots and quite crunchy. The pastry was flaky and the base was reasonably nice & stodgy. (i like a stodgy pie). All in all the pie was okay but nothing special. I think the pastry / crust and asparagus let it down. I also kept thinking 818 calories should taste better! I`ll rate it at 6/10. I think id prefer chicken & veg next time.