Tesco Minced Beef & Onion Pies

Description: Shortcrust pastry base filled with minced beef & onion in a gravy sauce topped with a light puff pastry lid. No Artificial Preservatives, flavours or colours.

Cost: 84p (yes, 84p!!!) for 4 pies.

Cooking: 40 minutes on number 6.

Verdict: First impressions? Well, what can I say. Its a stripey brand pie! And at 84p for 4 (yes, that's 84p for four) you seriously can not expect much here. Its not the sort of pie id normally buy, but I was in Tescos at the weekend buying literally a trolley full of pies and saw this one. I nearly did a double take at the price, and figured, for that sort of cash, what the hell. Even if I bin it after 1 mouthful, I will have had my moneys worth!

Open the packet and as expected these are not manly looking pies, they are a bit flat, but until I cook em I wont know what they are like. 40mins on number 6 isn't bad for a pie, so the wait isn't going to kill me. And being the fat so & so I am, I bung 2 of these dubious sounding stripey things in the oven!

40mins later and the pies are looking lovely and brown, nicely cooked, not over done at all. Cut them open and out came this lovely thick mince gravy. Hmmm.. are these really stripey brand pies? Well to cut a long story short, I think i have found a bargain here. The pastry was nice, crispy, not flaky and tasty. The mince whilst being very small pieces of mince - so it was more like a thick gravy was actually very tasty. No gristle or hard bits. The gravy was thick, onion & a kind of ox-tail soup flavour to it. There was just the right amount of gravy too, I didn't have to try and perk this pie up with some brown sauce or anything.

All in all I am very surprised. If you compare this to the "Freshpack minced beef & onion pies" I bought from iceland a few weeks back, this is like night & day, and these are actually cheaper! These are even better than the cheapie Iceland steak pie I had last week. Just goes to show that you can get a decent tasting cheap pie. You just need to shop around - or read a blog like mine which saves you the trouble.

I will definitely be buying these again, no question about it. I also bought some of the stripey chicken & veg pies too, so will see how they compare later in the week.

Calorie count as always for those healthy people, this pie is 375 calories per pie, which is about normal for a small pie. I had 2 (I'm a piggy), making that 750 for me.

Rating? 7.5 out of 10. 

Iceland Family Pie

Description: "Short crust pasty filled with tender pieces of steak in a rich gravy topped with a puff pasty lid."

Cost: £2 for the family sized pie, or 2 of my sized portions!

Cooking: 60 minutes on number 6.

Verdict: First impressions, I was not expecting much from this pie. £2 for a large pie is very cheap and iceland is not renown for its quality pies. Also, I have been spoilt, the last pie I reviewed was from Waitrose, so its from one end of the scale to the other! The pie looks okay from out of the packaging, but the cooking will be the proof of the pudding...  (or the pie!)

Well, 60mins on number 6 as per the instructions and the pie looks done, but middle was not quite cooked. I'm now doubting my cooker, i may have to replace it as this isn't the first time this has happened. So, I bunged it in the microwave for 2 Min's to finish it off.

Cut it in half and nice amount of gravy came out, had it with mash and peas as always. My first shock was the meat in this steak pie was all the steak was pre cut into nice 1cm square cut pieces of meat. That was really unexpected and really strange as i expected chucky bits of steak not something which looked like it came out of a press! 

So on the plate it goes and I tuck in.

The gravy was plentiful and very tasty. Nice and thick and plenty of it. Nice steak tasting, thick and had a nice hint of onion & steak to it. The dodgy looking cubes of meat were actually tender and tasty whilst the pastry matched what I expected from a puff pastry pie. Have to say I was very surprised. I expected a seriously dodgy pie here, but whilst it looked a bit crap with the weird looking squares of meat this is a tasty pie! And for £2. That's a bargain, this would easily feed a family, and for that price you cant grumble. I do wonder what they put in it to make it taste so good, this pie was a real surprise, I just didn't expect it to taste any good. I think for £2 i would definitely buy this one again. Its not the sort of pie you would dish up for the romantic meal for 2, but for a cheap weekday family meal this is definitely on the shopping list.

Calorie count as always for those healthy people, this pie is 960 calories per half a pie, which really amazed me, as I'm still slightly peckish, which just isn't right after gobbling nearly 1000 calories down me.

Rating? 6.5 out of 10. 

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Waitrose chicken pie

Description: "made with chicken from carefully selected British farms" and Tender pieces of British chicken breast in a rich gravy, encased in a crisp shortcrust pastry

 

Cost: £1.89 an individual pie.

Cooking: 50 minutes on number 5.

Verdict: Well, this was my first requested review, from a guy called Cragus on the www.350z-uk.com forum. He`d heard this pie was the king of pies. I was quite sceptical as id heard that before and been sadly disappointed. It was also a waitrose pie, which you know means forking out more than the usual money on a pie. Luck would have it, theres a Waitrose literally 1/2 mile down the road from me, so I popped in there on the way home from work and bought a few pies to test.

First impressions was good. Waitrose`s branding and packaging always inspires that feeling that you are getting something special for your extra cash. This pie was £1.89 which to be honest, wasn't too bad for a pie, but over what you`d pay down Tescos. The packaging shows a lovely short crust pie, nice filling oousing out... if I wasn't a pro in this game id be sold straight away, but I've seen this sort of picture before and been very sadly disappointed.

Pie took 50mins on number 5, which is fairly typical of such a pie. I eagerly took it out, expecting to be disappointed. But, the pie looks perfectly cooked. Bung it on a plate, cut it open and............................. 

OMG! This pie looks just like the one on the packaging. Big lumps of chicken, loads of gravy, nice physical size to the pie.. wow... that has to be a first.

My benchmark sides as always are potatoes (nicely boiled with a hint of salt) and peas. This pie really did smell great.

Now I'm normally a steak pie man, as you can tell from most of my reviews, so a chicken pie would really have to seriously cut the mustard to give me a good impression. My first bite of this pie was eagerly anticipated. Cut it open, short crust pastry was crisp but not too crumbly. Looked in the pie and wow, serious bits of chicken there, no cheap small pieces here. Tasted it. Wow again, tasted like nice big meaty lumps of real roast chicken. Gravy was spot on, no watery stuff here, it tasted of vegetables and chicken stock with just the right texture and thickness. The pastry was just right, crisp and not too over powering. Just the right blend of filling and pastry.

All in all I was very impressed. I didn't hold much hope for a chicken pie, but this is easily the best Ive tested so far. Other chicken pies will seriously struggle to match this king of chicken pies. This has set a new benchmark.

As always I give you the calorie content which is 486 per pie, which is very very reasonable. This is a very healthy pie!


Rating? 9 out of 10.  (highest yet, and thanks to Cragus for alerting me to this very special pie.)

Tesco deep fill roast chicken pie

Description: Puff Pastry filled with tender pieces of roast chicken in a rich gravy topped with a puff pastry lid. The packaging also says "Now 20% Improved more meat" and "first bake best bake"

Cost: 2 for £5.

Cooking: 55mins on Number 6.

Verdict: Had it with peas and potatoes as per normal. The pie browned nice and quickly in the oven, and I patiently waited the 55mins. Cut it open and loads of watery brown gravy came out. More like weak oxo gravy rather than chicken soup gravy. The pieces of chicken were tender and no dodgy chewy bits. The pie still didnt feel 100% boiling hot in the middle... thats the 2nd deep fill pie ive had like this. This was more cooked than the steak one however.

All in all it was an "okay" pie. Pastry as nice and flakey, reasonable amount of stodgyness in the base, chicken was tendor etc... but it all tasted pretty bland. In the end I had to add some brown sauce on it so I could finish it off.

Calorie wise, half the pie was 800 calories which was quite high, especially as it didnt have thick creamy gravy with it. Not sure id buy this one again to be honest. Might have been better with some leaks or veg in the pie and a different gravy. But, have given this a 6 cos it was eatable.

Rating? 6 out of 10.

Tesco Steak and Ale pie

Description: Puff Pastry, Deep fill Steak & Ale Pie. Delicious puff pastry filled with tender British Steak in a rich ale gravy.

Cost: 2 for £5.

Cooking: 50mins on Number 4.

Verdict: I love Steak pies as you may have guessed from my other posts on this review blog. And I especially love Steak and Ale. I made a cracking one last year with diced steak and Stella. Saw this one, and decided to get it. Stuck it in the oven and did fresh potatoes and (surprising for me) broccoli and cauliflower for the veg - really pushing the boat out over my normal peas.

50mins later, veg and potatoes are ready and i get the pie out. Looks crispy, cut it in half for my normal half size portion. Instantly I think something isn't right. There is no gravy coming out. Hmmm. Try a bit of the middle of the pie and its ice cold. WTF. 50mins... still cold? I thought number 4 was a bit low. So, stick it back in, number 6 for another 20mins.

This time its ready. Dish up half but of course I now have cold veg and I'm not a happy chappy.

So, whats the pie like. Well... it has lots of potential. It is tasty, but its a let down. I counted only 4 diced pieces of steak in the half of pie i had. The crust and pastry was okay, and the taste of the meat / filling was nice. But, there was no gravy. If this had gravy pouring out, and 4 times the meat then we would be talking of an ace pie. All in all I was very disappointed. Maybe the other half has all the meat? I dunno, but i feel really let down. Not only that, I am still hungry!!!!! That's a first for half a pie like this. I could easily eat the other half of the pie right now and that just cant be right?!!?!!!

Calorie wise, half the pie was 660calories and that just isn't good when you don't feel full.

A sad disappointment. It just had so much potential and teased you with its taste, but just never quite made it.

Rating? 5 out of 10 for this sad pie. :(

Tesco Fish Pie

Description: Flakes of gently steamed Pollock blanketed in a creamy west country farmhouse cheddar sauce under cheese topped fluffy mash.

Cost: Normally £2.10 per pie, this was reduced 3 times and was down to 31p about 5 Min's before the store closed!
Cooking: Microwave, 3mins, 1min rest, 3mins then 1min rest.

Verdict: Got this from Tescos in the week, happened to be popping in for some milk and checked out their reduced shelf, managed to grab this great bargain, it had been reduced 3 times already and was now at 31p. That's right. 31p. WTF can you buy for 31p? a mars bar costs more than that. So in the trolley it went and bunged it in the freezer when I got home.

Anyway tried it out today. I haven't had a fish pie for ages so was looking well forward to it. OMG. What a tasty pie. It says 24% Pollock and that was the only fish in it, so i wasn't best looking forward to this. I normally like a mixture of fish, but have to say, WOW. I was surprised with this pie. The fish & sauce was very tasty and full of flavour. The fish was meaty and felt substantial. The sauce was creamy and fishy, not too rich. Mash was smooth and creamy, not stodgy at all or dry. All in all, it was a very good balance of flavours, textures and very rewarding pie. One pie is 445 calories, so this fishy special is about typical calorie wise for a pie.

And all through the eating experience I'm thinking that this thing only cost me 31p!! So, my verdict. Well. Totally awesome. Thinking about it, if there had been other fish in this pie, I'm not sure it would have tasted as good. I cant imaging prawns (normally a dead cert in a fish pie) would have added anything to the Pollock in this pie. In fact they may have ruined it. To be honest, if id seen this for £2.10 on the shelf i would have walked by. But now, I would probably seriously think about paying that for this pie. It may be a bit too much still, but if this was £1.50 id definitely have at least 1 a week! All in all, good result!

Rating? 8 out of 10 for this surprising pie!

Tesco Deep Fill Steak Pie

Description: A shortcrust pastry base filled with tender pieces of steak in a rich gravy, topped with a light puff pastry lid. The packaging also boasts "improved, now 20% more meat" and "first bake best bake" (whatever that means)

Cost: Normally 2 for £4.00

Cooking: Number 6 for 55mins

Verdict: Got this from Tescos at the weekend, 2 for £4 seemed reasonable, that's a 2 quid a pie, cant go wrong there. I do like my steak pies, but thinking off the blog, i got a steak and also a chicken pie which i`ll have another week. The packaging looks nice and impressive, plenty of big chunks of steak in the pie and loads of tasty looking gravy. I was working up an appetite just looking at this pie. I was a bit disappointed by the 55minutes cooking time, but at least that gave me time to sort the familiar potatoes and peas sides for this pie.

55 Min's later the pie was ready. All looking good, cut the pie in half for my normal portion size and this was quite a flaky pie.

So was it worth the wait? Sadly not. The first few spoonfuls of gravy were impressive, very nice gravy and loads of it. Bit like ox-tail soup, bits of steak in it. The steak was not so impressive, bit chewy and bland. The pastry was mega stodgy and I was full after about 1/4 of the pie, but forced the rest down. All in all nothing stood out about this pie. Certainly very average. Will see how the other half of it fares tomorrow.

Rating? 4 out of 10 for this fairly boring average effort from Tesco.

Freshpack Minced beef and onion pie.

Description: Individual pies with minced beef and onion in a rich gravy and flaky pastry

Cost: Normally 4 pies for £1

Cooking: Number 7 for 30mins

Verdict: Happened to find myself in Iceland last week and had to browse their pie selection whilst I was there. Noticed this 4 pack of pies for a quid. Yes a quid! For that money I figured what the hell, a quid is not even half a pint of beer! So, in the trolley it went. Along with some of their other pies for me to try out next time.

First impressions... well the packaging looks nice, there's a deep fill looking type pie on the front with some mince & gravy coming out of it. So tasty looking.

In reality? Eagerly rip open the packaging and what do we have? a pie which looks like its been run over by a steam roller. Its easily half as deep as the one shown on the packet. Okay, so maybe i`ll have 2 pies instead of one here just to be on the safe side.

Next difference is that they recommend you brush the top of the pie with milk or a beaten egg. I opted for milk as I couldn't be bothered messing about with an egg. That done, bung it in the oven for 30mins.

30mins up and pie is looking ready, on the plate with some mash & pies. I try and keep the side items the same for all pies to give me a good benchmark and a like for like comparison.

Moment of truth.... cut open the pies and WTF? Where the hell is the filling?! Without a word of a lie, there was probably 1 desert spoon of filling to go between both pies!  There wasn't even masses of gravy to try and hide the fact there was no filling. Nope, just pastry and that's about it. Maybe that's why its only 338calories per pie? Cos there's nothing in them!

Still I didn't really expect much for 25p a pie, but was this worth that??

Rating? This sad let down lager shandy of a pie is only worth a 1.5 / 10. Definitely wont be buying this again.