7 Days, 7 Vegan Ready Meals | Are Vegan Ready Meals Good?

If you know anything about me and my blog, you’ll probably realise that this is the least predictable Sophie concept ever. I’ve been eating a vegan diet for 5 years and 3 months and I’ve never eaten a vegan ready meal, now I’m trying nothing but vegan ready meals for a week. I’m trying 7 dishes from 7 different brands over the course of a week to try and see 1) if they actually taste good 2) if they’re any healthier than your average ready meal 3) If brands have tried to put any thought and creativity into their dishes at all.  

Update: The intro was written in advance. Since then M&S launched on Ocado and I have tried one M&S Plant Kitchen dish prior to this week of ready meals.  But still no ready meal connoisseur.  

Oh and I couldn’t decide on which dish to choose from Bol, so I actually picked 8 meals in the end.  

Why have you never tried one before?  

Well, it wasn’t an option at the beginning. Vegan food has come a very long way in the last five years. I live in a reasonably small town where free from options are more limited, and they were very few and far between back then. And then I started a food blog, so the need was never there. Unless you count the odd prepacked salad as a ready meal?  On top of that, my dietary requirements still make it hard. For those who don’t know, as well as being vegan, I’m also gluten intolerant, can’t eat coconut and don’t eat fake meat. Finding 7 meals from 7 brands was still a struggle to complete this week.  

Suggested Post: My Diet FAQs, Why I Don’t Eat Fake Meat 

How I Chose Them 

Obviously, I had to stick within the limiting gacots of my dietary requirements, but I had a couple of other points on my checklist too. All of these dishes are things that I either would make a recipe for, or have made something similar. I’m not trying anything crazily new. I’m testing these dishes against my own cooking. Are they going to be good enough to have something in the freezer for that night before the food shop comes/ in a pinch scenarios? On that basis, I wanted to pick options that were relatively healthy, and whole foods based.  

Sophie, how are you finding 7 ready meals that fit your diet and that criteria?  

The answer to that falls into the next question.  

What do you class as a ready meal? 

Well, a ready meal in my head is something that comes as a fully prepared meal that you need to reheat, usually in a microwave.  

I couldn’t get 7 of those that fit all of my requirements.  

But I do have a full week of meals that just need heating. A lot of them are full meals, but I have a couple of things like veggie burgers that I need to put in the oven and some frozen nuggets. So, I’m not physically prepping any of these dishes other than maybe the odd side salad.  

Taste Testing Vegan Ready Meals 

These meals are going to be in the order I ate them, not ranked in order of ranking. I’m going to include the basic nutritional information and the price of each, and any other product information that seems relevant. 

One of the main things people worry about when it comes to meals like this is salt content. While I’ve tried to pick healthier dishes, I’m still expecting the amount of salt to be higher than meals I’d prepare from scratch. So, if the amount per serving seems high, I’m going to do a quick calculation to see if there was a way to eat it at home without going over the UK’s daily salt recommendations.  

For reference now, so I don’t have to repeat myself for each item, in the UK (your country could differ), we’re recommended to not consume more than 6g of salt a day. And for my international readers, I’m afraid our labels do say salt and come in grams, they don’t mention sodium content. If anyone wants to work that out for themselves, salt is comprised of roughly 40% sodium. 

Meal 1  

Biona Organic Quinoa Mini Burgers 

£4.29, which makes them my most expensive meal of the week. 

I pack is 195g, so I’m going to round up a little and say that the per 100g amount is the serving amount rather than calculate for 97.5g… 

Per 100g – 1.3g salt. 

I was quite pleasantly surprised by these. There aren’t too many strong flavours in terms of seasoning, but they include a lot of vegetables that provide a good range of flavours. I think they need a good burger sauce, but you’d be unlikely to eat them without one anyway.  

I’d be willing to eat these again, although I don’t think they’re worth anywhere near the price tag, especially when you add in the cost of burger buns (mine were £3 for 4 because they’re GF) and garnish.  

Meal 2  

BOL Spanish Bean & Vegetable Paella Veg Pot 

£3 per pot (345g) 

Per pot – 1.59g salt 

For some reason, I thought this one was going to be the best as soon as I was unpacking my shopping bags. It looks fresh. The ingredients list is pretty healthy. This is definitely a dish I would make myself. And the serving size looks pretty good. They were on offer for £2.50 the week I ordered them, and honestly, I think that’s pretty good value for something that looks this fresh.  

In terms of flavour, I think this one is good. If I’d made it myself, I’d have probably added a little more of a couple of things, but this one was by no means disappointing. I’d definitely be willing to get this one again. I’ve eaten a lot worse than this as the token vegan option in a restaurant, so for £3, I really can’t complain. And I definitely can’t complain for £2.50… 

Meal 3 

Vegable Butter Bean, Sweet Potato & Spinach Stew 

£2.50 per tray (300g) 

1.5g salt per tray 

I had pretty high hopes for this one. A quick potato/ sweet potato and beans in some sort of tomato sauce is the definition of a last minute, throw whatever I have left in the fridge kind of meal for me. And it sounded enjoyable. That’s about where the positives end.  

This one cooks from frozen, so it obviously didn’t have the same freshness as the previous one. But it looked pretty lacklustre when it was ready. This one looked and tasted like a ready meal. Kinda had some flavour, kinda tasted like it just came out of a tray. And this one is a very small serving. Despite only being slightly smaller than the last one in terms of grams, it comes in at a mere 174kcal a tray. And it felt like it was only 174kcal a tray. This one definitely requires a side dish to make it filling enough to be called a meal.  

And at £2.50 a pot, lacking in flavour and barely being enough to feed a small child (I have the appetite of a small child anyway, this really is small), it definitely isn’t worth the money. I wouldn’t get this one again, even to have in the freezer as last minute option.  

Meal 4  

Little Roots Carrot & Corn Chunks  

£3 per box (200g) 

Per 100g – 0.46g salt  

These ones are technically meant for kids, bit they’re basically a veggie dipper/ nugget. A box is supposed to serve 3 kids, but I’m sharing the salt content for half a box as that seems like a more realistic serving for anyone over the age of 4.  

I have one major issue with these; you get 11 in a box. 11 is a prime number. How am I supposed to divide these up?  

Despite the fact they’re meant for kids, I did actually really like these. Obviously little dippers/ nuggets aren’t the kind of food I’m reaching for daily, but as something to have in the freezer when there’s nothing in, I’d definitely eat these again, happily.  

They are on the pricier side. But as far as things like this go, they’re healthier than average too.  

Meal 5 

BOL Roasted Red Pepper, Smoky Tomato & Red Lentils Super Soup 

£2.75 per pot (500g)  

1.7g salt per pot 

These soup pots say they serve 1, which is very generous given its size. A full pot provides 3 of your 5 a day and 16g of protein, and it’s only a 315kcal soup so it seems very nutritionally dense. I usually prefer smooth soups but this one has whole lentils and chickpeas, which does make it feel heartier and filling as we enter the colder months.  

I was quite excited to try this one, it smelt incredible as it was cooking. And the taste didn’t disappoint either! I would definitely eat this again. I think this is a great option for anyone looking for something to take to work (if you’re in the office right now) during the colder months, and it’s cheaper than picking something up in a coffee shop.  

Meal 6 

Clive’s Nut Roast  

£5.25 per nut roast (280g) 

Per 140g serving -0.9g salt  

This one is a bit strange. It’s a flat nutty slab. Very dry on the outside, squishy in the middle. Flavour wise, it’s lacking. It doesn’t taste bad. If someone were to serve me it, it wouldn’t be the end of the world. But at the same time, I wouldn’t repurchase this. It’s small, expensive (especially by the time you add sides) and on the bland side.  

Meal 7 

Deliciously Ella Five Bean Chilli

£3 per tray (275g), on offer for £2.40 

 Per tray – 1.74g salt  

This one contains 21g of protein, which I think is pretty good for the size. And due to this being a 5 bean chilli, I thought it had potential to be relatively filling too. Despite being the highest in salt so far, the ingredients list overall still looks healthy. 

The packaging does say to add sides, and you need to because the serving size is quite small. But it tasted fairly good, it doesn’t match homemade levels of flavour but there was a lovely smokiness to the sauce, with a little hint of sweet and spicy.  

I think at full price, these ones might be slightly too expensive to be worth having in as a last minute option. They taste reasonably good, but not mind-blowingly good. As far as would I repurchase goes, I’m not sure about this one.  

Meal 8

M&S Plant Kitchen Moroccan Lentil Stew  

£2.50 per pot (300g) 

1.24g salt per pot 

Unlike the others, this one can be kept in your cupboard rather than a fridge or freezer. This one also contains 3 of your 5 a day, and has 1.24g salt per pot. Although 1.24g is still an amber rating, it’s one of the lowest options that I’ve had. Arguably, this is the healthiest one of them all, one of the cheapest and possibly the most convenient in the sense that it doesn’t need to be chilled.  

It looks a little gross, but lentil stew is hardly the prettiest dish on earth. It has a good balance of flavours, this one wasn’t my favourite taste wise, but I think that’s down to my own preferences rather than any fault of the product. It’s fairly filling, of course, you’d need to add sides if you wanted a full meal. But as the lentils are quite filling, I think this would be enough to keep you going as a lunch item.  

I’d be perfectly happy to eat this one again.  

Salt Content

The highest amount of salt per dish here was 1.74g, so I worked out a quick meal plan based on that number to see how it could fit into a day of eating healthily.

Breakfast 

1 serving of Alpro Greek (0.36g) + 1 serving of Delciously Ella Granola (0.01g) and berries (nil).

Snacks

1 serving almonds (nil)/ Blueberry Muffin Nakd bar (<0.1g)

Lunch 

Even if you were out and grabbed something less than ideal in terms of healthy eating, the Tesco Plant Chef houmous wrap contains 1.2g, and a grab bag of salt and vinegar Kettle Chips contains 0.6g.

Dinner

Deliciously Ella Chilli (1.74g) with unsalted brown rice (<0.1g)

Daily total 3.93g – well under the maximum recommended amount.

Are Vegan Ready Meals Good?  

Personally, I would never choose to eat a ready meal rather than something I’d cooked myself (other than the last week, of course). But I understand the practicality of wanting to have something in your house for cases of emergency/ home late/ last night before the food shop and the fridge is empty.  

In that case, I would happily repurchase the following: 

Anything by Bol, that range tasted the closest to homecooked out of everything. And it’s fresh. But freshness is also a downside. If you’re looking for something to have in this week because you know you’ll be home late or want it for an easy work lunch, I highly recommend these ones. But due to the fact they’re stored in the fridge, they don’t have the longest dates on them so couldn’t be kept in for an extended period ‘just in case’. 

The Little Roots nugget things. Yes, I’m a small child. But they’re frozen, will last a really long time, and are a great simple option if you really can’t be bothered or have nothing in. At least they’re vegetables.  

Plant Kitchen – for the reasons listed above, this one is fairly healthy and convenient. They have long dates on them, so they’re pretty good ‘in a pinch’ options.  

Have you tried any of the dishes or brands I’ve tried this week? What are your thoughts on ready meals?  

Until next time, 

Sophie 

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