When we heard about a £5.50 Chinese meal that people say is 'better than a takeaway', we just had to try it out.
It's a big claim to make, but social media users reckon there's no point spending a small fortune on a takeaway when M&S has brought out the perfect product for both taste and your wallet.
To celebrate Chinese New Year, supermarket M&S has brought out the Year of the Rabbit box – containing all you need for just £11 for two people if you buy it on Ocado, coming in at a cool £5.50 per person. The box usually costs £12 at M&S stores, which is still pretty decent for £6 per person.
For that, you get well-loved classics including chicken and black bean sauce, crispy sweet and sour chicken, Singapore noodles, egg fried rice and vegetable spring rolls. This is quite a bargain compared to your average takeaway.
After M&S shared a clip of the meal deal on Instagram, bold claims started pouring in like "these are the best" and "I prefer them over a takeaway". We decided to see what all the hype was about.
Myself and my colleague Danni set out to buy M&S's Year of the Rabbit box, and to our joy discovered that it was on offer for £8.64 – meaning it would only cost us £4.32 per person. An absolute bargain.
One of the downsides with this M&S meal is that you have to prepare it yourself – not that sticking it in a microwave is difficult. But because they are all different, they have to be prepared in different ways. Some in the microwave, some in the oven, all for a different amount of time.
Once the items were all cooked, we couldn't help but notice how good it smelt – but how did it taste?
Overall, it's a supermarket ready meal, not a takeaway. Some of the items were tasty, including the chicken in black bean sauce and Singapore noodles, but nowhere near as good as a good Chinese takeaway, in my opinion.
If I was treating myself, I would always opt for a proper takeaway, because I feel like the flavour just isn't the same. They all tasted a bit more bland than they would have from my local takeaway.
Also, if I were to order a takeaway, these aren't the options I would have gone for, but at £12 or less there's no doubt it's a bargain, so it's a good option when it's January and there's a cost of living crisis.
Danni said: "The food is nice for a supermarket takeaway with the black bean chicken a real standout – that was definitely Chinese restaurant quality.
"There's also a decent amount of food for just £12 so it is much cheaper than buying a 'real' takeaway and would make a decent quick dinner.
"I'm not sure I would choose this over a Chinese takeaway from a restaurant or delivery service. It's not so much the flavours as these were good, it's more the cooking quality because microwaved rice and noodles are just never the same."
Have you tried the M&S Year of the Rabbit box for two and what did you think? Let us know in the comments below.
