‘I tried £1 curries from Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Iceland & Asda – one blew me away’

It was Tesco, Britain’s largest supermarket by market share, that Sam recently put to the test. Sam sampled a toad in the hole, tomato and cheese pasta, spaghetti bolognese, mac and cheese, and chicken curry from the supermarket.

The chicken curry with rice was the dish that left Sam raving after his year-long quest, likening it to a more expensive option. In a video, he said: “The first thing I noticed, and this is a good sign, the rice isn’t clumping. 

“And the rice does occasionally clump when it comes to these cheap ready meals, so that is a good sign. Otherwise I feel like there’s the same amount of sauce, same amount of chicken, it could well be the same.”

After sampling the rice, Sam said: “The rice is okay, as I say, it’s not clumped, it’s not overcooked. I don’t mind the rice and the sauce is quite nice too, it’s saucier actually.”

He says the curry sauce felt “a bit more put together” than some supermarket options. But it was the chicken that won it for Sam. 

He said: “I would go so far as to say that, out of all of the chicken curries, this might be the best one. [It is] Just as good as any chicken from a more expensive ready meal. It’s not bad, it’s a generic curry, but it’s not bad.”

Sam concluded by saying it was “by far the best £1 chicken curry” he had tasted. It wasn’t the first time Sam was won over by a curry either.

When attempting to live off nothing but Iceland’s £1 meals in a week, he was left impressed by the curry dish, although he felt the chicken was “dry”. He said: “The curry smelt like a korma and there was a good amount of sauce. 

“I had hoped they had redeemed themselves with the chicken, but it’s still dry. Other than that, the sauce was actually tasty, it made the rice less bland, the worst part is literally just the chicken. It’s sort of like a korma, more of a generic curry flavour.” 

Elsewhere he praised the seasoning in the Sainsbury’s £1 curry and felt the chicken was “surprisingly okay”. He also enjoyed Asda’s chicken curry offering, putting it as his second-best option from the giant’s Just Essentials range – below its cheese and tomato pasta.

In his latest taste test, Sam ranked the Tesco budget curry as the supermarket’s top ready meal with the mac and cheese in second and toad in the hole third. His last choice was the cheese and tomato pasta, which was narrowly beaten by the spaghetti bolognese.