'I ate Iceland's frozen Slimming World meals for a week to try and lose weight'

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Dianne Bourne tried Iceland
Dianne Bourne tried Iceland's Slimming World ready meals to find out if they worked (Image: MEN)

As we move towards spring and sunshine, lots of us are thinking about shedding a few pounds.

But it's not easy to do amid the chaos of everyday life, and many of us are looking for simple cheap options to help us stay on the right path.

In 2022, Dianne Bourne, from the Manchester Evening News put her tastebuds on the line as she dined out on seven meals from the Slimming World range - and documented the effect on her weight loss.

Read on to find out how Dianne fared - and how much each meal cost.

'I ate Iceland's frozen Slimming World meals for a week to try and lose weight' eiqkikkiqdeinvDianne managed to go the whole week and stuck entirely to her plan (MEN)

What do you think of the frozen Slimming World meals? Let us know in the comments...

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Day 1

Chicken tikka and rice lunch bowl - £2.75

Dianne said: "A great way to kick off the week of taste tests - with one of the lunch bowl meals - designed, as the title suggests, as a lighter daytime option.

"This is a new one to the range and I enjoyed what was a satisfying mix of crunchy vegetables, rice and tasty tikka-coated chicken pieces which was also pretty filling."

Rating: 4/5

Chicken carbonara - £3.50

'I ate Iceland's frozen Slimming World meals for a week to try and lose weight'The chicken carbonara looks particularly delicious (MEN)

Dianne said: "I was not holding out much hope for this one as it smelt slightly unpleasant as it cooked away in the microwave.

"Billed as a 'comforting pasta dish with seared chicken, smoky pork strips, mushroom and spinach in a white sauce' it did not look all that inspiring or comforting when I poured it into my dish.

"There were around eight pieces of chicken and a few strips of pork, and my first thought was that it seemed to taste very salty and the consistency was a bit gloopy.

"For me, I think I'd rather stick with making my own carbonara - as the Slimming World version (with ham and egg both 'free' foods) is a fairly simple and much cheaper recipe to make from scratch."

Rating: 2/5

Day 2

Cauliflower and chick pea dahl - £3.25

Dianne said: "This can be eaten on its own or as a side dish. It probably would have been better as a side dish if I'm honest as I found it a bit unfulfilling as a lunch dish.

"It had a pleasant curry hit though and I like the crunch of the cauliflower with the chickpeas."

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Rating: 3/5

Chilli Con Carne - £3.50

'I ate Iceland's frozen Slimming World meals for a week to try and lose weight'Dianne wanted to know if the meals tasted as good as they looked (MEN)

Dianne said: "A really hearty dish with large chunks of meat in a rich sauce and the rice was nicely herbed up.

"If you weren't doing Slimming World you'd think this was just a regular chilli ready meal, which is probably the best compliment I can give it.

"Indeed, my friend's strapping 16-year-old lad 'accidentally' microwaved himself one of these and gave it a big thumbs up as well, so it's definitely good in the 'generous portion' stakes."

Rating: 4/5

Day 3

Cowboy hotpot - £3.50

'I ate Iceland's frozen Slimming World meals for a week to try and lose weight'The Cowboy hotpot only got a 1/5 from Dianne (MEN)

Dianne said: "It's safe to say this was the dish I was most looking forward to.

"I mean, it has cowboy in its title and sausages and potato in it so what's not to love? Well, unfortunately the dish itself was what I could not learn to love.

"It said on the packet it was best cooked in the oven and I followed the cooking times to the tee, but it came out very dry and stodgy. It just did nothing for me at all - the sausages were firm and dry and the potatoes also had a powdery consistency on top.

"So disappointed with this one, definitely not a yee-ha moment from me."

Rating: 1/5

Beef vindaloo - £3.75

'I ate Iceland's frozen Slimming World meals for a week to try and lose weight'The beef vindaloo was much better, scoring a 5/5 (MEN)

Dianne said: "However, tea time well and truly gave me one of the highlights of the week - in the new beef vindaloo dish.

"This was a real treat. A really brilliant hit of spices in a rich tomato sauce with flavoursome lumps of beef."

Rating: 5/5

Day 4

Moroccan style chicken soup - £2.25

Dianne said: "Again, a very off-putting smell from the microwave, but once cooked this one was pretty delicious.

"A really interesting spice mix with a decent amount of heat, and lots of pulled chicken which made this one a warming and filling soup dish that I would definitely buy again."

Rating: 4/5

Beef Lasagne - £3.50

'I ate Iceland's frozen Slimming World meals for a week to try and lose weight'The Beef Lasagne looked to die for (MEN)

Dianne said: "This one has been a favourite of many SW-ers for a while now, but they've just introduced a new recipe. So it is as good as the old one?

"Well, I was pretty excited about this one - because it's even better. The new recipe has finally nailed the elusive creamy cheesy aspect of the lasagne that is not easy to do.

"Taking a nosy at the recipe card on the inside, it appears to be a mixture of butternut squash, potato and the magic Quark that has created the delightful crispy cheesy topping here.

"A word of warning on this one though - while it can be cooked in the microwave, it does say for best results stick in the oven. And, while it does take a mammoth 50 minutes, it tastes sooo much better this way to get that cheesy crunch."

Rating: 5/5

Day 5

Naked beef burrito - £2.75

Dianne said: "A good amount of spice kick in this one, and it's quite a satisfying lunch pot.

"If you have your HEA of cheese available I feel like it would be nicer with this mixed in - I added some peppers and salad on the side."

Rating: 3/5

Hunter's chicken - £6.50

'I ate Iceland's frozen Slimming World meals for a week to try and lose weight'The hunter's Chicken wasn't quite to Dianne's liking (MEN)

Dianne said: "This one has to be cooked in the oven and is a large portion for two, so my other half got roped into eating this one with me.

"It had a long cooking time of over an hour this one - and I'm not sure if that's why the chicken was a bit dry and chewy. And one's thing for sure, it looked absolutely nothing like the glossy image on the packaging when it came out of my oven.

"But the overall flavour was ok - although the barbecue sauce was a tad on the watery side. My feeling is this one would be much easier and better to simply recreate yourself at home - it's just a rasher of bacon plonked on some chicken really."

Rating: 2/5

Day 6

Colcannon Mash - £2

Dianne said: "Running a bit out of options at this stage, I decide to try the colcannon mash which I team with steamed broccoli and salmon.

"The mash is, like a lot of the meals, a tad on the salty side but teams well with salmon and I like that you can taste the cabbage in the mash mix.

"This is a convenient one to have in the freezer for those moments you can't be bothered making your own mash."

Rating: 3/5

Smoky meatball tray bake with potato wedges - £7

'I ate Iceland's frozen Slimming World meals for a week to try and lose weight'The meatball tray bake was a hit (MEN)

Dianne said: "The meatballs were on the dry side, but had a decent flavour punch, and were extremely pleasant when mushed together with all the smoky tomato and chickpea sauce. There was a decent size portion for two of us, although we did add lots of vegetables for speed.

"This was a really tasty one - but I'm afraid it can't get full marks this one for the sheer faff factor. It took 1hr and 5mins to cook in the oven which comes in very low on the convenience factor - as does the vast size of the packet that I needed to try and wodge in my not very sizeable freezer.

"It's also pretty expensive for this style of dish."

Rating: 4/5

Day 7

Slimming World chips - £2.50

Dianne said: "It's the last day, so I'm going all out with the curry and chips on the menu. And there's literally nothing else left to eat. So I bung some of the frozen chips in the oven and serve them with some baked beans.

"Now with these frozen chips, people either love them or hate them from my experience at Slimming World group.

"I have personally perfected a good flavour by sprinkling some syn-free spice on them and then spraying them with low-calorie spray.

"They do have a slightly strange consistency, but they are a convenient option to have ready-made in the freezer when you can't face peeling and chopping up potatoes and cooking from scratch."

Rating: 2/5

Chicken tikka rogan josh - £3.50

'I ate Iceland's frozen Slimming World meals for a week to try and lose weight'A chicken curry is always a winner (MEN)

Dianne said: "Ending the week on a high with this classic curry. The Slimming World chicken tikka masala has been a bit of a staple since the Iceland range was first launched, but this new rogan josh version might even trump it for me.

"Loved the spice on this one, and the added lumps of tomato and pepper. You could almost be eating a 'real' takeaway curry."

Rating: 4/5

Did it work?

Dianne said: "Well, this is the big question isn't it?

"After a whole week of eating the ready meals, and sticking 100 per cent to the Slimming World plan throughout the rest of the day, I'd have been gutted if I didn't lose any weight.

"But guess what? I did. I lost a whopping 3lbs.

"Which just goes to show sticking to 'free foods' and the rest of the rules of the Slimming World plan does do the trick."

John Bett

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