This Opinion article is part of a Narcity Media series. The views expressed are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Narcity Media.
It can be hard to get creative when it comes to deciding what to cook for yourself, and I've recently been testing out meal kits and ready-to-eat meals for inspiration.
I can be a little bit lazy, so the ready-to-eat meals appeal to the side of me that just wants to warm something up in the microwave to eat while snuggling up and watching Netflix. I really enjoyed four of the meals you can get at Loblaws (to the point that I've added two of them to my meal rotation) and so I decided to try out some of the options available at the Metro near me in the West End of Toronto.
For this test, I opted for Metro's Fresh 2 Go Spaghetti Meatballs, Fresh 2 Go Beef Shepherd's Pie, Fresh 2 Go Small Macaroni Cheese and Fresh 2 Go Chicken Chow Mein.
I'll be rating them all out of 5, and while not all the meals I tried were great, there is one that I'll be picking up next time I go to the store as both my boyfriend and I found it to be delicious, comforting and totally worth the price.
Metro's Fresh 2 Go Chicken Chow Mein, 330 grams for $7.00
I love chow mein and it's one of the things that I often want to order on UberEats so I was excited to see if this grocery store alternative would be a good replacement instead of pricey delivery.
Unfortunately, this one wasn't a hit for me. It's just ok and gets the job done, but it's lacking in flavour and could definitely use some more vegetables to make it more interesting.
If this was put in front of me, I'd eat it with no problem and say thank you, but it's not something I think is worth spending my own money on.
Rating: 2/5
Price: $7.00 for 330 grams
Price per 100 grams: $2.12
Metro's Fresh 2 Go Spaghetti Meatballs, 400 grams for $7.00 with 15% off
I love making my own spaghetti and meatballs, but as mentioned earlier, sometimes I'm lazy or busy and either can't be bothered or don't have the time to make it myself, so I was interested to see how this would hold up against my homemade dish.
Honestly, it's pretty decent. While I wouldn't say it's fantastic, I'm not mad at it and I could see myself picking this up if I'd had a day and just wanted some tomato sauce, noodles and beef.
The meatballs were a bit spongey and the sauce needed some more flavour, but that was easily rectified with a sprinkle of oregano, red pepper flakes and a bit of my favourite hot sauce.
Rating: 3/5
Price: $7.00 for 400 grams, before discount
Price per 100 grams: $1.75
Metro's Fresh 2 Go Small Macaroni Cheese, 430 grams for $7.00
What's more comforting than pasta and red sauce? Pasta and cheese, of course.
I enjoyed this macaroni and cheese from Metro. It was good and cheesy and the sauce had a nice thickness to it that led me to believe a proper bechamel was made, which I wasn't expecting.
It's pretty simple and straightforward stuff, but it can definitely be jazzed up at home — I added some crispy jalapenos on top of it and some nutritional yeast (which is a great ingredient to keep in your pantry, by the way) for extra cheesiness and it was a delightful Thursday night meal.
Rating: 4/5
Price: $7.00 for 430 grams
Price per 100 grams: $1.63
Metro's Fresh 2 Go Beef Shepherd's Pie, 360 grams for $9.00
I'm not going to lie — I was very, very skeptical when I picked up this shepherd's pie as the single slice of cheese on top seemed a little suspicious, but it was really damn delicious.
After heating it up in the microwave, the cheese became ooey-gooey and melted nicely into every forkful I took.
Unlike the other dishes, the seasoning in this shepherd's pie is spot on — it's savoury and comforting and I didn't feel like I needed to add any extra flavours to make it into something I'd want to eat.
Given that it's meat and potatoes, it's heavy food which is ideal for the winter as it's super hearty and I'd be very pleased to eat a bowl of this after coming in from a wet and snowy afternoon.
It was also my boyfriend's favourite dish out of all the options, so the next time I'm at Metro, I'll definitely be picking up the shepherd's pie again!
Rating: 5/5
Price: $9.00 for 360 grams
Price per 100 grams: $2.50
During a trip to Loblaws earlier in the year, I picked up their ready-to-eat Szechuan beef with noodles, penne alfredo with chicken, butter chicken with rice and quinoa tabbouleh salad and I thoroughly enjoyed two of them.
Their Szechuan beef had the flavours I crave in the takeout food I order from around Toronto and it's a dish I've bought a few times since my initial test.
I also really enjoyed their penne alfredo with chicken, and much like the shepherd's pie from Metro, it's warm and comforting and perfect for this time of year.
While you're shopping at Metro, you might want to check out the fresh pizza that they make in-store; I recently did a taste test of pizzas you can buy from Fortino's, Longo's and Metro and their pie came in first place.
Metro's pizza had the best dough and crust out of all three pies, their toppings were super delicious and the pie itself is pretty reasonably priced and could feed me and my partner for two or three meals, so it's also a winner in my books!
These prices are confirmed at the time of publishing, but they can change at any time. Taxes and fees may not be included.
I Tested 4 Ready-To-Eat Meals From Metro & There's One I'll Be Buying On Repeat This Winter
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