Sainsbury's Shortcrust Pastry Steak Pie

Steak and kidney has got to be one of the all-time winter warmers. This is a pre-prepared pie with plenty of meat and gravy inside a pastry crust and base, presented in a foil carton. It just has to be reheated according to instructions.

In terms of similar products, this is a Sainsbury's own brand mid-range meal for one person. After I cooked it (around 25 minutes), it had a nice golden yellow crust, the meat looked good quality and I managed not to burn it!

Price wise, it is a cut above the ordinary steak and kidney pie, which are in the 50-60p range in the same supermarket. It definitely tastes better than the cheaper ones, although ostensibly it is a similar recipe. The price difference is quite large, however, at £1.39 for this pie. For that, I could expect something a bit more sophisticated. However, I am prepared to pay extra as I am not sure how they manage to produce such a cheap alternative in the first place. Is it cheaper butter for the pastry, or a cheaper cut of meat?

I quickly sliced a green cabbage and steamed this with some carrots while waiting for the pie to heat up. At least I could say I had some of my 'daily 5' veg, and they went with it extremely well.

Nutrionally speaking, this pie was always going to come out at thehigh end of the saturated fat contents (that's the type of fat that is not so good for you, as opposed to mono-and unsaturated fats, which are the healthy ones). However, if you love steak and kidney as I do, it may be worth clogging the arteries for a treat once in a while.

The facts and figures are as follows:
Per pie: 645 kcals, 27.3 g fat (saturated 10.5 g )
27.3 g protein, 77.8 g carbs, 5.5 g fibre, 1.5 g salt.
(each pie is 250 g)

Per 100g: 258 kcal, 10.9 fat, (saturated fat 4.2g)
10.9g protein, 31.1g carbs,2.2 g fibre, salt 0.6 g

Ingredients: Wheat flour, 23% beef, marge, beef kidney 11%, roux granules (!), onion, pork lard, egg, salt, modified maize starch.

- not sure what roux granules are, maybe something to do with the sauce. As you can see from the breakdown, it has quite a high protein content, although a healthier way to get my protein would be just meat without the pastry. Also the salt content is high - 1.5 g per pie, when the recommended is 5 g a day!

The packet also says it is produced from British and Irish beef and British Beef Kidney, so food air miles have been kept reasonably low in the manufacture. It also contains no genetically modified ingredients.

Instructions:
Oven Cook from chilled in 25 mins. Preheat oven to 180c, Gas 4. Remove from box, leave in foil tray and place on baking tray in middle of oven. From frozen: takes 45 minutes, same method.

You can take this product home and keep it in the freezer for up to 1 month. 'You can find in the chiller cabinet', as the tag line on an ad for a certain juice drink used to go.

Further Information:
Allergy advice: egg, wheat gluten and barley gluten.
Price: £1.39
Freephone 0800 636262 Sainsburys Careline if you get really stuck.

Packaging: Plain foil tray, simple cardboard box with purple background. No plastics. Recyclable.

I am rating this product 'average' not because it was disappointing - it was a very acceptable, nice pie - but because there was nothing that really made it stand out.