Sunday 7 August 2016

Marks and Spencer Hot Chilli Con Carne Sauce

I really don't like cooking. Assembling meals is fine and I'm happy to put the time in prepping a salad or noodle bowl or stir fry but making sauces and anything involving a lot of spices....not for me so I tend to stick to classic fish or meat done in the oven with some carbs and some steamed veg. I do make chilli today but today I had a hankering for it but also wasn't in the mood to do it from scratch.



This all sounds terribly lazy and I bet most people are crying out that chilli is one of the easiest things to make. That's true but I was in the M&S food hall and they had a stand with Mexican stuff on that looked so attractive I ended up buying a ready made chilli sauce. What's more it cost me £2. I'm sure I'm pretty the type of person you get on Eat Well For Less who needlessly wastes money on the grocery shop. But time is also pretty important and this is a real doddle. Literally all you need to do is fry your beef in a pan and then add the sauce, bring to the boil and cook. That's it. I did go one step further and fried some diced red onion before adding the meat to at least feel I was doing something!



At least with an M&S product, the ingredients list is pretty safe and you can see by the order of ingredients that it's fairly generous with the kidney beans, onion and peppers and as well as the usual spices it's got ancho chilli and cocoa for depth. It's a very thick sauce and not in the least bit watery.



Now I purposefully picked this hot one over the mild one and I can safely safe this is not hot in any way. That's not to say it's not tasty. The balance of flavours is really good, not one spice is overpowering and it all syncs wonderfully creating a rich, deep, comforting chilli. It actually tastes fairly similar to the M&S chilli ready meal, which I really like.

Whilst tasty, it's not radically interesting or different and I guess it's pretty pricey for what it is. But it did the job in providing a quick and tasty meal on a summer evening when I'd rather be doing other things.

Price: £2
Bought at: Marks and Spencer
Nutrition per half jar: 117 calories

Score: 6.5/10

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