All the meals looked delicious; I didn’t know which one to try first! On the sleeve of each meal was a clear list of ingredients, the nutritional information panel and heating instructions. There was no ‘cooked on date’ or best before date, instead, it is recommended that meals are consumed within one day after opening, or frozen for up to three months. It would be beneficial to see a best-before date as if you do not wish to freeze the meals, there is no clear indication of how long the meals can be kept in the fridge.

Each meal was clearly labelled and had the addition of nutrition and produce callouts for example, ‘sustainably farmed fish’, ‘1.5 serves of vegetables’ and ‘excellent source of protein’. The ‘1.5 serves of vegetables’ callout was particularly great to see as I knew exactly how many serves of vegetables I was getting in that meal. 

Allergens were listed in bold in the ingredients list and the ingredients were mostly whole food sources – with the exception of ‘skim milk powder’, ‘thickener 400’ and ‘mineral salts’. As a nutritionist, I do not recommend consuming foods that contain large amounts of preservatives and additives frequently, however these ingredients were only found in a few of the readymade meals and are fine to consume in small amounts. The vegan meals (such as the southern Indian vegetable curry, sweet potato and red lentil curry and Mexican 5 bean chilli with brown rice) had the highest-quality ingredients – no preservatives or additives – just real food! 

The heating instructions were easy to follow with two options for heating from chilled or frozen; my meals were heated through perfectly each time. The flavours were excellent, and the vegetables were vibrant in colour. In my opinion, the flavours were on par with We Feed You’s frozen readymade meals. My favourites were the Spinach and Ricotta Cannelloni with Napoli Sauce, Atlantic Salmon Risotto and the Creamy Pesto Pumpkin Gnocchi. It is clear Dineamic uses quality produce to create high-quality meals.

The portion sizes ranged from 260g – 400g. I was satisfied after most meals, yet some of the smaller portioned meals (such as the Frittata with Pepperonata), were not as filling and so I added a side salad and extra vegetables to bulk up the meal. Like most other readymade meals, the portions are suitable for one to two people, but not for a family.