[Review] Greggs VEGAN Festive Bake and regular festive bake

UPDATE NOV 2021:

Greggs has been rolling wonderful vegan treats this year with vegan sausage rolls, vegan steak bakes etc and now they even have a vegan festive bake for Christmas.

This year I was greeted with three choices for the festive bake:  Wenzel's, Greggs regular festive or the vegan one.

Wenzel's was the most expensive out of the three so I went for had Greggs vegan festive bake as I have already tried the festive bake last year.

The vegan version was really comforting and I will be having it again soon.

The filling was so good especially the stuffing and tangy cranberries.

The pastry was spot on being light and flaky while the bake was nice and hot.

I felt that the vegan fared better because the regular version was overpowered by the cheese and herbs on the pastry topping.

 

UPDATE NOV 2020

Last year I tried festive bake from Iceland because the queue from Greggs was long, this year I managed to get a festive bake during the second lockdown.

NOV 2019

Greggs have launched some captivating items for Christmas 2019 like the Pigs in Blanket Baguette, Festive Bake and Mint Chocolate drink.

I was hoping to get the festive bake at Greggs but there was a long queue so ended up getting it Iceland and you get a free coffee as well with your next purchase at greggs.
At first I was really excited because when I saw the picture I thought it was festive drink but it does clearly say coffee.

Tried the festive bake at home which contains succulent pieces of chicken breast, sage & onion stuffing and sweet cure bacon in a creamy sage and cranberry sauce.

Overall, I loved it especially the creamy sage with sage and onion which make it festive, however the cranberry sauce was not that prominent.

Will definitely try the pigs in blanket baguette soon along with the hot mint chocolate.

#ssggreggs

[Review] Iceland Cocoa Chicken & Green Rice

Ever since I spotted the cocoa chicken at Iceland, it was on my list to try because cocoa works well in food.

Previously tried Mexican chicken mole which is chicken in savoury chocolate sauce.
The Cocoa Chicken & Green Rice from Iceland is cooked shredded chicken in a tomato and chipotle chili sauce with cocoa powder, served with cooked long grain rice with spinach and green chili puree.
After taking the sleeve off, you could see that some of the chicken was not in sauce which is why you have to stir it halfway through so that the chicken will be get mixed with the sauce.

Having had bad experience reheating rice by the microwave, the cocoa chicken was steamed which helps soften the rice and chicken.

The Cocoa Chicken & Green Rice was promising, the sauce was a tad too sweet but there were lots of purple onions and shredded chicken.
According to the ingredients, there was chili but I did not find it spicy compared to other curry meals or Mexican dishes.

As for the rice, I loved how green it was mixed with lots of spinach but again it wasn't spicy as the ingredients say there was chili paste in the rice.
There was a strong taste of parsley in the rice though.

Overall I would recommended trying this and and hope they bring back the Iceland Limited Edition Chocolate Chicken Curry 375g.

[Review] Iceland's Meal for One Macaroni Cheese

Since Iceland have a good range of frozen meals for a pound, decided to try them and see how they fared.
Previously tried the Iceland Beef Filled Yorkshire Pudding 320g which was fantastic.

Tried  Iceland's Meal for One Macaroni Cheese which came in a basic packaging.
Basically it is cooked macaroni in a cheese sauce topped with cheddar cheese.

The red cheddar can be seen beneath the film.

After it was heated in the microwave, the smell of cheese was a bit too sickly but when it cooled down it was all good.
The macaroni was in this thick cheesy sauce which was not too overwhelming and the saltiness was just right.
So overall, not bad and much better than the canned versions of macaroni which can be too soft and bland.

[Review] Iceland Beef Filled Yorkshire Pudding 320g

Iceland offers a good range of instant meals for a pound so I thought it would be good to try them and see how they fare.

Tried the Iceland Beef Filled Yorkshire Pudding 320g which involves more steps than other meals that require just the oven or microwave.

First you have to put the Yorkshire in the oven while the filling is heated separately in the microwave or boiled in a bag.

Despite the extra steps, the beef filled Yorkshire pudding tasted so good that I would definitely get it again.

The Yorkshire was crisp like how it should be with a slightly soft base while the gravy was moreish accompanied by the peas and baby carrots.

As for the beef, it was thinly sliced beef like the stuff you get in school dinners so it was comforting.