My Favourite Low Syn Microwave Meals

There's no doubt that cooking your own food most of the time is tastier, cheaper, healthier and generally lower in syns that buying ready meals, but there are times when you need something quick but don't have time to cook. Rather than grabbing a high-syn sandwich or takeaway, there are plenty of low syn options that take just a few minutes in the microwave. I've tried many of these, and here are my favourites. I think these meals taste great and are worth trading off a few syns for the time saved. The syn values given are for the Green and Extra Easy plans - they are considerably higher (and probably not worth it) on the Original plan.

Innocent Veg Pots

These are tasty vegetarian meals in plastic microwaveable pots, available in many supermarkets including Tesco and Sainsburys. They are generally around £3.50 per pot, but there are frequently offers such as 2 for 1 or 2 for £6. Although at first glance it looks like they should all be low in syns, beware, some of them are surprisingly high. The Portugese Red Pepper Piri Piri is my favourite out of the whole range, unfortunately it's not the lowest in syns but definitely worth it!

Stewed!

Stewed! make a range of home-cooked style meaty and veggie stews. They are available in Sainsbury's and online from Ocado and cost around £3.50 per pot. By far the best value syn-wise is the Chickpea, Sweet Potato & Feta Stew , "chickpeas cooked with hearty veggies, smoked paprika and saffron along with some crumbly feta cheese and sweet potato", which is amazingly good value as it's only 1 syn for a whole pot! For a quick meal I'll have this with some couscous - a whole plate of tasty stew and couscous in around 5 minutes for only 1 syn - what more could you ask for!

Sainsbury's Love Veg

Sainsbury's have recently launched 'Love Veg', a range of vegetarian chilled microwave meals. They are priced at £3 each, or at the moment you can buy 2 for £5. I've tried them all and the two below are the best in terms of taste and syns (the syn values are from the syns calculator as they're not currently listed in Syns Online). I like the large pieces of chunky veg you get in these - you really feel like you've had a 'proper' meal.