COOK

Posh microwave meals!
I’m lucky enough to live a minutes walk from Cook, when I can’t be bothered to cook one evening or I’m in a rush it is absolutely perfect to get a tasty meal that can be ready in minutes that isn’t filled with salt, sugar and additives.
All of the recipes are made from scratch and cooked at their main kitchen which is in Kent in believe. They are then sent to the various Cook shops in the country.
At the moment I think Cook is mainly in London and the South East, I haven’t heard of any North of the M25, which is a shame because I think they would do really well!
My personal fave is the Macaroni cheese. They also sell puddings and ice cream. Their billionaires shortbread is to die for!

In our household, we call Cook Posh Iceland. This branch has moved from Western Road in Brighton, just by Waitrose to this new location on Church Road in Hove, but they do the same thing. It’s frozen food for people in hurry but it’s high quality and very, very tasty.
I really think the various curries they do are top notch and prefer them to a takeaway. For £6.99 or thereabouts you get a very delicious dish for two and hearty portions they are. Also you can bag party nibbles and desserts to die for. Basically, if you so wish, you can pass this stuff off as your own. There’s also a branch in Lewes. Not cheap, but good value. This is the good stuff.

Cook has moved from Brighton down to Hove, and this franchise is run by the same people that run the successful Lewes branch.
I really like the concept of Cook — frozen convenience food that tastes like its homemade and full of decent ingredients. However, I find it quite expensive here and there generally isn’t anything that I don’t feel that I could cook myself. However, for the sake of convenience, it could come in handy, and I have purchased a Vietnamese one pot that can be ready in 5 mins — perfect for those evenings when you are late home from work.
Cook have meals for 1 person to 4, as well as large party packs for larger catering events. They also do meals particularly aimed at kids.
The staff are really friendly and helpful here, and the real winner is that they have a range of samples to try next to the cash desk. To be honest, this is probably the reason I have given them 4 instead of 3 stars (yes, the way to my heart is definitely through my stomach!) I was able to try a salmon and a venison pâté, plus a little pot of the best tasting coronation chicken that has ever passed my lips. If these samples are anything to go by, the food here really is delicious, may be I will be tempted when I really can’t be bothered to cook myself.

Probably the best frozen convenience food around. Everting I have bought from there has been fantastic quality and value.

Cook describes itself as the alternative to home cooking and I completely agree. This is WAY better than home cooking: amazingly flavoured dishes, no preparation, no washing up, no fiddling around with complicated recipes trying to get them right. As much as I love cooking, sometimes it’s just far too much effort after a long day at work. Cook, halfway between a (very high class) ready meal and a takeaway, seems like the perfect solution.
Every season, Cook publish The Cook Book which is a beautifully presented menu of all the dishes they have on offer: traditional English dishes, curries, party food, puddings, immense-​looking salads… all looking to incredibly delicious you’ll want to eat everything. In one go.
We popped in here yesterday and sampled their ‘daily taster’ Chicken Laksa, an amazing Thai-​style lemony, coconutty, creamy curry, which was so completely delicious that I can’t wait to go back and grab myself an entire portion. At £3.75 for a one-​person portion and £6.75 for a two-​person sized meal, this offers way better value (and much better taste) than your average takeaway and is also far healthier and tastier. A massive double portion of rice to go with it will only set you back £1.95.
Another great thing about this place is that all the dishes are clearly labelled with a ‘V’ for vegetarian or a ‘GF’ for gluten-​free. The shop assistant was also incredibly helpful, she even printed off a list for me of all the gluten-​free meals on offer.
If you love delicious food but don’t have the time to put in the required effort at home, then this place may well be a life-​saver.

OK. I like the concept of this; nice fresh food cooked and prepared so you can take it home and make out you’ve created it yourself. If however, I was at a dinner party and my host told me they’d been in the kitchen all afternoon and then I noticed the ‘Cook’ boxes by the bin, I’d be a little freaked out. One of the best bits of cooking is watching your dinner guests enjoying the food YOU’VE created. And there’s not even the ‘but I haven’t got the time’ excuse. It takes 10 minutes to prepare some meals.
This is just lazy food for lazy people who would probably employ a butler to brush their teeth in the morning if they could afford it.

What a great concept! Ready-​made meals for you to take home and impress someone you’re having over for tea that you told once that you like cooking. Not that I’ve done that. Wait. Can’t you get ready meals elsewhere. And for cheaper I hear you say. Well, yes. But, these are not your average ready-​made mass produced meals. They have real live chefs who work there, with pictures up on the wall, so you can see if you trust them or not I suppose. These are good quality meals. They have different cabinets to choose going up in portion size as well as an Indian and Asian section. They are completely worth it. Bring a restaurant quality meal home tonight.

Cook strikes me as being a little different from the extra special, finest, taste the difference… or whatever else they’re called, ready meals that supermarkets sell, one as its a little pricier, and two it looks home made. It seems to be this second point that balances out the first. It strikes me, that if you have the relatives, or some friends coming round for diner, but can’t cook and need to give the impression you can, then Cook is the place to run to.
Everything looks plausably home made, in the same way that some cookery books give you images of nice looking food that’s not too expensive or difficult to make luring you into attempting the dish yourself. You soon find out however, that the meal in the book looked so tasty because its sitting on a granite work surface in an ornate bowl that has never even seen the inside of a sink, and has about 500 watts of light illuminating it. Style over substance… But at least Cook has the substance, just not to the degree the price asks for if you ask me.

I was so excited about Cook when a friend served one of their chocolate cakes after dinner at her flat. What a brilliant idea– reinvigorating frozen food by introducing new exciting cuisines and using great quality ingredients. In France they have a similar idea, with excellent quality frozen food that has being doing well for years. It doesn’t have to be cheap, unhealthy and tasteless! The chocolate cake was delicious so I headed over. Unfortunately I had underestimated how much good quality food– frozen or not– was and quickly found that on my student budget it wasn’t going to happen. I could buy two frozen curries for what we would spend on a take away but without the fun of delivery. The cakes looked incredible but at ten pounds give or take, I could make one cheaper myself. I would recommend having a look definitely if you have the money. I’ll have to wait till I’m earning a bit more to go back and treat myself.

It’s hard to be enthusiastic about a shop that only stocks frozen food. So it helps that the food they sell at COOK tastes fresh, homemade and rather delicious. I know this because when I walked in the door yesterday, I was offered a free sample of their raspberry pavlova.
The pavlova was so good — just the right amount of meringue, raspberries and cream — that I decided to take a chance and buy a chicken laksa and coconut lime leaf rice for supper. They were both lovely and only set me back a fiver.
Looking through the brochure I see COOK do a whole range of meat and veggie Thai, Moroccan, Cantonese and Indian dishes as well as traditional staples like beef stroganoff, steak and ale pie, lamb moussaka, fisherman’s pie, spinach and ricotta cannelloni and roasted vegetable lasagne. All the food is cooked fresh by a team of dedicated chefs and frozen without any nasty preservatives so it still tastes good. They also offer free home delivery instore and online when you spend £35 and as I might have mentioned, the puddings are rather tasty. As well as the aforementioned pavlova, they have pies, tarts, winter puddings, roulades and cheesecakes that serve upto 10 people.
I am converted but I still wish the shop was more interesting to browse around. Maybe they should paint the walls pink or decorate the freezers themselves? Failing that, perhaps the assistants could wear rollerskates and offer live cooking demonstrations?

Think homecooked dinners to the standard your mother gave you as a child. Imagine great smell and fresh ingredients. Cook has chefs that prepare dishes in small batches. This is not mass produced rubbish this is craftmanship. They claim to never cook with anything artifical. Most dishes come in 1 or 2 or 4 portions. Try the Chicken, ham & leek pie! It come in 6 – 8 portion dish at £14.95.
Indian dishes are also on offer. Chicken Tikka Masala is £5.95 for 2 portions.
Like fish? Well the lime & coriander stuffed trout wrapped in smoked bacon is a must and only £7.95!
Vegatarian? Well there is a range for you. Nut loafes are £4.95.
Also pudding are a must buy. Chocolate & pear tart serves 10 at £10.95.
Just had a baby? They have dishes for a 6 month child and upwards. They do mulitipacks.
Stuck for a present? Well give vouchers!