“Sometimes I just can’t be bothered to cook” said every food blogger more times than they care to admit. Contrary to opinion, we don’t spend every night whipping up culinary wonders for dinner. I’m not adverse to beans on toast or the odd bowl of pesto pasta despite what my instagram says!
Last weekend we went to M&S to spend some vouchers my Nanna had given us when we moved. We couldn’t really find anything we wanted so we decided to spend them on food! We stocked up on the lovely things you would normally only buy for a treat – sea bass, salmon, king prawns and posh bread. It was at this point that I exclaimed that I could not be bothered to cook – so Dave suggested we pick up a taco kit. I often turn my nose up at ‘meal kits’ but I do love Mexican food so when he offered to make them too, I agreed!
According to the packet, we’d be ready to eat within 15 minutes. From box to plate, it was closer to 30 minutes by the time he’d warmed the tacos, cooked the beef mince with the seasoning and carefully spooned it into the taco shells. Oh, and by the way, this is not including the 5-10 minutes it took him to read the instructions!
The kit came with a packet of seasoning, some tomato salsa and 12 taco shells. The only additional ingredient listed as a requirement was the mince despite there being sour cream on the box photography. I’ve seen other taco kits list cheese as well as additional extras. Let’s be honest, a taco without cheese isn’t a proper taco. I think either it was missed off by accident or someone in the M&S food development kitchen has no sense of what is right in taco world.
How did it taste?
The beef seasoning was great. Really smoky and rich. The tomato salsa was also really good, it didn’t have that metallic preservative taste you often get with those jarred and packet salsas. I’ll be honest though, a taco without the extras is a sad little taco and we ended up jazzing ours up with sour cream, cheese, coriander, guacamole and of course – jalapeños.
Although by the time we’d finished, they were truly magnificent, I would have felt a bit depressed eating a dry taco with just meat & tomato salsa as per the box instructions. At £3 this worked out cheaper than buying the taco shells, seasoning and salsa individually. As is often the case with these things, it was advertised for 4 people but we scoffed it comfortably between two.
Verdict?
Pretty good flavour combo and really easy to put together BUT we added lots of ingredients to complete the dish. Would we buy again? Yes, because tacos are fun. // Did Dave wash up after? No. Sad face.
I love tacos and you're right, they're just not the same without the 'extras'!
I didn't know that M&S did their own taco kits. I will look out for them, as I bet they are better than they others you can get.
Jalapeños and cheese are non-negotiable. 🙂
Yep, they are new I think. The beef seasoning was really good – I did expect it to be though. Like you say, M&S = quality!
I do love a well put together meal kit – I love cooking but sometimes you really don't want to have the think at all when making dinner.
I used to buy taco kits but just buy the tacos on their own now because as you say you add so much yourself that you may as well just do it all yourself!
I have had mixed experience with meal kits, this one seems like one of the more positive ones. Without cheese there is no fun, that seems to be a big miss here! It appears that you added most of the ingredients yourself to get to the taste perhaps M&S could look into adding them to the kit in the future!
Hahaha, I do like Dave's face trying to figure out the instructions. Nice touch. I love cooking, but not every day. I'm sure we're not alone. I love Mexican food too, but you're right, tacos must have cheese.