It’s amazing what you can find on facebook. I was on one day and came across a company called Gousto. The guys there have come up with a novel idea. Now we have all heard of ready meals but not everyone has heard of what Gousto do. Having now tried them I will share my newly found knowledge.

Gousto is a company that delivers meals with a difference in that they give you all the ingredients that you would need to make your recipes of choice from the selection listed on their site. You get a recipe card with clear instructions for each dish and the ingredients to make the recipes so you can make them yourself nice and fresh when you want them (obviously within the shelf life of the produce supplied).

The recipe cards also tell you the length of time required to make the dish and number of calories per individual portion. All the ingredients have been measured out for the meals so there is no waste but all portions are generous and all meals nutritiously balanced. They have a range of difficulty levels to cover all types of cook.

You can choose a minimum of two dishes a week and a maximum of four and they are delivered via courier. Day’s for delivery will vary depending on location but deliveries are normally on Wednesdays or Thursdays.

They have very experienced chefs working on their recipes, including a Michelin Star chef and another who has appeared on BBC’s Masterchef. The company caters for people with food allergies and special food requirements.

The very generous guys from Gousto sent me three dishes to try in return for an honest report. Each dish was a two portion serving. I decided rather than make all three myself to delegate. I had two friends cook a dish too. This would help test the simplicity of the recipe and ease of use of the recipe cards. Armed with a recipe card and the relevant ingredients we set to work.

All of us agreed that although we were at a range of cooking experience levels the recipes were very simple to follow. Each card had well-set out pictures and instructions to ensure that even those with very little cookery experience could make the specified meal. Once plated up we all sat down with a few additional people and tasted each dish.

As the group did not contain any vegetarians I think that we would have all preferred this dish if it was with Chicken or King Prawns but overall the dish worked well. The fusion of flavours and textures made the meal interesting to eat and full of flavour. The lime worked amazingly well although I could have done with a little more lime (yummmmmmmmyyyyy). We each added the chili to our own portions as some members of the group did not like very spicy foods. The addition of quite a bit of pepper and some salt helped to bring out the flavours in the dish. The general consensus was that we all liked the recipe.

My husband was definitely a fan of this dish and made a point of saying it a few times (ok sweetie, I can take a hint!). It was very full of flavour and although an unusual combination of ingredients it was a nice balance of flavours and the ingredients worked extremely well together. When all had finished eating from each recipe this one was the one with the least left.

This was the only recipe with a difficulty rating of two. Surprisingly, we all agreed this was actually the simplest dish to make. Full of flavour and the groups’ second favourite dish judge by the amount left in the serving dish. The mozzarella naturally went very well with it as did the basil which added that little bit extra flavour to the dish to make it a hit with all.

Everyone agreed that the idea behind this was good. It would work very well for a couple or a family but not so much for those that live on their own. This was due to all the portions being for two people or more.

The range and number of dishes available weekly is diverse enough to cover the maximum of four dishes and they offer trial boxes. The Trial Gourmet box is £42 which provides 3 meals each portion is enough for two people. The Veggie Trial box is £39 and again provides 3 meals each portion is enough for two people. It’s nice that you can trial them rather than have to dive straight into a subscription. The portion sizes are on the generous side which is great for all food lovers.

The dishes change weekly although some classed as favourites were repeated.

It’s worth giving the trial box a go. You will come away having learnt how to make a few fabulously tasty meals or even find you want a weekly subscription to reduce the worry of having to decide what to make each day and get all the ingredients delivered to you already measured.