This week, Value for Money compares four varieties of chicken pie

Taste a Memory Foods Chicken Pie

€4.98 for 400g, €12.45 per kg

This pie, which has been handmade in Cork, has two flavours competing hard for our attention – mushrooms and tarragon – and is very pleasant. The packaging assured us that the chicken in the mix is Irish, and there is a lot of it in each pie. At 26 per cent, there is more chicken breast here than in any of the competition. The sauce reminded us of the pies of our youth which always seemed to be made with Campbell’s soup, helping the company live up to its name.

Verdict: Pleasingly old school

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Marks & Spencer Chicken & Broccoli

€3.69 for 400g, €9.22 per kg

The broccoli is not great and frankly we would have preferred if M&S had not bothered with it at all. It is very hard to include that particular vegetable in any ready meal, as by the time it has gone through the many different processes involved with getting it on to the plate, it’s turned to bitter mush. With its cheesy topping, this looked nicest coming out of the oven and was an indicator of things to come as the whole affair is very cheesy. The potato is surprisingly fresh and very tasty and the chicken is good. It is cheap, not something we often say about M&S.

Verdict: Cheesey does it

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Douglas Hide Chicken and Leek Pie

€3.50 for 400g, €8.75 per kg

It is good that there has been a proliferation of small Irish companies producing very good ready meals in recent years and this is just one such example. The chicken is nice, and the wine can be tasted despite the presumably extensive production process. The filling had merged with the mash which is nice, in a comfort food kind of way. It does have the smallest amount of chicken at just 15 per cent, but what is there is perfectly pleasant. It has a surprisingly fresh taste – for a ready meal – and is not excessively salty. The sauce could be a little creamier but it is very morish and it is the cheapest of the lot.

Verdict: Easy comfort food

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Cully and Sully Chicken & Herb Pie

€5.48 for 400g, €13.70 per kg

This is a real find and one which we loved from the first forkful. We were sad, in fact, when it was gone. The Irish chicken is cereal-fed and stands head and shoulders above the competition. The sauce is beautifully creamy and filled with rich flavours. The heavy dill hit was a particularly pleasant surprise. It tastes like it has been made with the kind of chicken stock you get from boiling the bejaysus out of chicken bones for hours and, like three of its rivals, it is made in Ireland. We were promised mushrooms but we couldn’t find too many although we are splitting hairs here.

Verdict: Excellent

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