Coco & Lucas’ Kitchen Mild Butter Chicken & Basmati Rice | Chewsday Review

Today I'm looking at Coco & Lucas Mild Butter Chicken & Basmati Rice. Will this convenient meal rice to the occasion and be butter than it's competitors?

Ingredients

Mild Butter Chicken Sauce (59%) [Chicken fillet (37%), thickened cream (pasteurised cream (from milk), mineral salts (450, 500), thickener (400)), onion, water, milk, yoghurt (from milk), corn starch, paprika (160C), white vinegar, tomato paste, roasted garlic, salt, extra virgin olive oil, ginger, turmeric (100), rice flour, spices (cumin, cardamom, coriander, cassia, cloves, chilli, ginger), steamed basmati rice (40%).
Chicken, spices and a creamy sauce – at first glance the ingredients look pretty similar to a home-made butter chicken.
The product is made up of 40% rice and 59% sauce, including the chicken.
Allergens: milk.
May contain: crustacea, egg, fish, sesame, soy, tree nuts, lupin.

Positives

Negatives

At $5.30 each, these meals are pricey! Annabel Karmel meals are $4.30 each, but have a slightly smaller portion size (200g vs. 220g), so the price per 100g is similar.
Coco and Lucas meals are only available at Woolworths, so may not be convenient if you do your main shop elsewhere.
As with the Annabel Karmel range, iron and fibre aren’t listed on the nutrition information panel. I’d love to see more information available on these key nutrients.
While this meal contains a tiny bit of veg in the sauce (onion and tomatoes in tomato paste – so a bit of a stretch), there isn’t a vegetable component offered alongside the chicken and rice. I’d recommend adding veg on the side, which takes away some of the convenience!
Coco and Lucas Butter Chicken and Rice is 22% chicken, which is pretty decent when compared to the 8% in the Annabel Karmel butter chicken meal. This means more chicken for your money, and a higher iron content.

Marketing

“No artificial preservatives, flavours or colours”. True.
“Lovingly handmade”. I checked out the ‘About’ section on the Coco and Lucas’ Kitchen website, and it looks like the meals are made in a commercial kitchen with the aim the replicate homemade meals. So I guess it’s as “handmade” as a ready made meal can be!
“Ideal for 3-12 year olds”. This may explain the slightly bigger portion size. But I’m still not convinced that this meal meets the needs of such a wide age range of kids.
“4 star health rating”. This means it compares well to other products in the same category.

Alternatives

Coco and Lucas Butter Chicken and Basmati Rice meets our guidelines for sodium, saturated fat and sugar, but given the price I would personally only use this when I need something super convenient.
I’m a little disappointed this meal doesn’t contain much veg (apart from tiny amounts in the sauce). Annabel Karmel Mild Butter Chicken and Rice contains one serve of vegetables, but has a much lower chicken content – it’s a trade off! Choose whichever you prefer, as both meals meet key nutrition criteria. If you’re in Perth, Arlove is a local company offering a range of home-delivered meals for kids that are convenient, nutritious and used ingredients sourced within WA.
Where possible I recommend offering regular butter chicken or curry, served buffet style and shared with the rest of the family. This gives toddlers the opportunity to be part of the family meal and learn to like new foods and flavours.

The composition of food products changes regularly. The nutritional values of the products in this Chewsday Review were correct at the time of publishing.