Ben's OriginalFavourites Chilli con Carne Minced Beef and Vegetables Ready Meal Rice Pouch, Bulk Multipack 6 x 250g

I am a fan of the Ben's Original standard rice packs for a quick cook rice as the packs take mere minutes to 'warm up' in the microwave and a single pack is more than enough for 1–2 people. Seeing that Ben's Original now do a risotto, I decided to try it as I do not have patience to make a risotto by hand.The first thing I noticed is that the rice is solid in the pack, and you really do need to spend a few minutes separating the rice inside the pack before microwaving it. From there, though, it is simple and just needs to pack microwaving for a couple of minutes and the required amount of water/milk adding. I used milk for the extra creamy taste, and it really did come out tasting great. The tomato flavour is there with some chunky sun-dried tomato pieces. The Italian Herbs add to it and only enhance the overall flavour. The consistency is just right for a risotto too, with a sticky creamy texture that is close to a true risotto.I did find a few things that improved the rice the second time around. The first is to heat the mix for 20–30 seconds after the milk is added. The cold milk drops the temperature of the rice quite a lot, and this extra few seconds elevated it back up again. The second was to add some thin chicken breast chunks. This just elevated the whole dish to a new level and made it more than enough for my main meal. Finally, I also added some butter to enrich the rice, again to yet another level.These will now feature as a cupboard staple for me. I don't eat risotto frequently, but having this available means I can have one when the mood takes.

These "Ben's Original Favourites Risotto Tomato and Italian Style Herbs Ready Meal Pouch" can be cooked in a pan or in the Microwave. Pan cooking is simple enough you just open the pouch and empty it into a pan, add 100ml of water or milk and cook! For Microwave you simply tear the top of the packet open then add water/milk, Microwave the packet for 2 or 3 minutes depending on wattage and away you go.I had mine today for lunch. I'm an adult man I was concerned that the packet itself wasn't enough for me so I rummaged around and I had a tin of Spam in the fridge. I diced half a tin of Spam and added it to the cooked Risotto mix. I'm sure there are some who will read this and think it's revolting but it worked nicely for me. The Risotto is a fibrous and tasty rice dish but may be on the lighter side by itself. You don't have to add Spam of course(!) but some people - adult men in particular - may like to add something in to the mix to make for a more substantive meal.I'm happy overall though, the pouch was tasty and definitely a nice change for me. These pouches have intrigued me and I am interested in looking into buying more. Here however we meet the elephant in the room. Currently this six pack of 'Ben's Original Favourites' Pouches is listed at £14.94 (correct at time of writing) which is, disappointingly for me, too high in my opinion. I really did genuinely enjoy my lunch today but given the need to add a little something else to make the meal complete for me, and also the prohibitively high price then I have no other choice but to leave a four star review.

I purchased this box of 6 packs of Ben's tomato risotto as a quick and more nutritious alternative to pot noodles for lunch. Each pack provides a single-serving portion, making it an ideal size for one person.The preparation is straightforward, and you have the option to use water or milk for a creamier taste. I followed the instructions using water, and the result was quite satisfying. The rich tomato flavour stood out, and the creamy, sticky texture made it feel more like a freshly cooked risotto than a prepackaged meal.Although I haven’t tried it with milk yet, I suspect it would elevate the creaminess and enhance the overall flavour even more. Additionally, the dish is versatile—it's easy to toss in extra ingredients for a more filling or personalized meal.Overall, I found this risotto to be a great choice for a quick and flavorful lunch. It’s a step up from instant noodles and worth keeping in the pantry for busy days.

I ordered the Tomato and herb Italian rissotto as a quick lunch for my little lad when we are pressed for time and don't have anything else in.This is a super quick and very tasty lunch that importantly is shelf stable. We cook almost all our food from scratch which has one major downside - it can take more time than you sometimes haveThese Risotto packets take a few minutes in the microwave and add water or milk (we add milk) and are satisfying and very enjoyable.We are very pleased to have them in and I will likely try the other flavours in the range.

These risottos make for a tasty and extremely convenient snack, given that they take only 2-3 minutes in the microwave, depending on your microwave's power settings. You need to add 100ml to it, but can use either water or milk. I personally find the milk option a lot tastier, as it makes it nice and creamy. For what it is, it's actually pretty filling. Perfect for when you need to grab something to eat but have little time to do it.The only reason for the dropped star is because the instructions aren't great. It tells you to add the milk or water into the packet, but doesn't tell you how much to open the packet by. Is it like their range of rices, which come in similar packets and you're only supposed to tear open by an inch or two, or are you supposed to rip the entire top off? For now, I've just been tearing back a couple of inches and cooking it like that, although the last packet I did ended up spilling over a little, so I'm now wondering if I should tear the full way across.