Sam Wilder spent a year sampling budget ready meals to find the ultimate £1 curry. After testing chicken curries from Tesco, Sainsbury's, Iceland and Asda, one supermarket's offering stood out as 'by far the best'
07:07, 06 Jan 2026Updated 09:53, 06 Jan 2026
Britain stands as a nation absolutely mad about curry, with roughly 90 percent of grown-ups reportedly tucking into at least one spicy dish monthly. This beloved cuisine has now earned its rightful place beside fish and chips as one of our most cherished national favourites.
However, households keen to tighten their belts this January might find themselves wandering supermarket aisles rather than dialling their local takeaway. Major retailers stock an enormous selection of curry options, with some bargain versions priced at just £1.
These wallet-friendly meals have become the focus of YouTube creator Sam Wilder's year-long mission to taste-test budget grub. Sam has put cheap eats from various chains through their paces, including Tesco, Sainsbury's, Iceland and Asda.
It was Tesco—Britain's biggest supermarket by market share—that recently faced Sam's scrutiny. The content creator put five dishes to the test: toad in the hole, tomato and cheese pasta, spaghetti bolognese, mac and cheese, and chicken curry.
The chicken curry with rice emerged as the standout winner from Sam's extensive bargain-hunting adventure, with him comparing it favourably to pricier alternatives. Speaking in his review video, he observed: "The first thing I noticed, and this is a good sign, the rice isn't clumping."
"And the rice does occasionally clump when it comes to these cheap ready meals, so that is a good sign. Otherwise I feel like there's the same amount of sauce, same amount of chicken, it could well be the same."
After giving the rice a taste, Sam commented: "The rice is okay, as I say, it's not clumped, it's not overcooked. I don't mind the rice and the sauce is quite nice too, it's saucier actually."
He felt that the curry sauce seemed "a bit more put together" compared to some supermarket alternatives. However, it was the chicken that really impressed Sam.
He declared: "I would go so far as to say that, out of all of the chicken curries, this might be the best one. [It is] Just as good as any chicken from a more expensive ready meal. It's not bad, it's a generic curry, but it's not bad."
Sam concluded by praising it as "by far the best £1 chicken curry" he had ever tasted. This wasn't Sam's first encounter with a winning curry.
During an experiment where he lived solely on Iceland's £1 meals for a week, he was pleasantly surprised by the curry dish, despite finding the chicken a bit "dry". He noted: "The curry smelt like a korma and there was a good amount of sauce.
"I had hoped they had redeemed themselves with the chicken, but it's still dry. Other than that, the sauce was actually tasty, it made the rice less bland, the worst part is literally just the chicken. It's sort of like a korma, more of a generic curry flavour."
Elsewhere, he commended the seasoning in Sainsbury's £1 curry and thought the chicken was "surprisingly okay". He also enjoyed Asda's chicken curry offering, ranking it as his second-best choice from the supermarket giant's Just Essentials range - falling just behind its cheese and tomato pasta.
In his most recent culinary critique, Sam crowned Tesco's budget curry as the supermarket's best ready meal, followed closely by the mac and cheese in second place and toad in the hole securing third. The cheese and tomato pasta was his least favourite, just losing out to the spaghetti bolognese.