Vegan sandwiches

Pret a Manger curried chickpea and chutney
£2.99, pret.co.uk
This is my new favourite sandwich: lovely crunchy chickpeas, super fresh leaves, excellent condiments, and not too soggy or dry.
★★★★★

Tesco Wicked Kitchen smashin’ pumpkin falafel
£3, tesco.com
I like the colour. Lots of thought has gone into the bread, texture and flavour. But a bit on the dry side.
★★★★

Sainsbury’s Mediterranean vegetable with kalamata olives
£2.20, sainsburys.co.uk
Nice seeded bread and a good distribution of ingredients and textures. It tastes fresh; lovely peppery rocket. Substantial.
★★★★

Co-op onion bhaji
£2.50, co-operativefood.co.uk
An excellent idea which suffers in the execution as the bhaji is a little soggy. A bit heavy handed with the mango chutney for my liking, but otherwise good.
★★★

Vegan grains and greens

Pret a Manger sweet potato falafel and smashed beets veggie box
£4.50, pret.co.uk
Yes, yes, yes! Tasty falafels and beets and a sprightly gingery lemony coriander dressing. I can hear the crunch of the broccoli. Can I finish this?
★★★★★

Marks & Spencer spiced tofu nourish bowl
£4, marksandspencer.com
The tofu could do with spicing up but overall this is a lovely colourful bowl of fresh crunchy vegetables with a creamy red pepper dressing that ties it all together.
★★★★

Waitrose Good To Go sweet potato, bulgur & couscous
£3, waitrose.com
I’m a big fan of giant couscous but there’s no flavour contrast or real difference in textures. Very filling, but I’d get bored eating it.
★

Tesco Wicked Kitchen kung fu bowl
£3.50, tesco.com
Plain tofu, boiled onion, chalky rice and crunchless broccoli with DayGlo sickly sweet chilli sauce. No thank you.
No stars

Falafel

Waitrose sweet potato falafel
192g, £3.30, waitrose.com
A golden little nugget, very respectable. It would be an A-grade falafel were it not for the currants – they don’t belong in a falafel for me.
★★★★

Aldi The Deli Moroccan style falafel
200g, £1.29, aldi.co.uk
Very dry. But there is a good amount of heat in here and a lovely crispy exterior. Nice shape.
★★★

Biona organic falafel balls
220g, £3.99, ocado.com
It falls apart – so dry. Burnished, golden exterior. Scoffable size. The flavour is nothing to write home about.
★★

Asda sweet potato falafel
220g, £2, asda.com
Puts the “sweet” in sweet potato falafel. Not unpleasant but just too sweet in flavour. Texture-wise it’s very uniform. There’s no crunchy exterior.
★

Veggie burgers

Marks & Spencer lentil & beetroot burgers
240g, £2.50, marksandspencer.com
This is the burger I’d want to feed my friends. A crunchy exterior, and earthy beetroot and lentils.
★★★★

Waitrose aubergine and feta burgers
210g, £2.50, waitrose.com
I love aubergine and feta but this tastes of neither. A good crunchy coating. But you’d need to add lots of condiments.
★★★

Morrisons edamame and sweet potato burgers
350g, £1.57, morrisons.com
Looks like an old school canteen burger but wait! There’s a sweet pop of edamame and a nice hit of spice. It tastes more appealing than it looks.
★★

Strong Roots spinach and pumpkin burger
450g, £2.99, ocado.com
Pallid looking on the outside and pasty on the inside. Doesn’t taste of spinach and pumpkin, or anything much at all really. It’s not going to win any hearts.
★

Filled pasta

Taste the Difference spinach and ricotta gran tortelloni
250g, £2.90, sainsburys.co.uk
Charming parcels of joy. A lovely yolk-yellow to the pasta. There’s lots of flavour here and they’re very beautifully folded. The person who made these deserves a pay rise.
★★★★★

Tesco spinach and ricotta tortelloni
400g, £2, tesco.com
A perfect balance of ricotta to spinach in these tortelloni, and they look lovely on the plate, too. Nonna would approve. I’m not left in want of anything … except some truffle oil.
★★★★

Ugo Thrive spinach and ricotta tortelloni
250g, £3, ocado.com
The filling in the centre has a fresh taste of spinach, but it is disappointingly dry. A lack of flavour. Sorry.
★★

Waitrose spinach and ricotta ravioli
310g, £2.69, waitrose.com
Sadly claggy, wet and not very delicious. The ricotta and spinach taste quite dull despite a healthy amount of nutmeg.
★

Vegan chocolate ices

Alpro hazelnut chocolate ice cream
500ml, from £3.50, alpro.com
Excellent hazelnut flavour … it could ramp up the chocolate a bit. This one is very, very creamy. I don’t think you can tell that it’s not proper ice cream.
★★★★

Ben & Jerry’s non-dairy chocolate fudge brownie ice cream
500ml, £5.50, ocado.com
Deeply chocolatey with lovely fudgey brownie bits tucked inside. Nice texture.
★★★★

Booja Booja organic hunky punky chocolate ice cream
500ml, £5.99, ocado.com
A very sweet cocoa flavour, lovely creamy texture and a dark rich colour.
★★★★

Sainsbury’s deliciously free from choc iced dessert
500ml, £3.50, sainsburys.co.uk
Not particularly chocolatey. Good if you’re looking for a healthy tasting ice cream. It has a foamy texture.
★★