I saw these in Woolworths a few weeks ago but did not give them a good look until one of my clients mentioned they had been eating them regularly.  There are 6 stir fry varieties in Woolworths new Cook stir fry kit range in the meat section of the supermarket including beef, chicken, and pork options. I graved the beef teriyaki for this review.

Nutrition Claims

• No artificial colours, flavours, or preservatives
• 4 health star rating

Nutrition Panel

Energy: 768kJ/serve (2 serves per package) although they suggest throwing in a pack of hokkien noodles which would increase this significantly. I added half a cup of brown rice to mine, providing an additional 442kJ therefore this meal was 1210kJ in total which is low overall and could work well for lunch or dinner for someone aiming for weight reduction.

Protein: At 21.8g/serve this is on the lower side for a main meal but again adequate for lunch or for a smaller person with lower protein requirements.

Sugar (Target <10g/100g): 4.3g/100g, under the target which is great for a marinated meat/stir-fry sauce.

Fibre (Target >7g/100g): 1.2g/100g, this does not meet the target. Likely due to the smaller vegetable portion size of approximately ¾ cup per serve and lack of wholegrains which would increase upon the addition of brown rice

Sodium (Target <400mg/100g): 274mg/100g meeting target, again great news for a stir fry sauce.

Ingredients List

The ingredient list is quite long, due primarily to many ingredients in the teriyaki sauce including thickeners, herbs, spices oil and sauce soy among others. It is 50% Teriyaki beef (the beef + the marinade) with the other 50% comprising of vegetables meaning there is 100g of vegetables per serve which is quite low. I had to fight my instinct while cooking this to throw in more vegetables as this was quite a smaller serve than I’d normally have in my stir-fries (or any dish really).

Taste Factor

I enjoyed the taste of this dish and found the meat to be nice and flavoursome. The larger chunks of onion were more than I’d like but luckily there were only a few.

Price Point

At $8 per meal for 2 serves, these are quite affordable if buying on occasion for a quick option or for lunches at $4 per serve, also considering the cost of additional rice or another wholegrain.

My Tips: Throw in extra vegetables, even just some mixed frozen veg and serve with a small serve of brown rice or a rice and quinoa blend to increase the protein and fibre content.

Overall, I have given this product a 4/5 green apple rating, with point deducted for the lower vegetable quantity.

Review completed by Caitlin Mannion, Dietitian