Seasoned Pioneers recently branched out to form sister brand The Spice Pioneer and launched a range of spice power pods, with a promise to revolutionise the way to cook midweek meals.

I was kindly gifted a sample to try the range. Because I always embrace products that make meal preparation easier, and I’m a big fan of express cooking that doesn’t compromise taste, I was very excited to give these little packs of spices a go for my mid-week dinners.

 

What I tried: The Spice Pods Starter Pack

I received a letter-box sized box containing 5 cute colourful boxes, each of them with a spice mix to use on a specific recipe. Each packet comes with easy guides for cooking, with a list of the ingredients you’ll need and the simple-to-follow steps, plus an inspiring food image on the front to get you excited (and hungry!) about making each dish.

All the spice mixes are vegetarian and gluten free, and made with natural ingredients. What more could you want? And there are 5 exciting recipes to make with the range: Fajita, Chicken Lollipops, Chilli con Carne, Katsu Curry and Peri-Peri Chicken.

 

I cooked all the different meals making use of the power pods, and I had a wonderful culinary experience, for a number of reasons. Here’s the 4 main advantages I’d like to share about using the spice pods from The Spice Pioneer:

 

1- Ease of cooking

My favourite part about using the spice pods in my meal prep, was how easy they were to use. You can simply forget about calculating the right amount of each ingredient, or forgetting to add something that you needed in your recipe. With one pod encapsulating pretty much all the flavour for your dinner, the process of cooking is incredibly straightforward.

The boxes clearly list the ingredients you need for your dish, which is massively reduced because all your spiced are contained in the packet. Then, all you need to do is follow the simple 3 or 4 steps on the box, and you’re onto a winner meal.

 

2- Saving money

I can think of a good number of occasions where I have decided to make a specific dish, and then looking up all the ingredients I need, to realise that I don’t have even half of them at home. This results in a trip to the supermarket, where I get everything required, and somehow it ends up costing over £20 to make dinner for 2. Sounds familiar?

I see a big advantage in that the spice pods give you most of the ingredients you need for a recipe – that’s all the flavour in one capsule, for a very reasonable price! This means you don’t have to spend extra money buying ingredients in larger quantities that you don’t need, or that will end up going to waste! (I’m sure I still have that massive jar of expensive tahini from a year ago, when I got it just to make hummus… Sigh!)

 

3- Meal inspiration

Who’s got time during the week to come up with ideas and inspiration for your dinner? We often arrive from work so tired, that it becomes a big hassle to sort out dinner at home. We so often end up getting a takeaway or a frozen pizza, because we simply cannot be bothered thinking about what to make, and proceeding with a potentially lengthy cooking process.

What is so great about the spice pod range, is how easy it is to get ideas for dishes and getting excited about making them. The spice pods teach you how to make each dish in very-easy to follow steps, with minimum ingredients required – and having tried them, I can guarantee they are tasty meals, packed with flavour and quick to make.

The spice pods range is diverse and it reflects culinary traditions from different places in the world, so it’s also a great way to get exposed to a bit of multi-cultural foods and taste experience.

 

4- Taste!

No matter how easy or money-saver a product can be, if the taste isn’t great. Well, rest assured, this is not the case with the pods from The Spice Pioneer. I was really impressed with how tasty each dish that I made was. The meals really were seasoned to perfection, and simply delicious.

Each dish was bold in taste, and they were all different and remarkably distinct in flavour. I also really liked how diverse the dishes were, I felt I got a taste of culinary influences from all over the world.

From the starter pack, my favourite were the chilli con carne mix and the fajita spice pod. The chilli con carne resulted in a mild chilli dish, with a lovely smokey taste. The fajita pod provided for a flavourful chicken mix, so packed with taste. I didn’t even have to add salt and pepper when cooking with the spice pods, they really contain all the flavour you need.

I can see how these pods can appeal to family and couples, to enjoy dinners that are quick to make and big in taste.

They cater for both meat eaters and vegetarian versions, which is also great. We’ve been trying more vegetarian and vegan dishes, and I will be looking to try the spice pods on veggie meals next!