Charlie Bigham's Reviews 1,135

TrustScore 4 out of 5

3.9

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Review summary

Created with AI, based on recent reviews

Evaluating 196 reviews, reviewers had a great experience with this company. Many customers consistently praise the delicious and high-quality meals, often comparing them favorably to restaurant dishes or authentic takeaways. People appreciate the excellent taste, flavor, and consistent quality across various dishes, finding them to be a fantastic value despite the price. The convenience of these easy-to-cook meals, often considered superior to other supermarket options, is also a significant positive for many. However, some customers also noted a decline in quality and care recently, particularly regarding the chicken in certain dishes and the overall flavor of some new offerings. There were also concerns about the increasing prices and reduced portion sizes, leading some to question the value for money and express disappointment with the amount of main ingredients like chicken or prawns. Additionally, a few reviewers mentioned issues with packaging leakage and the high salt content in some meals.

What people talk about most

Product

Consumers find product quality to be ambiguous, with many expressing satisfaction with the taste and... See more

Quality

Customers consistently note ambiguous experiences with quality, with some reviewers praising the excellent... See more

Price

Customers had ambiguous experiences with price, with many reviewers expressing dissatisfaction, citing... See more

Value for money

Reviewers highlight ambiguous aspects of value for money, with many expressing disappointment over high... See more

Reviews shaping this summary

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

Charlie Bigham produces several delicious “stand-bys” for one diner, shame you can’t freeze them but they are useful for a quick grab on the way home, that is if you can find them now that my local T... See more

Company replied

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

I sent CB a suggestion regarding their meal and I immediately got a positive reply. What a refreshing change that they take on board customer suggestions and hopefully act on it. We enjoy their meals... See more

Company replied

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

We love the king prawn and scallop risotto, it's absolutely delicious and it's frequently on my food order. However, two littles niggles: the juices leak out of the wooden tray very easily (due to th... See more

Company replied

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

Tasty meals, much better than many takeaways and cheaper too, although prices have crept up lately. Have also noticed the high salt content of many meals; this may be to compensate if they have starte... See more

Company replied


Company details

  1. Food Manufacturer

Written by the company

Ever since 1996 we've been making delicious food with all the care that you would if you had the time. After all, what better way to spend an evening than chatting, laughing and sharing a wonderful meal? Turn off the phone, dim the lights and crack ...


Contact info

3.9

Great

TrustScore 4 out of 5

1K reviews

5-star
4-star
3-star
2-star
1-star

Replied to 98% of negative reviews

Typically replies within 1 week

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Rated 3 out of 5 stars

Red Thai Curry had too much chilli for…

Red Thai Curry had too much chilli for our liking, although good quality, which killed our apetite and resulted in food being thrown away. Also a pity that ready meals everywhere (although not this one) contain Cheddar - a cheap ingredient - which is not good for dairy intolerance. Sicilian Chicken is very good, but flavours over-strong.

February 4, 2026
Unprompted review
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Reply from Charlie Bigham's

Hello Elizabeth, thank you for your feedback — we’re sorry to hear the Red Thai Curry was too spicy for your taste. We’re pleased you enjoyed the quality overall and the Sicilian Chicken, and we’ll be sure to share your comments on flavour levels and ingredients with our team.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Delicious and Restorative.


The Charlie Bigham Sicilian Chicken is
A Wonderfully Delicious and Welcome
Dish.

It fully restored my elderly mother's appetite. She had not eaten properly for a week following the sudden death of her
youngest son. But this dish has truly helped
her to regain more of her taste buds.
And strength.

Thank You very much all at Charlie Bigham.
Really grateful for your super cuisine.

February 6, 2026
Unprompted review
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Reply from Charlie Bigham's

Thank you so much for letting us know, Seta — that’s really kind of you to share.

We’re so glad the dish was able to bring some comfort, and we’re sending our warmest wishes to you and your family.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

We regularly buy these pies they are…

We regularly buy these pies they are fabulous.
Our favourites are the fish pie and the Kate and Sydney.
Always well filled with sizeable pieces

February 9, 2026
Unprompted review
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Reply from Charlie Bigham's

Hello Wendy. Thank you so much for your wonderful review — we’re delighted to hear you regularly enjoy our pies!

It’s great to know the Fish Pie and the Steak & Kidney are your favourites, and that you’re pleased with the generous fillings and sizeable pieces. We really appreciate your lovely support

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Tried Charlie Bighams new chicken…

Tried Charlie Bighams new chicken parmigiana.
It was flavoursome, good quantity and as always excellent ingredient quality.

February 7, 2026
Unprompted review
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Reply from Charlie Bigham's

Hello Kathryn. Thank you so much for your lovely review — we’re delighted you’ve tried our new Chicken Parmigiana and enjoyed it!

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

Try harder with the gluten free options!

Next to nothing in the Charlie Bingham's range is gluten free. The 'next to' bit is your two Thai-style curries - tasty enough but so are several other brands that all do the job. I'd love to try your Fish Pie, Cottage Pie etcetera but can't because you haven't considered replacing the relatively small amounts of wheat in your recipes with glten-free alternatives.

February 9, 2026
Unprompted review
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Reply from Charlie Bigham's

Hi Frank,

Thank you for taking the time to leave your review and share your feedback with us.

While we do offer a small range of dishes that do not contain added gluten ingredients. If you’d like to pop us an email at hello@bighams.com, we’d be very happy to talk you through the options we do have available and help further where we can.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

Charlie Bigham good for those living alone

Charlie Bigham produces several delicious “stand-bys” for one diner, shame you can’t freeze them but they are useful for a quick grab on the way home, that is if you can find them now that my local Tesco have reduced their offering to a single shelf in a chill cabinet. Waitrose stock the more exotic recipes but not in single servings.
Sometimes I wish the packaging might suggest what might be a good vegetable accompaniment to the meal or even which wine!

February 7, 2026
Unprompted review
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Reply from Charlie Bigham's

Thank you for your thoughtful review, Andrew.

Thank you as well for your suggestions around accompaniment and wine pairing ideas — that’s lovely feedback and we’ll be sure to pass it on to the team.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

The fish pie experience

The fish pie - well I thought nothing could beat mine but , Charlie’s is on another level. Lots of chunky fish , not scrimping on the salmon, and a delicious creamy cheese sauce. Fantastic.

January 23, 2026
Unprompted review
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Reply from Charlie Bigham's

Hello Mrs White, thank you very much! This is great praise indeed, thank you for the great review.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Love Charlie Bigham's meals the chicken…

Love Charlie Bigham's meals the chicken jalfrezi is my favourite out of all of them . It's got the real flavours of a authentic curry dish . And the quantity just right for two people ,but have been known to have double when wife is away

February 6, 2026
Unprompted review
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Reply from Charlie Bigham's

Hello Grant, thank you so much for your lovely review — we’re thrilled to hear the Chicken Jalfrezi is your favourite and that you’re enjoying those authentic curry flavours.

Great to know the portion size works well too… even if it sometimes becomes a meal for one when your wife’s away!

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

I feel that the cost of meals slowly…

I feel that the cost of meals slowly creeping up. Usually buy when "on offer' that said, I still enjoy Macaroni cheese, Cottage Pie, Lasagne, Thai Green curry and recently Shepherds Pie. Keep up the good work.

February 8, 2026
Unprompted review
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Reply from Charlie Bigham's

Hello Angela. Thank you so much for your review — we really appreciate your honest feedback.

We’re so pleased to hear you’re still enjoying a range of our dishes, from the Macaroni Cheese and Cottage Pie to the Thai Green Curry and Shepherd’s Pie.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

Enjoy the quality of the generous…

Enjoy the quality of the generous filling of the fish pie, the spicing of the chilly and the rich cheese flavour of the macaroni cheese.
Unfortunately your food sells very quickly and so I've tried fewer of your newer recipes

February 7, 2026
Unprompted review
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Reply from Charlie Bigham's

Hello Catherine, thank you so much for your review.

We’re sorry to hear you’ve missed out on trying some of the newer recipes as they’ve sold out so quickly, but we hope you’re able to get hold of them soon. Thanks again for your kind support!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Sicilian Chicken

A hearty dish, very fragrant and aromatic with lots of moist chicken. It was a large portion: we couldn’t finish the potatoes but this made the dog very happy.

February 4, 2026
Unprompted review
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Reply from Charlie Bigham's

Hello, thank you for your review — we’re so pleased you enjoyed the dish and its fragrant flavours, and that it felt like a hearty portion too!

Sounds like a win for the dog as well!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

A real treat for a special occasion.

My latest meal was the king prawn and scallop risotto, which was excellent. I have to agree with some reviewers that for two it would have been rather disappointing, but it was a generous, if not overly large, meal for one. A real treat for a special occasion.

January 17, 2026
Unprompted review
Charlie Bigham's logo

Reply from Charlie Bigham's

Thank you so much for your lovely review, John — we’re delighted you enjoyed the King Prawn & Scallop Risotto and that it felt like a real treat for a special occasion.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Charlie Bighams ready meals are the…

Charlie Bighams ready meals are the best, free of additives and really tasty, plenty to choose from and no plastic trays. Just tried the venison, it was hearty and delicious I never buy any other ready meals now. Hoping they might start an organic ready meal range …

February 9, 2026
Unprompted review
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Reply from Charlie Bigham's

Hello Jane, thank you so much for your fantastic review. It’s great to hear you’ve tried one of our Brasserie Range dishes too — we’re so pleased the Venison hit the mark! Thanks as well for your suggestion around an organic range; we’ll be sure to pass that on to the team.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

What a lovely treat they are

What a lovely treat they are. We have a different one every week never had a problem with quality ingredients. Delicious.

February 7, 2026
Unprompted review
Charlie Bigham's logo

Reply from Charlie Bigham's

Hello Pamela, thanks so much for the review. I hope you continue to work your way through our range!

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

We love the king prawn and scallop…

We love the king prawn and scallop risotto, it's absolutely delicious and it's frequently on my food order. However, two littles niggles: the juices leak out of the wooden tray very easily (due to the paper tray and gaps in the wood), which makes the foil wrap messy and difficult to unfold. Also, the foil could be a bit bigger and tears quite easily.

February 2, 2026
Unprompted review
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Reply from Charlie Bigham's

Hello Jean. Thank you so much for your lovely review — we’re thrilled to hear how much you love the King Prawn & Scallop Risotto!

We really appreciate your feedback on the packaging too, and we’ll be sure to share your comments with our team.

If you ever need any help, please don’t hesitate to email us at hello@charliebighams.com
— we’re always very happy to assist.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Human again

On a very busy day when time is short and energy low. What shall we have for lunch? There it is looking at me from the shelf - Lasagne. YES. Satisfying and I feel human again. Thank you Charlie.

February 7, 2026
Unprompted review
Charlie Bigham's logo

Reply from Charlie Bigham's

Hello Christine! Nothing makes us happier than hearing our food helped you refuel and feel human again. Thanks for your lovely support!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Great meals with no ingredient worries.

We have really enjoyed all the Charlie Bigham meals we have tried. Most recently we loved the Thai Green Chicken. Being an habitual ingredient checker I was pleased to note that we had almost all the ingredients in our kitchen cupboards.

February 3, 2026
Unprompted review
Charlie Bigham's logo

Reply from Charlie Bigham's

Hello Anthony. Thank you so much for your review. We’re delighted to hear how much you’ve been enjoying our meals, especially the Thai Green Chicken Curry.

We’re so pleased you noticed the ingredients too. We make our dishes using only ingredients you’d find in your own kitchen, so it’s wonderful to hear that resonated with you.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Always great and reliably tasty

Always great and reliably tasty. We've never had a bad meal when choosing anything from the Charlie Bigham range. Confess that the fish pie is an an absolute favourite though!

February 9, 2026
Unprompted review
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Reply from Charlie Bigham's

Hello, thank you for taking the time to share your lovely review. Fish Pie is a firm favourite in my house too!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Great food of very high quality

Great food of very high quality. However, very disappointed that we can no longer find the lovely Vegetable Tikka Masala in stock anywhere and nor is it shown on the website - has this dish been discontinued or is it a temporary shortage.

February 7, 2026
Unprompted review
Charlie Bigham's logo

Reply from Charlie Bigham's

Hello Tim, thank you so much for your review and for your kind words about the quality of our food.

We’re sorry to say that the Vegetable Tikka Masala has sadly been discontinued. We know how disappointing it is when a favourite dish is no longer available, but we’re very grateful you took the time to let us know how much you enjoyed it.

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