The supermarket ready meal. Four words to strike fear into anyone with even the slightest interest in good food.

Who wants bland, ultra-processed slop, the sort to leave the taste buds running for cover and the belly groaning with grim dyspepsia?

Sure, they’re convenient, needing little more than a quick blast in the microwave to be piping hot.

But whatever you choose, from fish pie and lasagne to Thai green curry and chicken madras, they all seem to taste the same: dull, over-salted sludge with all the culinary charm of wallpaper paste.

Then came Charlie Bigham with his eponymous range of upmarket ready meals served in wooden boxes (sustainably sourced, of course). Sure, you pay a little more, but these really are worth the extra cash.

Last month Bigham went one further and – noting the soaring cost of eating out – launched a ‘Brasserie’ range with meals for two priced up to £29.95.

With Charlie Bigham dishes selling like the proverbial hot cakes, the supermarkets have upped their own game – along with the prices. So, can ready meals at their best match really the taste of something cooked at home? Or a meal prepared in a decent restaurant kitchen?

Charlie Bigham’s Salmon En Croute, £9.95 (serves two)

You get two prettily latticed parcels in the box and the puff pastry is light, buttery and gloriously crisp.

I tend to avoid salmon these days as I don’t believe there’s any farmed salmon that is not ruinous to the environment. But that’s just my view, and this fish is well-cooked and not at all dry, while the sauce is packed full with cream, spinach, parsley and a good whack of lemon juice.

It has balance and depth and looks good, too.

In fact, you could easily pass this off as home-cooked. Which is, I suppose, part of the point. 8/10

Waitrose No 1 Beef Lasagne, £10 (serves two)

The ragu, which is made with beef, pork and pancetta, as well as red wine, had weight, depth and a good acidity from the tomatoes, too.

The pasta and bechamel are both good quality, and there’s a generosity to the dish, both in flavour and the amount of ragu sauce.

The balance between pasta, sauce and bechamel is just right and there are no dodgy additives in the ingredients.

I’m not sure where the beef is from (it is described as ‘Higher Welfare – raised by farmers we know and trust’ but no mention of ‘British’).

But this is still very impressive indeed, if not quite at the Bigham level. 8/10

Duck Confit with Lentils, £7.25 (serves one)

This is a cracker of a dish, the duck meat soft and beautifully seasoned, the skin perfectly crisp and golden.

Equally fine are the lentils, braised in red wine and studded with ‘higher welfare’ pork lardons, as well as spinach. You can taste the lemon and parsley, and the whole dish just works.

This is better than many versions I’ve eaten in restaurants, and I most certainly would go back for more. Magnifique! 9/10

Waitrose No 1 Beef Bourguignon, £10 (serves two)

The beef is definitely British and slow-cooked, so it falls apart with the merest of prods from the fork.

The sauce is decent, gently boozy, with a good smoky tang from the pancetta. I like the fact they use baby onions and roast their mushrooms first, for extra flavour.

And while it lacks the swaggering intensity of the very best home or restaurant-made versions, this makes for a pretty decent dinner, served alongside a pile of buttery mash and a great wodge of sinus-clearing Dijon mustard.

Don’t hurt. 7/10

Marks & Spencer Gastropub British Beef Lasagne, £11 (serves two)

Extra marks for using British beef, and while they claim it’s a mixture of minced and pulled, you can’t really tell in the final dish.

Still, the sauce has depth and balance and beefy joy.

The pasta is decent, although it does rather dominate, and the ‘British Cornish Cove rarebit’ topping is not as exciting as it sounds. But the bechamel really is silken, and the whole dish decent, if not terribly inspiring.

Solid, respectable, but not exactly memorable. 6.5/10

Marks & Spencer Gastropub Fish Pie, £12.50 (serves two)

salmon is the main ingredient in this pie, and there is never, ever any place for salmon in any fish pie.

And while it does contain smoked haddock (the ONLY acceptable fish), there’s not nearly enough.

The topping is crisp, but there’s far too much mashed potato. Everything is bland, under-seasoned and overly stodgy.

Not so much gastropub gold as bar-room bore. 5/10

Finest Ham Hock, Leek and Potato Gratin, £4.75 (serves one)

The Wiltshire cured ham is made from British pork and, while they’re generous with the amount, it lacks the all-important porky grunt.

The potatoes on top crisp up nicely and herby breadcrumbs of some sort do add crunch.

But you can’t taste the cheddar in the sauce and there’s little trace of the mustard either. Beige in both colour and flavour, this is little more than over-processed stodge.

Edible, but only if you haven’t eaten for weeks. 4/10

Tesco Beef Lasagne, £4.25 (serves one)

God, this really wasn’t much fun, the very definition of mean and meek.

OK, so it’s from their own label, not their Finest range, but the ragu (made from a mix of British and Irish beef) is dull and watery, the pasta drab and the bechamel only just about acceptable.

But it tastes mainly of salt and despair, a cheap and insipid mouthful you’ll soon want to forget.

This reminded me exactly why I hate cheap ready meals. One mouthful was more than enough for me.

Even the dog turned her nose up. Yuk. 3/10

Cook Lasagne Al Forno, £6.25 (serves one)

I’m not sure if the pork and beef used in the ragu is British (I would assume not), but anyway it’s decent rather than spectacular. And you don’t get enough of it.

There’s also an overwhelming taste of dried oregano that’s a little off-putting. Still, the pasta and bechamel are good quality and I loved the cheesy West Country cheddar topping.

I won’t be rushing back for more, but Cook lasagne is certainly not offensive. Just a touch average. 6.5/10

Charlie Bigham’s Lasagne, £6.50 (serves one)

When it comes to lasagne, I’m looking for a rich, slow-cooked ragu sauce redolent of good beef (as well as pork) and a good whack of red wine.

The pasta should be made with fresh eggs, while the bechamel sauce should be silken.

And this one is a proper cracker. You can taste the eggs in the fresh pasta, which is beautifully cooked, with just the right amount of bite.

The bechamel is lovely and lavish – with the taste of flour cooked out – while the pork, beef and pancetta ragu has proper depth and heft.

OK, there may be a little less meat sauce than in some of its rivals and I would like to know if the meat is bought from British farmers. That’s important.

But this is so much more than the sum of its parts.

Real food, cooked with decent ingredients, and something I’d actually buy again. Nonna would most certainly approve. 9/10