Food Review: Cheshire Farm Chips’s Pre-prepared Potato Range*

One potato, two potatoes, three potatoes, four! No actually nine varieties of pre-prepared potatoes to review in our next blog post. If you didn’t know already (and I didn’t) that Cheshire Farm in Frodsham run by the Jackson Family grow a huge amount of potatoes! Their potatoes not only come as a standard ordinary potato, but they also come as handy ready to pop in the oven potatoes, chips, wedges and more!

So when you don’t want the fuss of peeling and prepping and you just want to come home on a busy evening, but still have that feeling of freshly cooked food, then these might just be the ticket. They have a total of nine varieties of pre-prepared potatoes in their range, and around one pack will feed two adults comfortably. It really takes the fuss out of potatoes that often is what takes the time when you’re cooking fresh at home. So keep on reading to find out more about the Cheshire Farm Chips.

What we thought of the range of Potatoes from Cheshire Farm 

I really looked forward to trying the range, and as we were sent all nine items, it meant we had a lot of potatoes to try! The main reason for me wanting to review these is that, I tend not to buy pre-prepared food at all as I love to cook from fresh and secondly, I always feel that anything pre-prepared isn’t within my budget (as I can tend to buy more of the same item un-prepped) and just doesn’t taste as good, but this is where this review gets interesting.

We actually made the most of trying these when we were finally able to have friends around for a BBQ. I didn’t want to have to prepare lots of potatoes, as we wanted a simple get together where I didn’t spend all my time prepping and cooking. On the menu was marinated BBQ grilled chicken, and some simple salads, and then our filler was the potatoes. We decided to use five boxes as this seemed plenty for us to all eat as a side dish, as each pack contains between 350g-400g of potatoes.

We used the instructions on how to cook them which were all clearly marked on the box, but when I went after the recommended time, I felt the potatoes/chips/wedges weren’t quite cooked. I would bear in mind that everyone’s oven is different.  I added on an extra 10 minutes of cooking in mine – but I did also make sure I checked around 10 minutes before the timer went off too – just in case my oven was cooking things too quickly. I also turned them partway through cooking, but it is not essential it just gives your potatoes an even colour on all sides.

I have to say these potatoes were loved by everyone, there were lots of “oooos”, and “mmmms” followed by “these are my favourite” and “I’m keeping this bowl” which went with “no you’re not, as we also want to eat some of those!” So, you can tell how yummy they were, and what’s great is the range is you really have every meal covered. Whether its sausage chips and beans (which is what we had one of the days) or sides to accompany your BBQ, or whether you want to sit down on a Sunday for a roast dinner, and you don’t want the prep, which seems to be always with the potatoes.

My absolute favourite from the range was the Sliced Potatoes with Garlic & Rosemary, which were almost like a thick crisp (potato chip), they were really delicious. I also liked the fact that they aren’t seasoned with salt (unless stated) which means you can add as much or as little seasoning as you like. The same goes for the seasonings that are already added, they added a little flavour, to what otherwise would be a plain potato taste, but they weren’t overpowering.

My least favourite was the Sweet Potato Chips (although we still enjoyed them and my youngest son loved them). They just didn’t crisp up like the regular potatoes (which I know is often the case with sweet potato), another reason I wasn’t as keen on these, is they are the only product that isn’t actually grown at Cheshire Farm. I feel that this product is in the range to tick the box for those that might prefer sweet potato over regular potato.

The range is varied and also included little squares of potatoes, called Potato Bites. In America, these are generally called Breakfast potatoes and I feel that that is what they are perfect for. They are great to eat with eggs and bacon or if your vegan some lovely roasted mushrooms, and tinned tomatoes. The Chips really work well as they really crisped up, and again go great with lots of meals.  Finally the Roast Potatoes in Goose Fat, I was worried that these wouldn’t match homemade but they really were so yummy, and much easier than prepping your own.

So would I buy these again, bearing in mind that I don’t buy pre-prepared food …. especially not potatoes? The simple answer, YES! I would really consider getting them for Christmas day, as this would save so much prep, and free up some time you would rather spend with family. I would again consider buying them, when you have friends over, for brunch. I would also consider them if I was having a family birthday party, as again it means you can focus your efforts on other things like the desserts as your main side dish will be sorted. But they would also be great for a busy family who want a quick side dish to add to an evening meal!

Where can you buy your Cheshire Farm Chips

You can get them directly from their website, but they also stock their goods at Waitrose and Booths stores around the North West.

How much are Cheshire Farm Chips

Individual boxes cost £2.60 per pack plus a standard delivery charge. You can get a 5 box mix (which contains five of their best selling varieties from their range of potatoes) for £10, you can also buy 10 boxes of one variety for £25, however, if you have a big freezer or friends who might also want to buy you can get 30 boxes with a special discount code which means that each pack comes in at £1.80 each.

About Cheshire Farm

The most important thing to note about Cheshire Farm Chips is that – it is a Farm first. The Jackson Family have been farming for 5 generations and growing potatoes throughout all this time. They pride themselves in growing great quality potatoes, and supplying them – originally in their local farm shop, but now in local supermarkets in and around Cheshire.

Since 2010 they embarked on Cheshire Farm Chips and began making their pre-packaged potatoes, many of which can be found stocked in Waitrose, Booths, Spar and a few Independent Stockists. Their range contains nine varieties eight of which are grown on their farm in Frodsham Cheshire.

So if you want to support UK farming, make sure you look out for Cheshire Farm chips in your supermarket aisle and be sure to give them a try as I am positive you’ll be as surprised as me with just how tasty they are!

Review by: Lex Ward

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* We were sent these items in return for a review. All opinions are our own.