bakerstreet

I previously posted a similar question looking for a prepared meal pickup in London that I want to take to the Cotswolds, but got the (typically good Fodors) advice that there are a number of great options in the Cotswolds itself for great prepared dinners. So I'm asking -- which are those restaurants/catering places?

I've hired a car and driver for Heathrow pickup and the drive to the Cotswolds to the house our hosts have rented. It is a small village not far from Cirencester. As part of our stay we are supplying dinners for most of the week for us and our hosts and one or two other house guests. Some we will cook and others we will host at nearby restaurants/pubs/whatever, BUT I would like to arrive with a prepared dinner or two I pick up on my way to the house. I am not talking about gift baskets or cheese and crackers or bottles of wine, but actual meals that have been fully prepared and cooked or almost fully cooked and are picked up cold and can be reheated or the cooking finished.

I would like to see if I can arrange for a dinner or two to be prepared in advance that I could have our driver stop to pick up on the way to the house, which is near Cirencester. We will be flying in on a weekday morning so we'd be in the Cotswolds area in the early afternoon.

In my hometown in the US there are several restaurants and catering companies that offer such meals for pickup. These meals are packaged in plastic lidded containers, or aluminum pans with aluminum lids, and can be heated either in the oven, the microwave or stovetop as applicable and as instructed with included instructions. Samples of such menus from recent past, many of which I have purchased for our family, are:

Bone-in Pork Chops, Brussels Sprouts, Twice Baked Potatoes, Chocolate Chip Cookies
Lemon & Herb Gilled Chicken, Hummus with Pita, Greek Salad, Roasted Potatoes, Baklava
Spinach & Ricotta Manicotti with Meatballs, Mixed Greens Salad, Freshly Baked Bread, Cheesecake with Strawberry Sauce
Whole Roasted Chicken, Roasted Green Beans, Orzo Salad, dessert
Beef Tenderloin, Tomato & Mozzarella Salad, Creamed Spinach, Whipped Potatoes, Brownies

This is the type of meal I'm interested in purchasing, to feed at least 4 people. (If I want a greater volume, I'll buy two of the same meal). I understand that some of these meals may be pretty "American" and the English versions could be slightly different, but I'm looking for this general type of fare based on our hosts' tastes (not spicy, or Indian, or vegetarian, or seafood, just basically beef, chicken, pork or pasta main dishes).

I know these dishes are not hard to make myself, and we WILL be doing some cooking during the week at the house. I'm not asking for advice on making any meals, I know how to do that. I'm seeking advice on what restaurants or catering companies and similar exist in the Cotswolds I could contact in advance to prepare one or two dinners I can pick up there cold on the way to the rented house.

janisj

Ya know -- your hosts will likely know best which nearby places would do a take out of that sort. Depending on your definition of 'Near Cirencester', that could be anywhere from Bibury, to Fairford, to South Cerney, to Kemble (Cirencester itself would be the largest of these) Are they just arriving at the rental when you are or will they have been there for at least a few days prior???

I would definitely want to coordinate this with the hosts and not just turn up with a bunch of prepared food without warning.

hetismij2

No experience of them but maybe would be of use:
https://www.honeysucklecatering.co.uk/

I don't think what you want is very common in the UK I'm afraid.

crellston

I would take a look at Cook https://www.cookfood.net. There offerings are very good and I think they have a shop in Cirencester and also offer a delivery service in some areas.

Otherwise you could look at Marks and Spencers or Waitrose who have similar offerings and have pretty much cornered the market in pre- prepared meals for entertaining and are very good. We often pick up a meal on our way to pet sitting gigs for our first night. The quality and range is excellent though portion size is average so your idea of doubling up is probably a good one. Both also have great wine ranges. There will be a Waitrose and M&S "Simply Food" outlet in or on the way to Cirencester.

JohnEW2912

On the contrary to the above post there are quite a large number of companies these days who will provide meal kits. Maybe not exactly what you are looking for as there will be some prep to do from the kits but much easier than cooking from scratch. Many set up during the pandemic but a number have survived into established companies.

One of the largest is Dispatch - https://dishpatch.co.uk/menu?gad_sou...SAAEgK5C_D_BwE They provide meal kits from a number of famous restaurants and they will deliver anywhere in the UK. Rick Stein offers his meal boxes through Dispatch for example.

https://coteathome.co.uk/meal-boxes/ - provide meal kits from the well known decent chain Cote.

bakerstreet

These are fabulous leads! Thank you all so much! I'm sure I would not have obtained this knowledge without your help.

This is a great forum.

bakerstreet

So now I'm really curious about "Chocolate Curry Goat"! Almost surely not in my hosts' interest range, but I might have to order it just out of curiosity!

I note that particular vendor (Dispatch) offers meal delivery only one day each week, but one of the days falls during my visit so perhaps I'll get two different meals for that day. If anyone has eaten Chocolate Curry Goat before, please share your opinion.

bakerstreet

Having finished our trip, I'd just like to circle back and thank the responders. The logistics of the catering company delivery options didn't work for our particular timing, but the suggestion of Waitrose in Cirencester did work for our needs. We obtained several "pre-made, just cook" dishes that filled the bill and addition to our cooking in and a few nights out we were well covered.

The Costwolds were even more beautiful than I had imagined, and the blooming gardens everywhere were lovely.