Wigan Pie Week - Pound Bakery Meat and Potato Pie

This Pound Bakery Meat and Potato Pie review forms part of our #WiganPieWeek set of reviews. This week we are rating 5 pies from Wigan on our 7 Cs of pie rating. Find out more about our quest in our overarching “Wigan Pie Week” article!

2 pies for £1!

Pies on sale at Pound Bakery?! I had to stop and rub my eyes to check that I was seeing this right. Could pies really be sold for as little as £1 in the City Centre of Wigan? Was this what had earned Wiganers the name “Pie Eaters”?

But wait – I was wrong! They weren’t selling pies at £1 each in Pound Bakery. They were selling 2 meat and potato pies for £1 in Pound Bakery! Yes – I said TWO pies for ONE pound! Seriously. Could this actually work? Could there really be hot pies on sale for just 50p a pie? How does this make any economic sense?!

Ultimately I had my reservations on how they could possibly be selling 2 meat pies for £1 but as a piefessional, I could only give you a true representation of the quality and rating of the pie having eaten one. It was time to take the 50p pie test!

Pound Bakery Meat and Potato Pie Review

My first thoughts on the condition of the pie was that it looked in quite a good condition for such a cheap pie, but upon breaking open the pie it did start to crumble somewhat. The filling of this pie – like many meat and potato pies I had eaten in the local Wigan area – was primarily consisting of potato, with quite large pieces of potato in it, and a mix of mincemeat and a little gravy. However the pastry was quite dry and while the meat/potato/gravy content was reasonably moist, it didn’t do enough to balance the dryness of the pastry.

I was surprised by the amount of mincemeat in it for such a cheap pie, but it didn’t taste like particularly high quality meat and ultimately I wouldn’t ever choose to eat another one of these pies unless I was completely strapped for cash one day. But what can you expect? I paid 50p per pie, so I can’t say I was expecting Michelin star food. I would be foolish to say that in these days of austerity I’d turn my nose up at a cheap pie if that was all I could afford. However, given the choice and knowing that pies aren’t exactly the most expensive food item out there anyway, there are many better pies to enjoy for a few pounds more.

Pound Bakery Meat and Potato Pie
Score: 3.71/7
[Colour 3, Capacity 3.5, Consistency 2.5, Condition 3, Chewiness 5, Cheapness 5, Content 4, Total: 3.71/7]
RAS