After a busy day working, working out, and working through the niggly jobs on your to-do list, the last thing you want to do is spend ages in the kitchen cooking a healthy dinner. But you also don’t want to undo all your hard work in the gym by ordering a calorie-packed takeaway. Luckily, there’s a third option – grabbing a healthy ready meal from the freezer. But which brand is best to fill your freezer with? We’re big fans of GSN, and if you’ve not tried them already you absolutely should, especially when you can use our GSN discount code GYMFLUENCERS to save you 5% off your order. But we’ve also been impressed by the MyProtein meals that make meeting your macros so simple. So which of the two is best? It’s time to break things down and see who really comes out on top – GSN meals or MyProtein meals.
GSN
First things first. What does GSN stand for? Well, it stands for Gold Standard Nutrition, which tells you everything about the quality you can expect from their ready meals.
GSN was founded in 2012 by Craig Allen, who started off selling simple, high-quality cooked chicken breasts after realizing how helpful this could be to busy students and gym-goers to help them eat protein-packed, healthy meals.
Since those simple beginnings he’s grown the range of products GSN sells to include high protein wraps, chicken breasts and bites, protein pizzas, and their best-selling Pots of Gold.
It’s these Pots of Gold ready meals that we’re really looking at here. They’re healthy, low-sugar, high-protein versions of classic recipes from world-favourite cuisines, ready to eat in minutes.
The meals in the Pots of Gold range are:
- Peppercorn Chicken Pasta
- Tender Chicken Tikka Masala
- Oriental Sweet & Sour Chicken
- Breaded Chicken Katsu Curry
- Chicken Korma
- Chicken & Chorizo Paella
- Mean Mexican Beef Chilli
- Salt & Pepper Chicken Noodles
- Malaysian Coconut Chicken Curry
- Blueberry Blast
- Chicken Curry with Special Fried Rice
- Satay Chicken
- Crispy Buffalo Chicken
- Takeaway Style Chicken Balti
- English Breakfast
- Chicken Fajita
- Pasta Bolognese
- Chilli Black Bean with Special Fried Rice
- Thai Green Curry
- Caribbean Jerk Chicken
- Piri Piri & Spicy Rice
- Beef Curry
All of the Pots of Gold meals are created to be high-protein, low-sugar, and relatively low in calories. Like all the GSN meals, they’re a healthy alternative to takeaways and other ready meals on the market. The Pasta Bolognese meal, for example, has 40g of protein and just 461 calories, while the Takeaway Style Chicken Balti comes in at 31g of protein and 347 calories.
How do you cook GSN meals? Well this is where they really come into their own. The Pots of Gold meals are delivered to you frozen, and you can cook them straight from the freezer. If you’d rather though, you can defrost them in the fridge and then pop them in microwave or heat them on the hob. And if you’re really short on time or are having dinner on-the-go, you can defrost the meals and eat them chilled.
The Pots of Gold are handprepared, and made with real, high-quality ingredients like 100% chicken breast, low gi rice, and fresh, healthy vegetables. The chicken in GSN’s steamed chicken bags is from a certified halal supplier, but they can’t advise that all their pots are halal as they’re assembled in a non-halal factory.
Prices start from £3.16 per meal, and you can buy your Pots of Gold directly from the GSN website as a one-off purchase, or you can set up a subscription to have them delivered to your door every month. GSN’s meals are also stocked in over 250 gyms and supplements shops across the UK, and you can even get them with your online shop from Morrisons.
MyProtein Meals
MyProtein has been around since 2004, and they launched their range of ready meals in collaboration with Iceland in January 2023 as part of a 5-year deal.
The range of meals is growing all the time, with lots of great-tasting, protein-packed options to choose from. Right now the range includes:
- Salt & Pepper Chicken with Rice
- Katsu Chicken with Rice
- Chicken Tikka with Rice
- Firecracker Chilli & Meatballs with Rice
- Piri Piri Chicken with Rice
- Seasoned Chicken Skewers
- Pulled Pork Mac and Cheese
- Beef Pasta Bolognese
- Sweet Chilli Salmon Fillets
- American Waffles
- Hunters BBQ Chicken Pasta
- Cajun Chicken Pasta
- Cheesy Mozzarella Sticks
- Meatza
- BBQ Chicken & Bacon Pasta
- Sweet Chilli Chicken Breast Fillets
- Ostrich Fillet Steaks
- Chicken Kebab Meat
- Meat Feast Pasta
- Satay Chicken Skewers
- Piri Piri Chicken Skewers
- Sweet Chilli Chicken & Noodles
- Tandoori Mixed Grill with Rice
- Halloumi Breakfast
- Singapore Style Noodles
- Chicken Tikka Wrap
- Breakfast Wrap with Chicken Sausage, Cheese, and Bacon
- XL Supreme Cheeseburger
- Thai Green Chicken Curry with Rice
- Roasted Chicken Breast Fillets
- XL Supreme Hot Dogs
- Chicken Teriyaki Yakisoba Noodles
- Hoisin No-Duck Wrap
- BBQ Three Bean Wrap
- Meat Feast Pizza
- Peri Peri Chicken Wrap
As you’d expect, the MyProtein ready meals are also all really high in protein. The macros vary quite a bit across the meals, but that’s mainly because the meals themselves vary so much. So you have the Sweet Chilli Chicken and Noodles, for example, that has 31.3g of protein and 399 calories, but there’s also the Hunters BBQ Chicken Pasta which has a whopping 67.5g of protein and 675 calories.
The MyProtein meals are all designed to be cooked from frozen. Most of them can be done in under 10 minutes in the microwave, but some can also be cooked in the oven if you’d rather do it that way.
You can only buy the MyProtein ready meals from Iceland, both instore and when you order a delivery online. Most of the meals cost £4, but it’s worth keeping an eye out because Iceland do run special offers on them from time to time.
GSN Meals Vs MyProtein Meals Chicken Katsu
So let’s take a look at one product in particular from each brand – their take on a Chicken Katsu.
From GSN you have the Breaded Chicken Katsu Curry. The 350g meal costs from £3.25 and comes in at 29g of protein for 568 calories. It’s made with breaded chicken breast chunks, fluffy rice, and a rich Japanese curry sauce. It’s a firm favourite at GSN, giving you all the indulgent flavours of a traditional katsu curry but with half the calories.
The Katsu Chicken from MyProtein is also 350g and costs £4. And the macros are pretty similar, with the meal giving you 28.3g of protein and 573 calories. The dish has those breaded chicken breast chunks, jasmine rice, and a spicy, sweet curry sauce.
With such similar macros and pretty similar prices, it all comes down to taste to pick a winner between the two. And while the MyProtein meal is delicious, the GSN Pot of Gold takes first place for us. It tastes like a naughty, indulgent takeaway that feels like a real treat but won’t do any damage to your diet.
GSN ready meals and MyProtein ready meals are both great options if you’re short on time and want something quick and tasty for dinner that’ll still pack a protein punch. For us though, GSN just takes the lead in the battle between the two.
GSN ready meals all taste amazing, they have great macros, good prices, and are really easy to order, with the meals being delivered to your door well-packaged and ready to stash in the freezer. They’re also that bit more versatile when it comes to how you can eat them, so they make eating a healthy lunch or dinner a real no-brainer.
So give GSN a try and see for yourself how great the Pots of Gold meals are. And remember you can save 5% off your order with our GSN discount code GYMFLUENCERS.
