Montys Larder

Montys Larder Monty's Larder: Cottage Pie review

Name: Montys Larder Monty's Larder: Cottage Pie
Brand: Montys Larder

86/100Outstanding

FreshAdult

Flavour

Cooked dinners in single-meal trays: a beef casserole, a cottage pie, a fish pie, a lamb hotpot and two chicken suppers. Five sit in our Outstanding band and the Fish Pie a step behind in Excellent. What sets the range apart is how the meat is written, with heart and liver given their own percentages.

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Our view

Likely to suit

Dogs with an unreliable appetite. Every tray smells like a meal
Organ meat included and measured, without buying it yourself
Dogs kept off land meats, with a fish pie of white fish and salmon
Portion control, in 400g, 700g and 1kg single-meal trays
Chicken-free feeding, which four of the six manage

Worth watching

Salmon oil in the beef casserole, cottage pie and lamb hotpot, so those three carry fish
Opened trays live in the fridge and want using promptly
The vegetable oil in three recipes never names its plant

Written by our editorial team. Independent guidance, not veterinary advice.

How this scores

How we score

86/100Outstanding

Protein and processingOutstanding

Nutritional balanceOutstanding

TransparencyOutstanding

ValueOutstanding

The details

Dog fit

All six are listed for adult dogs of every size, so this is a range for a grown dog. Check you have freezer room for the order, since only the open tray lives in the fridge.

Food type

Fresh

Life stage

Adult

Breed size

Toy, Small, Medium, Large, Giant

Main protein

Beef

The score, in context

Beef Casserole 88.4
Cottage Pie 86.0
Hearty Chicken 84.6
Lamb Hotpot 84.6
Succulent Chicken Supper 83.9
Fish Pie 75.9

Six recipes across Outstanding and Excellent. Typical fresh food: Outstanding.

All but the Fish Pie hold the top band in the strongest category we score, and the analysis and the meat share are what set the Fish Pie a step back.

What's in it

Beef: mince, heart, liver60% (35%, 20%, 5%)The casserole's build.
Potatoes
Spinach, parsnips, carrots, savoy cabbage
Apples
Calcium carbonateA mineral top-up with no bone in the recipe.
Salmon oilFish on a beef label.
Seed mix (hemp, sunflower, safflower), kelpKelp named where the others say seaweed.

Vitamin D3 and E with magnesium and manganese.

Named ingredients

Beef (60%), (mince beef 35%, beef heart 20%, liver 5%), potatoes, spinach, parsnips, carrots, savoy cabbage, apples, calcium carbonate, salmon oil, seed mix (hemp, sunflower, safflower), kelp

Against the range

Meat: 60% beef with heart and liver; Same as the casserole.
Supporting cast: No chickpeas or tallow; Both on the casserole.
Fat, dry matter: 32.1%; 25.0% on the casserole.

The leaner-looking plate that ends up the richer of the two beef trays.

Every meat dish declares its meat at 50% to 60% and prints the heart and liver separately; the Fish Pie is white fish and salmon alone. Potato does most of the carbohydrate work, with spinach, carrots and savoy cabbage across the range and sweet potato in four. Seaweed or kelp closes almost every list for iodine.

The fats split two ways: salmon oil with a hemp, sunflower and safflower seed mix in three recipes, an unnamed vegetable oil in three. Moisture runs from 70% to 75%. In dry matter, protein spans 36.7% to 46.4% and fat 12.0% to 33.3%, so the trays range from light to hearty.

Nutritional analysis

Declared analysis

Energy

170 kcal/100g

Protein

13%

Fat

Fibre

Ash

Moisture

72%

Dry weight

Protein

46.4%

Fat

32.1%

Fibre

3.6%

Ash

3.6%

Carbs

14.3%

As-fed composition

Estimated breakdown of the finished product by ingredient category, from the declared ingredient list and ingoing weights. These are estimates, not measurements.

Meat

67.5%

Added water

24%

Carbs

4.5%

Veg

3.8%

Oils

0.1%

Other

0.1%