We make all of our kits on the day of dispatch, to ensure the freshest ingredients. The best before on the kits is just over 2 weeks when kept refrigerated. When ordering multiple kits, a lot of our customers store their kits in the freezer if they don’t think they’ll use them within two weeks. This way, the ingredients will stay good beyond their best before date.
For Xmas orders, we recommend placing an order now, and then selecting the ‘Deliver at Xmas’ option at the Checkout.
Final order dates for Xmas
Not ordered your curry fix for Xmas yet? These are our final order dates to make sure you get your kits in time for the big day:
Standard delivery – Sunday 17 December
Fully Tracked delivery – Tuesday 19 December
Next Day delivery – Wednesday 20 December
All Next Day delivery orders will continue to be sent out the same day (if placed before 1pm) or the next working day (unless instructed otherwise).
Orders placed after these dates will be sent out in the new year to avoid them getting stuck with Royal Mail in the period between Xmas and New Year (which isn’t great for our fresh ingredients!).
We wish you all a Merry Xmas and Happy New Year!
We usually dispatch products within 3 working days of receiving your order. We post all of our products using Royal Mail 24 (First Class). Royal Mail aim to deliver next working day including Saturdays but this can take up to 3 working days. If you still haven’t received your delivery after 5 working days, please get in touch with us using the contact page. Alternatively, you can choose guaranteed next day delivery at the checkout for those kits you need in a hurry! Please note for next day delivery orders must be placed before 1pm Monday to Friday.
If you need your order earlier, or would like to delay for any reason, please drop us an email at hello@tastesmiths.com
All of our fresh kits are made and despatched on the same day and will leave us with a minimum 19 days fridge shelf life. The Onion Bhaji and Fragrant Pilau Rice kits have a shelf life of around 30 days. You can safely eat our kits after their best before date – it’s just a handy reminder to let you know when they’re at their best. You can also FREEZE THE KITS – just pop them in your freezer in their original packaging and use from frozen straight away. You can allow to thaw if you prefer but the fresh ingredients might become a little soggy.
The fresh kits need to be kept in the fridge or freezer (see above) as soon as possible after you receive them to keep them in tip top condition until you want to use them.
Each curry kit typically serves 2-3 people (although this may vary depending on size of appetite!), whilst some of the marinades have a larger serving size. Details on serving size for specific kits can be found on its respective product page.
If you would like your order delivered for a birthday or any other special occasion, please let us know via the ‘Order notes’ section at the Checkout, calling us (01922 447659) or emailing us (hello@tastesmiths.com). We’ll make sure your order is delayed and sent out with the freshest ingredients possible. We cannot guarantee a delivery date for the future, but will do out best to make sure it is as close as possible to the requested date.
We try to incorporate changes to orders after they have been placed where we can, however during our peak periods this isn’t always possible due to the volume of orders we receive.
For urgent changes (e.g. incorrect delivery address submitted), the best way to make sure any changes are made is to call us as soon as possible on 01922 447659 and speak to a member of our team.
We post our kits using Royal Mail. There are 3 options for delivery.
The Standard delivery service delivers orders in 2 working days. This provides a tracking update at the point of delivery. The cost of delivery is £3.10 and free of charge for orders of £19 or more.
The Fully Tracked delivery service delivers orders in 1-2 working days. This provides a fully tracked service up to the point of delivery. The cost of delivery is £4.50.
Lastly, there is a guaranteed next day delivery option using Royal Mail Special Next Day delivery which costs £7.50. Please note for next day delivery orders must be placed before 1pm Monday to Friday.
Yes, we deliver to most of Europe, including Ireland and France. We ship via Royal Mail International Tracked and Signed, and delivery is charged at £11.
We can email you the instructions. Just contact us here.
If you’re dish looks too watery, don’t panic, you can turn the heat up on the hob, and leave to bubble away with the lid off until some of the water has evaporated, keep stirring so it doesn’t burn! If it looks too dry, you can add a little more water and cook bring back to the boil.
You could try serving with yoghurt or plenty of boiled rice to try and tone down the heat, but the best way to prevent this from happening is to always test the chilli before putting any in your dish by cutting one in half and testing the heat by dabbing the chilli lightly on your tongue. Remember, you can always add more chilli at the end if it’s not hot enough, but you can’t take it out!
Please see individual product pages for a list of ingredients/allergens. Our kits are produced in a factory that handles mustard seeds and tree nuts.
All of our kits are gluten free, vegetarian and vegan friendly, and most of our kits are salt free (excluding Persian Khoresh – due to the dried limes being boiled in salt water) and fat free excluding any kits with coconut and/or nuts.
They are sugar free and don’t contain anything artificial at all.
You can make our kits using as little/as much oil as you like. We recommend 1–2 tbsp. You can use any olive oil, nut oil, spray oil or ghee. If using spray oil, make sure you cook the onions and spices on a very low heat adding a splash of water if you think anything might burn.
All of our kits are much healthier versions of the ones you find in a restaurant or takeaway. We were shortlisted in the English Curry Awards – Healthy Curry Category. Madras, Rogan Josh and Timatar Masala are used in Weight Watcher diet plans and were also recommended by Slimming World as syn free (2015).
No! They all have simple instructions included to make cooking from scratch fun! If you want a little extra help, either give us a ring, email us or have a look at our step by step videos.
Using a slow cooker, or using a casserole dish and cooking in the oven on a very low heat, is ideal to make the most of cheaper cuts of meat such as shoulder of lamb, stewing steak, pork shoulder etc.
When making curries, make the sauce in a saucepan up to the point in the instructions where you have added the tomatoes and left them to cook down until the mixture is glossy. Add the meat here (without adding water) and stir well. When making marinades, follow the instructions up to the point of cooking. You can cover and leave in the fridge overnight ready to put in the slow cooker in the morning.
When you’re ready to cook, add some water but bear in mind that slow cookers produce a lot of water so don’t make the mixture too wet, but if you don’t put enough water in, it may dry out and burn.
Slow cook on high for 4-6 hours or low for 6-8 hours. If cooking in the oven, preheat to 220C/200C fan oven/Gas mark 7. Put the curry in a casserole dish and cover with a layer of foil before putting the lid on. Turn the heat down immediately to 160C/140 fan oven/Gas mark 3 and cook for 4-6 hours or until the meat is soft and pulls apart easily.