IF you love IKEA’s iconic meatballs, you should head to Iceland where you can pick up a dupe pack for just £1.79.
The 400g ready meal consists of meat and pork meatballs, fries cooked in sunflower oil and creamy gravy, which looks similar to the famous IKEA sauce.
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Described as “Swedish Style” Iceland’s offering is very similar to the IKEA meatballs and costs just a fraction of the price.
According to the IKEA website, a single portion of eight meatballs, with mash, cream sauce, peas and loganberry jam will cost you £4.
You can get 12 Swedish meatballs at the homeware store for £5 and can keep adding four extra for a £1 a go until you’re sure you’ll be full.
Iceland’s dupe is just £1.79, though it’s not clear how many meatballs come in each pack. With five pictured on the packaging, you’d hope to around this number in each portion.
Even more appealing for fans is the ability to get IKEA-style meatballs, without having to visit an IKEA store in person.
This means you can have the meal in the comfort of your own home, as long as you own a microwave and an oven.
The meatballs are so popular with customers that IKEA launched a meatball-scented candle to celebrate its birthday earlier this year.
The new Iceland copycat treats are not currently available online as the store says they’re out of stock, but you can pick up a pack in your local shop.
The meatballs were spotted by an eagle-eyed shopper posting in the Extreme Couponing and Bargains UK Facebook group.
Sharing her find with the group’s members, Jess said: “Iceland are selling a mock of IKEA’s famous meatballs with gravy, They were soo nice!! Not the cheapest but 100% worth it!!”
Robyn commented: “Got these tonight but I doubt they’ll be on IKEA’s level but I could be wrong,”
And Katie had spotted an even better bargain. She said: “They were 85p at my Iceland. I got 4 of them.”
However, not everyone in the group was convinced by the concept of creamy gravy, perhaps missing the similarities with IKEA’s sauce.
Eolhc said: “I’m a bit disturbed by the creamy gravy.”
Jayne added: “Eeeeew…. this doesn’t look nice to me, sorry guys…”
And Katie said: “Why is the gravy like baby vomit?”
But Laura quickly pointed out the similarities with the more famous Swedish dish. She said: “have you had Ikea’s, it’s the same colour and so nice.”
Last year, IKEA shared the recipe for its meatballs so that superfans can home cook them if they want.
That included the recipe for the sauce, which consists of butter, plain flour, vegetable stock, beef stock, thick double cream, soy sauce· and Dijon mustard.
Iceland’s ingredients are different, but it is also largely based on milk and creamy with stock. However, there’s no mustard and there are a lot of additional ingredients.
The meatballs in both versions consist of pork and beef. However, while Iceland used to serve its meatballs with chips, the current menu pairs them with mash instead.
Despite the disagreements in the comments, the post has had hundreds of comments and likes online.
And with so many mega fans of the iconic dish from IKEA, it seems plenty of people will be rushing out to see how Iceland’s version stacks up.
Even though you can’t order Iceland’s meatballs online at the moment, they’re widely available in Iceland stores.
There are more than 900 across the UK and you can find your nearest using the store locator tool.
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