Value Range foods compared

[jennyjj01]

Worst ever product ???!!!
Tesco Hearty Food co Tomato and Herb pasta sauce
Now, the product serving instructions say "Heat and stir through cooked drained pasta". But that was never my intention. This was to be the tomato base of a Ragu with meatballs.
Usual recipe of fried dices carrots, onions,a hint of garlic. Add and fry meatballs and chopped bacon, then add the sauce and simmer. How bad can it be?

Before adding this sauce I tasted a drop from the jar. GOD Awful!!!! Clear taste of saccharin. After taste would not go away. Almost instant nausea and migraine. No way I was ruining my dinner with this shite. I made up a tiny single meatball portion with it and used Dolmio for the rest. Even with my nice ingredients, that bloody saccharin ruined it.

At 47p it was chucked away. If it were available at 1p a jar I might buy it just for the jar, but the sauce would only ever get flushed down the loo.

Tesco have some polar opposite extreme reviews averaging down to 2 stars. Maybe some people like saccharin.

AVOID.

[Frnc]

Worst ever product ???!!!
Tesco Hearty Food co Tomato and Herb pasta sauce
Now, the product serving instructions say "Heat and stir through cooked drained pasta". But that was never my intention. This was to be the tomato base of a Ragu with meatballs.
Usual recipe of fried dices carrots, onions,a hint of garlic. Add and fry meatballs and chopped bacon, then add the sauce and simmer. How bad can it be?

Before adding this sauce I tasted a drop from the jar. GOD Awful!!!! Clear taste of saccharin. After taste would not go away. Almost instant nausea and migraine. No way I was ruining my dinner with this shite. I made up a tiny single meatball portion with it and used Dolmio for the rest. Even with my nice ingredients, that bloody saccharin ruined it.

At 47p it was chucked away. If it were available at 1p a jar I might buy it just for the jar, but the sauce would only ever get flushed down the loo.

Tesco have some polar opposite extreme reviews averaging down to 2 stars. Maybe some people like saccharin.

AVOID.

I make my own pasta sauce, reason being the ready made has loads of salt in it. My version is probably better in other ways. It's perfectly edible.

1 tube Sainsbury tom puree
1 tin cheapo chopped tomatoes
Bit of salt, pepper, mixed herbs, onion powder, garlic powder
Makes about 6 or 7 servings (not too big, I'm not supposed to eat too much tomato), I eat one, put one in the fridge, and the rest is frozen.
I might add a chopped mushroom to an individual portion.
I need to try adding some cheese powder when I heat a portion up. I usually freeze 2 portions in one container, then eat it on 2 consecutive days.

[jennyjj01]

Worst ever product ???!!!
Tesco Hearty Food co Tomato and Herb pasta sauce
AVOID.

I make my own pasta sauce, reason being the ready made has loads of salt in it. My version is probably better in other ways. It's perfectly edible.

1 tube Sainsbury tom puree
1 tin cheapo chopped tomatoes
Bit of salt, pepper, mixed herbs, onion powder, garlic powder
Makes about 6 or 7 servings (not too big, I'm not supposed to eat too much tomato), I eat one, put one in the fridge, and the rest is frozen.
I might add a chopped mushroom to an individual portion.
I need to try adding some cheese powder when I heat a portion up. I usually freeze 2 portions in one container, then eat it on 2 consecutive days.

Mushroom in Ragu? NOooooo. Sacrilege
I switch my recipe around, often using a cheap sauce, but sometimes using concentrate and/or a tin of tomatoes. There's not much consistency in my sauce, with every batch having its own character. That never bothers us.

The frequent issue is sweetness or bitterness of the tomatoes, which in turn depends on cheapness of ingredients. I swear I'll never buy a base ingredient with saccharin, like this Tesco shite. There are other sneaky artificial sweeteners to look out for and avoid, too: Sucralose, Stevia, aspartame. They sound natural, but are not.

My essential ragu base ingredients are fried diced carrots, onions and chopped bacon. Chicken livers when I'm feeling flush, usually a few ounces and the rest makes pate. Put mushrooms in pate

I like the Gustibus sauces from Lidl. Tiny jars, but super concentrated.

I'm also a bit wary of puree in tubes. The packing process can capture air in the flat end of the tube and I've lost many tubes due to early oxidation.

[Frnc]

Carrot's not a bad idea. I might buy one next time. For garlic and onion I just use the powder. Never had an off tube of puree. The only meat I eat is fish.

30g tom puree + 60g tinned toms = about 10mg oxalates = 20% of a day's allowance for a low oxalate diet.

[GillyBee]

I put dried mushroom into my stock mix. It goves a good umami boost to almost everything - so yes we put mushrums in our Ragu.
Our holy trinity of veg that goes into almost everything is finely diced onion, carrot and celery. It adds lots of flavour and is fried to translucent before anything else is added.

[jennyjj01]

I put dried mushroom into my stock mix. It gives a good umami boost to almost everything - so yes we put mushrooms in our Ragu.
Our holy trinity of veg that goes into almost everything is finely diced onion, carrot and celery. It adds lots of flavour and is fried to translucent before anything else is added.

Ah yes. Mushroom powder into stock... And stock into ragu. But sliced mushrooms into ragu is a sin
Diced carrots fried with onion is a brill source of sweetness. I use the same in Sweet & Sour, except the carrots are cut in strips. We never rated celery, though most spag bol recipes call for it.

[jennyjj01]

Pineapple stock up... Not so much a comparison, but a price alert:

Lidl have Freshona Pineapple slices. Pineapple chunks and Sliced Peaches in a mix and match 6 for £3 offer.
Normal exorbitant price £1.09 per can.

It's not the cheapest on peaches, where Everyday Value are less than 40p, but if you are thinking of stocking up on pineapple, this is an excellent price. I'll report back on quality shortly.

Masses in stock nationally. The ones local to me were BBE Nov 2024.... As if we care!

In other news, they have a Spanish 'Smooth Red' wine at £3.39 a bottle.

And in Other Other news, ...

I suspect their Loyalty scheme 'Spin a Winner' promo lets you win £10 off the first time you use it. Either that or I'm a lucky bu66er.

Fresh install on two phones in two identities, both won £10 off coupon on the first spin. Can anyone confirm or refute that it is rigged?

Lovin' Lidl more each week.

[Frnc]

Tonight having Aldi Everyday battered fish, Stamford St chips, Sains Both in One Aldi price match 72p bread, and Flora Lighter, which I will NOT pay £2.50, let alone some other brands over £3. Also Stamford St mushy peas. Back on diet, so small portions of everything. Comes to about 700 cals, which is a lot more than most of my evening meals.

Just thinking actually, I use about 5 g marge on a slice, so that's about 90 per tub, so it's only a couple of pence a slice, not exactly breaking the bank. Still, you know the saying, take care of the pennies etc.

And stop the press. Flora Lighter £1 off with Nectar.

[ForgeCorvus]

Old Oake tinned ham (in a round tin)........ Just don't.
Its NHS 'flesh-tone', smells like raw cheap sausages and has a texture similar to cold school semolina.... Wheres the 'puking' smily when you need it?

[Frnc]

Just ordered 30 packets of veggie noodles off the 'zon, not had these before. Had to give up Nong Shim cos of the massive salt content. Ok I did have one recently, just the one. Looking forward to trying these. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08P1N559W

30 packets for £12 sound pretty damn good value!