May be smart in price but is certainly not smart in taste (Asda Smartprice Tomato Ketchup)

Member Name: aylawarner

Product:	Asda Smartprice Tomato Ketchup
Date:	20/08/09 (83 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Very cheap

Disadvantages: Too runny, tasteless

We get through a lot of tomato ketchup in my house, especially my husband who seems to add it to absolutely everything. As it's good for you and supposedly increases the sperm count ;-), I don't mind him eating so much of the stuff. The only problem is that he gets through so much of it that it ends up costing us a small fortune! I only occasionally buy Heinz if I find it on offer and our usual ketchup is the Asda make. However, when I was shopping a couple of weeks ago, I had a look at the price difference in all the ketchup brands and this Asda Smart Price ketchup, at only 40p for 550g, seemed way better value even than the normal Asda version which costs 82p for 470g. So I picked up a few pleased with my new cheap find.

I was not, however, pleased with anything else. The colour of the ketchup is a very pale orangey-red rather than the deep red colour of better quality sauces. It is also much more liquidy and, when poured out of the bottle, has the consistency that you get if you don't shake other ketchups first - quite runny with a very wet coating. But no matter how much I shake it the consistency doesn't change. The smell is also not as noticeable as other ketchups and to be honest doesn't really have much of a smell at all - just a very slight bland scent of tomatoes. The taste matches the smell - it's very bland and tastes more like a very weak tomato puree rather than the strong taste of tinned tomatoes which I love from other ketchups. Because of this, a lot more sauce needs to be put on the food to achieve much taste which actually defeats the point of buying this to save money, as I'm having to use more of it every time.

The sauce comes in a large glass bottle with the green and white Smart Price label wrapped around it and the whole things looks pretty cheap and nasty. The label really gives away the cheapness of it and you can tell that it's not going to be great in quality, however I have tried a lot of other Smart Price items, many of which have been brilliant. But this is one of those products where the quality comes in the price. If you're trying really hard to scrimp and save the pennies then this is just OK, but don't be expecting a good or tasty sauce. Otherwise, I wouldn't bother and you'll get much more for your money with the more expensive brands. Even the Asda brand is way better than this.

It's actually prepared with a lot less tomatoes than other ketchups with 98g of tomatoes per 100g which is maybe why is doesn't taste as rich but more bland. It also contains more calories than other sauces with 126 per 100g and 0.1g of fat.

So, all in all, it's less healthy and less tasty, with the only positive thing about it being that it's cheaper.

Summary: Only buy it if you desperately want to save the pennies