A very nice veggie hot drink! (Batchelors Cup a Soup Golden Vegetable)

Member Name: xxfoxyredxx

Product:	Batchelors Cup a Soup Golden Vegetable
Date:	15/05/08 (618 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Easyto make, low in calories and fat, tastes nice!

Disadvantages: Slightly sweet

I love soup in any way shape or form particularly on cold winter nights. I particularly like making my own but quite frankly it can be a time consuming job and talk about expensive and oh the washing up afterwards, no way! I hate having to peel and chop vegetables (got no food processor!) and I quite simply can't be bothered with it!

I do find that alot of soups you can buy now can be just as tasty (if not more so in some cases) than home made. With the likes of Covent Garden soups and the ones in most supermarkets that are chilled there's a huge selection about to choose from, any flavour imaginable and you can buy mega healthy ones, added vitamins you name it, it's available! I'm not so keen on tins and I can't stand the thought of condensed soup!

Me being a lazy gal likes the ease of cup of soup. One packet stick it in a cup with boiling water and stir. Throw away the sachet and all you have left to do is wash a cup. Excellent that's my kind of meal!

Ok it's not a meal. Let me state that right here and right now lol! However I do find it helps prevent my hunger and I remember a study telling me that research had been carried out of this group of German people that were trying to lose weight. Half of them were fed on chicken stew and the other half were given a diet of chicken soup and the people who ate the soup lost weigh quicker and weren't so hungry lol Ever since I've enjoyed it!

The packaging....

The box is blue and green with a picture of the soup in a mug on the front. At the top I'm told this product is by Bachelors and I'm told In large white writing it is cup a soup 'original' and is golden vegetable and at the bottom I'm told it has no artificial colours and no preservatives and that it is suitable for Vegetarians and that there are 5 sachets in the box. On the top of the box where I open the box, again I'm told its cup a soup original, golden vegetable and the use by date is stated. On the back of the box I'm told again in large white writing that its 'a great big hug in a mug', directions for making the soup up with little diagrams just in case your a complete twerp!, advertising for the jar of cup of soups in flavours vegetable, tomato and chicken and apparently these make 12 drinks. Then I'm told the nutritional values, ingredients, contact details for Bachelors and I'm told the whole product weight (109g) and the box is indeed recyclable. The sachets are white and oblong. The inside is made of foil I guess to keep the powders fresh and to open you tear them open (they do this easy). On the front again I'm told they are Bachelors and in green there are pictures of mugs, steaming and on each one I'm told they are golden vegetable.

Directions For Making It....

Empty sachet into cup or mug
Add boiling water (230ml)
Stir well, wait a few moments and then enjoy

Verdict....

Well you have to be careful not to use too much water in the mix however it is incredibly easy to make it has to be said! What does impress me is the powder is very fine with little tiny coloured flecks of what appears to be vegetables. It doesn't take loads of stirring and on a couple of occasions I have added the powder to the water instead of the recommended way and it's been fine and had no lumps in it but you do always need to make sure it is boiling hot water straight from the kettle to kind of melt the powder otherwise you do get lumps and it tastes very sludgy.

Appearance wise it's beige in colour with small flecks of a red vegetable though I'm not sure what it is because I have looked on the list of ingredients and I can't work out what it could be. I did think it was red pepper at first but that isn't listed so I'm a bit lost to what it could be and can't guess! Consistency is only a week bit thicker than water but tastes a little thicker but not loads so, not like out of a tin!

Aroma wise it smells quite sweet almost like powdered skimmed milk and again checking against the ingredients as I have just written this powdered skimmed milk isn't listed as such but milk proteins are so again it could be what I think it is. It has a faint smell of celery and generally smells of vegetables and very nice indeed. Taste wise the first thing that hits the palette is the sweetness and a rather generous amount of sugar. Now personally I wouldn't be able to tell you what the vegetables are in this soup unless listed. I can't identify swede, onion, carrot, leek, or peas. Everything is very small and no whole peas are visible but it all does taste of vegetables none the less. All the dried vegetables do however absorb the water and spread out (I can't think of how else to say that lol) but the problem is some of the pieces do go rather soggy and some of the small pieces that end up in the dregs at the bottom of your mug do clump you if your not careful!

However this is really nice overall and they do take the edge of hunger! They are not too salty however they are a little on the sweet side though fine with me. They don't leave a nasty aftertaste and they don't leave a nasty dirty scummy look in the mug provide you've given it a stir!

Ingredients....

Water, Vegetables (8%) (Swede, Onion, Carot, Leeks, Peas), Glucose Syrup, Maize Starch, Vegetable Oil and Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil, Salt, Yeast Extract, Flavour Enhancers (Monosodium Glutamate, Disodium 5' Ribonucleotides), Sugar, Milk Proteins, Parsley, Flavouring (contains celery), Emulsifier (Mono and Diglycerides of Fatty Acids), Acidity Regulator (Dipotassium Phosphate)< Natural Flavouring, Turmeric and Wheat Flour.

Nutritional Information Per Sachet....

Energy 83Kcal
Protein 0.9g
Carbohydrate 14.4g
of which is sugars 3.4g
Fat 2.4g
of which is saturates 1.3g
Fibre 1.1g
Sodium 1.1g
salt equivalent based on total sodium 1.75g

Price and availability....

Widely available and expect to pay about 89p. I bought mine from Sainsbury's.

Summary: A hug in a mug!