I could swim in this soup (Baxters Vegetarian Carrot and Coriander Soup)

Member Name: sun-is-shining

Product:	Baxters Vegetarian Carrot and Coriander Soup
Date:	12/06/09 (33 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: healthy & delicious

Disadvantages: none

If you read some of my latest reviews you a)know that I'll go travelling again soon and b) that therefor I'm doing my best to eat healthy to get fit and in shape. My latest idea was to have a vegetable soup for lunch at work - let's give it a try!

I've always been a big fan of soup but with the exception of pepper/tomato soup I've never managed to cook anything that was worth keeping. Tinned soups are a easy solution, too easy if you ask me. Most don't taste anything like they promise on the label, are full of artificial flavours/colours or preserving agents and inferior products.

Baxter's Carrot & Coriander soup ended up in my shopping basket as a last try, one more chance to convince me that tinned soups can be ok - and I have to admit, it worked incredibly well! I loved the carrot soup and as soon as I went shopping again I bought a huge supply of Baxter's Carrot & Coriander, Spicy Parsnip and Butternut Squash soup.

Full of good ingredients and low in fat they are a ideal snack or even a filling meal when eaten with toasted bread. I take them to work for lunch, it's quick to heat them in the morning and fill the soup in a thermos flask - it will stay warm for hours.
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Ingredients & Nutrition

Baxter's promises us on the front label the no artificial colours, flavours & preservatives were used. The soup has less than 2% fat and is suitable for Vegetarians; not for Vegans though as Milk powder and butter is used.

The main ingredients are:
- Water
- Carrots 21%
- Onions
- Parsnips
- Wheat Flour
- Cornflour
- Coriander
- Vegetable oil
- Milk powder
- Lemon, Honey, Sugar, Herbs and Spices (including Celery seed - so don't use it if you are allergic)

So far, so good. Sounds all very healthy and balanced. Let's have a look at the nutrition info to see how healthy it really is.

Half a can contains:
- 84 kcal
- Protein - 1.7g
- Carbohydrate - 12.7g (Sugar - 6.8g)
- Fat - 2.9g
- Fibre - 1.9g
- Sodium - 0.58g
- Salt - 1.5g

84kcal for 200g of soup is pretty good. Sugar and fat levels are ok, salt might be a little bit high depends on what else you are eating throughout the day.
Ok, 84 kcal are really good but I have to say that it didn't really fill me up, I need the whole soup (415g) to make it a real meal. Half of this is ok as a snack but not for lunch.
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Look & Taste

The tin can easily be opened with the attached lid opener. The soup looks light orange with tiny bits of the dark green coriander in it. When I put it in the saucepan I noticed small bright orange bits floating around, thinking first they were bits of carrot but they dissolved while cooking.
Preparing the soup is really easy, heat it in a saucepan for 5min without boiling it or put it in the microwave for 2min.

The soup doesn't have a strong smell but tastes really, really good. You can easily taste the carrots and the coriander but I always had the impression that it was with potatoes as well. I guess it's the parsnip that I tasted.
It was actually surprisingly well flavoured - not bland as I expected it to be but with a nice spiciness and a well balanced taste of the herbs.

I didn't have to add anything, no salt, pepper or oil. The tip on the tin is good - add some crumbled feta cheese or creme fraiche but you don't have to, the soup is really tasty on it's own.

Maybe a little downside, the soup had a small salty aftertaste but my boyfriend didn't taste it so maybe I'm just being hyper sensible.
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Price & Value

I bought the soup for 87 pence a tin at Tesco. That means it's cheap but there are cheaper options. But when you consider that one tin plus bread can be a healthy and filling meal it's a real bargain. One can contains 415g of soup which is enough for one meal or two snacks.

Healthy, cheap and tasty, 09 out of 10!
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Summary: convinced me that tinned soups can be good.