A delicious convenient cheese sauce (Bisto Cheese Sauce Granules)

Member Name: SusanLesley

Product:	Bisto Cheese Sauce Granules
Date:	05/10/09 (80 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Tastes good, convenient, easy to make, low calorie

Disadvantages: None for me

I would like to say here and now that I am quite capable of making a cheese sauce from the original ingredients - milk, cheese, flour etc. - but when the convenient version tastes this good I just can't be bothered! Yes, I know it contains additives that would not be present in home made sauce, but it's not something that we eat very often so I'll risk it!

So what exactly is it then?

Well it is Bisto Cheese Sauce. So, if it's made by Bisto, we're should to be onto a winner.

It comes in a blue cardboard, tube shaped container with a blue plastic lid - it's the same size and shape as the Gravy Granules container. Obviously the whole packaging is very easy to recycle which I think is important.

There is a picture on the front of a meal using cheese sauce which looks very appetising and there is the now familiar basic nutritional information expressed as a percentage of recommended daily allowance.

When you first remove the plastic lid there is another seal keeping the contents both airtight and tamper free. This is then ripped off and discarded so that the sauce can be used and the plastic lid will be enough to reseal the pot ready for the next time.

The pot contains 200g of the sauce in a dry powder form, which makes about 23 servings, and it currently costs £1.42 in Tesco's. There are other sauces in the range - parsley, white and chip shop curry - and there's often an offer on in Tesco's of two for the price of one.

To make the sauce all you have to do is put 4 - 6 tablespoons of the powder into a measuring jug and add boiling water up to the 250ml mark. You then stir it until it thickens and there you have your sauce. I will say at this point the water must be boiling and you must stir the sauce continually until the powder is dissolved and the sauce thickens, otherwise you will end up with a lumpy sauce!

If you follow the instructions, and let's face it - it isn't rocket science, you will end up with a nice smooth sauce. It only takes a couple of minutes so it's easy enough. As the mixture blends and the sauce thickens there's that lovely smell you associate with cheese sauce. Of course you can adjust the amount of powder you use to get the sauce just how you like it.

The final result looks great with just the right amount of cheese blended in a smooth, creamy sauce.

I use the sauce mostly when I make cauliflower cheese and it tastes delicious. In fact I know I said that I could make it myself from scratch but I doubt that it would taste any better.

A 50ml serving made to the instructions given has the following nutritional values:

Calories 41
Protein 0.6g
Carbohydrate 4.4g
Of which sugars 1.2g
Fat 2.3g
Of which saturates 1.6g
Fibre Trace
Salt 0.5g

All in all I would recommend this sauce to anyone. It's easy to make, smells good, tastes good and you can make as much or as little as you like. What more could you ask?

Mind you I expect my grandmothers would be horrified to think I made cheese sauce using granules, especially the one who a cook in service! Sorry Nan!

Summary: An easy sauce when you're in a rush!