You say tomato, I say great value (Sainsbury's Basics Chopped Tomatoes)

Member Name: Chelle1969

Product:	Sainsbury's Basics Chopped Tomatoes
Date:	21/06/09 (71 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap, thick juice

Disadvantages: None

Recently I've been making my own tomato soup using tinned tomatoes, which incidentally is much nicer than any shop bought tinned soup, and I've been trying out various makes of 'cheap' tomatoes. Of the ones I've tried so far Tesco, Asda and Lidl have all been perfectly acceptable but Sainsbury's Basics Chopped Tomatoes really stand out from the others.

The label on the tin is in the usual Sainsbury's Basics colours, i.e. white with orange in the main and the tomatoes are described as "all red tomatoes, different shades".
Nutritional information lists that per ½ can there are 40 calories, 6.4g total sugars, and trace fat, saturated fat and salt. No allergy advice is given, but they are suitable for vegetarians (you'd hope so wouldn't you, what with them being a tin of tomatoes and all!!)
Ingredients are listed as chopped tomatoes (60%), tomato juice and acidity regulator: citric acid.
There's also a 'Try Me' guarantee on the label, so if you don't love the product you can return them for a full refund, although quite how you might get an opened tin of tomatoes back to the shop would raise some questions.

On opening the tin (you need a tin opener - no fancy ring pulls here) you immediately get the impression of quality tomatoes - the tin is full to the brim and they are a deep rich red colour chopped into small pieces. Unlike some of the other cheap brands, the tomatoes are in a thick juice not a floating around in a watery solution, almost like they are in tomato puree rather than juice - lovely. There is an occasional green piece, but not as many as I've found in Tesco value tins, and for what I use them for it doesn't matter anyway. The taste is as you'd expect from tinned tomatoes - just tomato-y, not too acidy but no added sweetness.

I've now adopted these as my preferred brand for soup making as it instantly makes the soup thicker and richer. I've also used them in making pasta sauces and they are perfect for that too, in fact I'm sure they would be a suitable substitute for more expensive brands in virtually any recipe. At just 36p for a 400g tin I certainly recommend them. Until my tomato plants in the garden produce something a bit more edible than leaves, I'll be buying these instead. Brilliant value!


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UPDATE
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As a couple of people have asked me for the recipe for the tomato soup that I mention I thought I'd add it in to this review to share with you all. As usual some ingredients can be altered or left out according to taste, the addition of basil and bran (which thickens the soup) are mine and may not to be your liking. Hope you like it!


Tomato Soup

1 large onion finely chopped
2 cloves garlic finely chopped
Large pinch of dried basil
2 x 400g tins of chopped tomatoes
1.5 pint chicken (or vegetable) stock from a stock cube
2 tablespoons tomato puree
3 teaspoons sugar
6 teaspoons bran

Heat the onion, garlic and basil in a large saucepan for 5 minutes until softened.
Add all other ingredients, stir and bring to the boil.
Turn down heat and simmer for 20 minutes stirring occasionally.
Use a hand blender to puree until smooth, add more water if its too thick for your taste - serve

Should divide into 5 or 6 portions

Summary: The best cheap tomatoes around.