The more you eat the more you (Tesco Value Baked Beans & Sausages in Tomato Sauce)

Member Name: AmyAmy

Product:	Tesco Value Baked Beans & Sausages in Tomato Sauce
Date:	24/09/09 (20 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: taste, texture, price

Disadvantages: watery

When I was younger I would practically live off of Heinz pasta shapes. I adored them and would eat them on their own, or occasionally with waffles or toast. However, despite their likeness, I never ever wanted to try beans. There was something about them that I hated, and it wasn't until I was much older that I actually sampled them.

The first time I ever had beans was when I had beans on toast, or 'BOT'. The whole taste experience beans provided amazed me, and I surprisingly adored their texture. From that moment I found myself enjoying beans quite a lot, and have sampled quite a variety of brands and options. One of the latest products I have tried is the Tesco Value baked beans and sausages.

The tin of beans is very easy to spot on the shelf. Located in the tins aisle of tesco, alongside the pasta shapes, macaroni cheese and tinned vegetables, you can spot its basic white 'value' label. Although it is not the most attractive label you could possibly find, it does symbolise the price that goes along with the product. I also found that this 570g tin was a lot larger than all the others, almost double in size. Straight away I knew I wanted to give this a try.

When I took the tin home, I opened it with a tin opener. This is probably the only real downside to the packaging - I much prefer hassle-free ring pulls. It is recommended that you put the beans in the microwave for a few minutes (they can also be done on the stove), and stir them half way through. As instructed I popped them into a bowl and heated them for three minutes or so. Once they were finished I found that it was only luke warm, and ended up heating them for another two minutes. Even then they only came out slightly hotter. Nonetheless I decided not to focus on the temperature - they were still edible after all.

The sauce was quite watery so I tried my best to dribble some of it out of the bowl, but this was not the easiest of tasks to do. Sitting myself down, some of the pale red sauce splashing a little, I was ready to try. Scooping up some of the beans I popped them into my mouth. Thankfully, despite being a little colder than I would have liked, they had a delicious mild flavour, and an equally satisfying texture too. Pleased with that, I chopped one of the sausages in half - they're about the size of your index finger - and popped it into my mouth. Now they say 'sausage' but it is more like a hotdog. This was quite soft, not at all chewy like I had imagined, and although it did not have a real taste of its own, the delicious flavour from the sauce certainly made it a little more exciting. In all, the watery sauce aside, the beans and sausages certainly provided a satisfying eating experience!

Okay beans are not too unhealthy in general - they are quite low in fat and rather filling. Though this was a slightly larger portion, and also contained sausages so I was not too sure just how 'healthy' this was going to be. Checking the nutritional information, which was printed on the back of the label in a little grid, I discovered that each tin contains 480 calories and 8.4g fat. I will be honest, I do not think that is too bad. This could be a meal on its own, so those figures are not too frightening, and if you were to have it as a side alongside a piece of meat or fish, then you'd half them as you would be unlikely to eat the entire tin. It is definitely a lot healthier that say a portion of chips, or indeed a fried sausage!

Being in the Value range you would expect this to be quite cheap, and thankfully it lives up to its expectations. One tin will cost you just 30p, which is definitely not bad at all! You could pay at least 80p for a tin of Heinz beans with sausages, so it is definitely worth saving money, especially since this is a slightly bigger portion and can be halved with somebody else!

If you live near a Tesco store then this is definitely worth looking at. Perhaps it is not exactly something you would travel miles to find a tesco store for, but if the opportunity to purchase is there then I strongly recommend it. It is simply delicious and well worth a try!

Amy 2009

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