A saucy tale! (Tesco Value Pasta Sauce)

Member Name: xxfoxyredxx

Product:	Tesco Value Pasta Sauce
Date:	01/08/09 (48 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Tastes of tomatoes and herbs and warms in minutes!

Disadvantages: Rather sweet and doesn't taste fresh as such

When it comes to eating pasta I can't get enough of the stuff! I get through literally tons of it a week and use it in many different ways. I'm always on the look out for new ways of perking it up cos I find it a bit boring and bland on it's own and I always try and make economical purchases too to try and keep my spending down on my food which is why I thought I'd give this a go when I saw it's tiny price of 36p compared to leading brands in the store priced at well over a pound a time!

The Packaging....

440g glass see-through jar with a twist on/off lid/cap to the top of it. The label to the front has a photograph of the pasta on it and then in red and white writing I'm told it is Tesco 'Value' Pasta Sauce 'A tomato based pasta sauce with mixed herbs' and there is an at a glance nutritional chart on there. Other information around the back of the jar tells me how to heat it (simmer it on the hob for 4-5 minutes), size is stated (as I've listed already), ingredients and allergy advice is listed along with a full nutritional breakdown, contact details for Tesco are given and finally there is a bar-code on there. Simple, basic packaging this is... but hey what do your expect for 36p eh? lol. It's informative enough!

Me Using The Sauce....

Usually when using a pasta sauce I cook up some pasta, fry off some vegetables and/or sometimes meat and then heat up the sauce and mix it all together and occasionally then top it with cheese and grill it. It's my favourite method. However tonight I was hungry and tired and didn't want to make a mess of the kitchen and spend my time in there when Big Brother was on lol ! So I simply boiled up some pasta in one pan and then heated this through and mixed the two together and bam I had myself a meal to go in minutes!

So as soon as I opened the jar I was met by a smell of Fennel, Basil and Oregano and was a bit alarmed at the sort of jellified, glossy look of the tomato sauce that greeted me. It looked gloopy and when I tipped it into my saucepan it just all splatted out leaving the jar clean behind it. However I warmed it through (which was so simple it was silly lol) and I mixed it with my pasta.

I found the sauce to contain a little bit of body. I mean it didn't go to water, didn't look oily and there was plenty of it. It looked good and had a decent amount of Italian herbs (the one's I've mentioned already) scattered throughout it the only thing about those herbs was that there was rather alot of fennel in it and the herbs used were very obviously dry one's in looks and in taste.

However over-all the sauce was far from bad. It had a taste and smell of tomatoes to it and my only real complaint about this (apart from no usage of fresh herbs, which is only really a niggle considering the price!) is that it is packed with saccharin. Not only did I see this on the ingredient list given on the jar I knew this to be the case anyway purely from the taste. The taste of sweeteners really does hang about for a while after you've eaten this!

Not a bad offering and this would certainly be best added to other ingredients as well as pasta! Worth the pennies? Certainly and without a doubt and it is a good economical buy and like many things in life you get what you pay for!

Allergy Advice: Contains Milk.
Ingredients: Cannot guarantee nut free.
Factory: Before being prepared for manufacture of this product, the equipment was previously used to make products containing nuts.

Nutritional Information Per One Quarter Of A Jar....

Calories: 24
Sugar: 2g
Fat: 0.9g
Saturates: 0.4g
Salt: 0.8g

Only available in Tesco Stores.

Summary: Not a bad sauce just not brilliant either!