As the cold winter months started to roll in I wanted to make sure Scarlet had a hot meal for dinner and tea but as she is so fussy I was finding it hard to cook alternative meals for her. Then I started to see the Soup reviews and thought I should try them with her. I had not thought of it before as I am not a soup eater and don't like it and Mr Kimbles only like Cup a Soup so I never really buy it.

I had tried the Morrison's Value soup with her to start and she seemed to really like it. I have been so lucky with her that she eats all fruit and vegetable with the exception of Dragon Fruit but that had not taste. So when I did my Christmas shopping the Sunday before Christmas in Asda I picked up the Smart Price soup. I know I should make my own but with only Scarlet that eats it I knew I would need to put it in the freezer and didn't have the room at the time.

The Smart Price Vegetable soup comes in a 400g tin with a white and green label showing the usual Asda Smart Price logo with Vegetable soup written. Then underneath is a picture of a bowl of Chunky Vegetable soup. On the back of the label Asda advise that the soup is suitable for Vegetarians and it also has the usual Allergy Information, Nutrional Information, Cooking Information and Ingredients which are as follows.

Nutritional Information (per half a can) -
* Energy - 424kj (100kcal)
* Protein - 2.8g
* Carbohydrate - 17.8g
Of which Sugars - 6.6g
* Fat - 2.0g
Of which Saturates - Trace
* Fibre - 3.0g
* Sodium - 0.50g
Equivalent as Salt - 1.3g

Ingredients -
Water, Tomato Purée (20%) , Carrots (5.0%) , Onion (5.0%) , Marrowfat Peas (4.0%) , Potatoes (2.0%) , Cooked Pasta Tubetti (1.0%) [Water, Durum Wheat Semolina] , Modified Maize Starch , Sugar , Salt , Vegetable Bouillon [Salt, Yeast Extract, Sugar, Leek Powder, Onion Powder, Garlic Powder, Natural Flavoring (contains Celery)] , Onion Powder , Rapeseed Oil , Wheat Flour , Ground Black Pepper , Natural Flavoring , Paprika Powder , Celery Extract , Pepper Extract , Bay Extract , Clove Extract , Paprika Extract , Sunflower Oil , Garlic Oil , Capsicum Extract.

Allergy Advice -
Contains Celeriac, Celery, Barley, Gluten and Wheat.

Cooking Instructions -
Microwave - From Chilled/Ambient: Empty contents into a microwavable container, cover and vent. Heat on full powder for 2 minutes (650W) or 1 1/2 minutes (750W), stirring halfway through. Heat for a further 1 minute. Stir and serve.
Hob - From Chilled/Ambient: Empty contents of can into a saucepan. Heat gently for 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Do not boil.

The ultimate test however would be the taste. As I opened the soup to start preparing Scarlet's dinner I noticed that the soup was really thin. As I poured it into the bowl it was just like water and there didn't seem to be a lot of vegetables in it, just a few bits of onions. I though that the thinness of the soup might be because I hadn't shook the tin before use but I have since done that when we gave it another try but that hasn't made any difference probably because there were no vegetables in it.

When I was trying to feed it to Scarlet (which I generally with things like this do to enable her to actually get the food in her mouth and not down her front) the soup was so watery even I made a mess with it. It was like trying to spoon feed her water. I tasted the soup to make sure it was not too hot for her to eat but it was completely tasteless. It seemed to have no flavour at all and tasted more like water. Scarlet was not impressed by it at all. I felt like she had not had a nutritional meal or was even full after this meal so I made her something else.

I may have only spent 17p on the can but I will never use this again. With some items you just have to pay for quality.