I picked these beans up during a recent shopping trip to Asda. I love baked beans but I'd never tried this brand before, always choosing the cheaper supermarket own label version, but these were on offer costing £1 for a pack of 4 x 410g tins. Looking around online, the normal price for this 4-pack is around £2.50.

I was quite looking forward to trying these beans, I wouldn't say excited as that would imply I need to get out more, but as I usually only ever have supermarkets own labels, it's a rare treat to try the premium brands these days. I've been having these beans in work for lunch as I love hot food in the cold weather, and there's nothing more comforting than beans on toast. In addition to this, there's the added pleasure of a tin lasting me two days, so I'm effectively getting my lunch for 12.5 pence which is pretty unbeatable by anyone's standards!

I presumed with these beans being a well known name, and the difference in price, that they would taste far superior to other baked beans I've been having recently. I think the other thing I thought, which was completely misunderstood on my part, was that they might in some way taste different to normal baked beans because they are "Branston" branded. I wasn't expecting Branston pickle or anything, but I thought maybe the sauce might taste a bit tangy and different. I was a bit disappointed that the sauce wasn't any different to other brands, but then looking at the packaging they never claimed it was, they just describe it as a "rich and tasty tomato sauce".

The first thing I noticed when preparing these beans was that the juice was lovely and thick, and I'd forgotten how beans are when you're not eating the economy brands with their thin runny bean juice. Secondly, the colour of the beans and sauce was very vibrant and orange, not anaemic like some brands are.

Now for the taste test....again, I was a little disappointed at first that there was no huge difference between these and the non-branded beans I usually buy. Don't get me wrong, they were tasty and the beans were a good consistency, but I honestly wouldn't know if I could pick these out of a taste test. I think on sight they look much more appetising due to the colour and thickness of the sauce, but if someone blindfolded me and gave me these alongside a non-branded product, I'm not sure I'd know the difference.

Beans, as we know, are a good source of fibre, and half a tin of these provides 201 calories, 12g sugar, 1g fat, a trace of saturates and 1.5g salt. I guess these beans might be a little better for you on the salt & sugar side of things, than the non-branded versions which can sometimes contain much more salt and sugar.

Overall, I'd happily eat these again, and if I see them on offer I'll stock up because they're much cheaper than any other brand, but I wouldn't go out of my way to find them and I definitely wouldn't pay full price. For taste and consistency I'd give them 4 stars, but the lack of value for money at full price brings these down to 3 stars for me.