I am a huge money saver, I do a monthly shop, I stick to a budget, I meal plan, but generally I like to cook meals from scratch. I do buy tinned and packet foods, too, however, to help out with 'lazy meals' or when there just isn't time to cook something elaborate. I do buy Tesco 'Everyday Value' instant mash and I think it's great, so when I saw these Tesco Everyday Value (the new name and branding for Tesco Value with the red stripes) Mushy Peas on the Tesco website for a frankly unbelievable 3p (how do they sell them for 3p?! surely the tin and the label cost more than that!?) then I thought I'd take a punt and went for a tin to try.

So, a week or so on and it's a lazy meal night, oven chips, some battered cod and mushy peas. Chips and cod in the oven, I get out a pan and open up the tin of Tesco mushy peas. They don't have a ring pull, but what do you expect for 3p!? I must say, if houses have kerb appeal, these peas definitely don't have tin appeal. They're oddly bland coloured and a little watery on the top. I turned the peas out, they landed in an exact tin shaped jellyish lump, including the ridges, into the pan. Hmm.

The peas are a very odd bland colour, a bit grey, and not at all appealing. I mean, you could argue that some tinned peas might have colour added... but peas are green! There is no reason these peas should have the colour of cardboard, and it's not an appetising sight. The smell is a bland, off-pea smell.

I have to admit now I wasn't looking forward to this experience but I cooked them up anyway thinking they might taste better when they were warm. I was wrong. They taste like mushy peas which have been bulked out with something stodgy and bland, really unpleasant.

They never did make it to my plate and luckily I had a 'spare' tin of peas to hand, the very lovely Lidl Mushy Peas at 22p a tin - try them, they're really nice and a bigger tin, too. So our dinner wasn't ruined, and for 3p I didn't waste much, after all some Everyday Value items are worth it and I use them often. Obviously I will never buy these peas again!

I can't recommend these at all, they really are a waste of money, really it's just proving the point that things can be TOO cheap (remember the 90s 'bean wars' where tins of watery beans were on sale for 1p!?). It's sensible to try cheaper brands but these peas aren't for me and I can't see how anyone can enjoy them. At the end of the day when I was a student I'd spend 9p on some instant noodles as a full meal which I didn't mind rather than 3p on some peas which are only an accompaniment and especially not these as they're rotten!!

Overall - awful. Shame I can't give them zero stars. Don't be put off value brands, but do avoid these peas!