Tesco Value Experiment

nicthemighty

Hi, I'm new to the site, but thought I should share my current experience with you all! I'm a student, and a few of us in my acccomodation are trying a Tesco Value week - as much as possible, only eat Value food... The idea is to see what Value food is worth eating, and whether the savings outweigh the costs! Hopefully this will help anyone who is considering buying Value, whatever their reasons!

We started yesterday (18/02/08) and are continuing until Friday.

As for the ratings:

0 = Couldn't eat it
1 = Ate because I was hungry
2 = Tastes somewhat like food
3 = Quite a lot worse than Tesco Own Brand
4 = Slightly different to Own Brand
5 = Tastes too good to be Value

Monday:

Breakfast:

• None - oops!

Lunch:

• Savoury egg bites - Occasional gristly bit, but otherwise fine. 4/5, 89p for 12.
• Back bacon sandwich - The rashers are a mixture of smoked, unsmoked, and sweetcured. Pretty salty. 3/5, 80p for ~ 6 rashers. Bread - Nothing special, somewhat sweet though. 4/5, 37p.
• Apple Pies - Tasty, but more sauce than apple pieces. 4/5, 37p for 6.

Tea:

• Chicken and vegetable pie - Pastry only tasted of flour, very little filling, but filling was tasty. However, quality of pastry and quantity of fiiling means I would never buy these again. 1/5, 74p for 4.
• Oven Chips - Very sweet, otherwise edible. 3/5, 41p for 1.5kg.
• Baked Beans - Watery sauce, but otherwise tasty. 4/5, 20p can.
• Lemonade - Dilute, but tasted of lemon. 3/5, 20p 2L.
  

Tuesday:

Breakfast:

• Toast and Butter - Typical toast, not as nice as fresh bread, but nothing wrong with it. 4/5, 37p.

Lunch :

• Back bacon sandwich - This time the rashers tasted unsmoked, and the whole sandwich was pretty impressive. 5/5!
• Apple Pie - See Monday. 4/5.

Tea:

• Pork Chop - A lot of fat, but otherwise tasted of pork! 4/5, £3.31 for 4.
• Tinned potatoes - Tasted no different to any other tinned potatoes I've eaten. 5/5!, 25p can.
• Tinned carrots - Tasted like they were half digested. 1/5, 12p can.
• Tinned sweetcorn - Tasted ok, though didn't really feel like they had any health benefits. 3/5, 15p can.
• Gravy granules - Very watery, hardly tasted of anything. 1/5, 34p tub.
• Tinned syrup sponge - syrup was nice, but hardly any of it there! Sponge tasted like breadcrumbs. Disgusting, and before cooking it looked like cat food. 1/5, 48p can.
• Instant custard - saved the sponge from being chucked away, however very artificial. Thickened nicely though. 3/5, 8p sachet.

I shall update the post each day until the challenge is over! Hopefully, this isn't causing any severe damage to my health!

nicthemighty

Oh and if anyone wants to suggest meal ideas, feel free!

Red_Cat

When I was a student I used to make pasta using TV pasta (penne) with a sauce made with tinned toms. I still buy the tinned toms if I am shopping there.

Colcoops

Red_Cat wrote: »

When I was a student I used to make pasta using TV pasta (penne) with a sauce made with tinned toms. I still buy the tinned toms if I am shopping there.

1 tin of Heinz Spagetti Bollognaise + 1 tim of Heinz Macaroni Cheese

pour into 1 pan, mix together and heat =


Macagetti Spagaroni Aise

Thats real student food...:p

JoJoB

Tesco value poridge oats are identical to Quakers I've found, and only 30-odd pence.

Other value things i buy regularly are the tinned tomatoes and tinned kidney beans. I try not to buy much packaged/processed stuff generally so don't know about pies etc. Tinned veg usually tastes horrid IMO so wouldn't buy the value versions of that anyway.

I've bought value leeks and carrots which were fine. I'd like to buy value peppers, but the value bags are always have about 10 green peppers and 1 red, i like more of a mixture.

The value cream cakes were very good, unfortunately!

princesslilo

Good thread!

You could try their value sausages - 49p for 8 with a sachet of their instant mash which I think is about 19p! Their tinned tuna is also good which is about 29p a tin.

The only thing I have come across on the basics is the Angel Delight - it doesn't set properly :lipsrseal

gdulka

that's a great thread, I'll check it regularly!

I'm also a student, trying to live without any excessive spendings (apart from odd Starbuck's Cofee with friends or a couple of drinks on a night out)...

Indeed, Tesco value food isn't always tasty, however, as JoJoB mentioned - oats are OK, just normal oats so why spend nearly 3 pounds on sth I can gat for 40p (why they're 40p not 30p in London?!?!?!?):rolleyes:

sukysue

Their value vanilla cheesecake is to die for, really! bit expensive at 1.98 but gorgeous! Value curry sauce tinned lovely too. Also their value chicken frozen breasts are ok at 3 pounds 17 .I think that's what I was charged last time anyway!

Skint_Catt

The 24p sweet n sour sauce is pretty good. I've got a can of the 8p curry sauce but haven't tried it yet!

Some value stuff is more expensive than other brands (butter for example) so it depends what you're trying to prove?

nicthemighty

Skint_Catt wrote: »

Some value stuff is more expensive than other brands (butter for example) so it depends what you're trying to prove?

Really? I am yet to find anything cheaper than Value, unless it's on a really special offer! I guess we're not trying to prove anything other than the quality of the food vs the saving - and possibly encourage/discourage fellow students from following our week!

nicthemighty

Hey, I'll keep updating here for the challenge, but after the week is over, I will be updating a blog with additional content!

http://www.tescovalue.blogspot.com/

PS. Thinking pizza or pasta for tea 2moz!