Value Range foods compared

[jennyjj01]

I'm looking for suggestions please. British Indian Restaurant* style curry sauces. Best value for money with long shelf life...... And simple to prepare....

*I have considered the dead cheap Morrison's curry sauce, and the Mayflower powder mix, which are both great value. But indulge me with something more authentic.

As the search continues for a best value quality Indian curry sauce, I note that Tesco have a 3 for 2 deal across ALL cooking sauces. This brings their 'Hearty Food Co' Indian curry sauce to just 30p a jar.

Unlike some offerings this does not feature saccharin.
Not the best quality, but good enough to bulk out the extended pantry? The Jar empty is worth that.

[jennyjj01]

A quick comparison of Bolognese sauces.
Candidate #3 : Cucina bolognese sauce from ALDI 65p
Dolmio £1.50 : Baresa 49p : Cucina 65p

It's 18 months on since I taste tested these pasta sauces and prices have lurched ahead, typically doubling. Even at Lidl.

So today, a heads up...... Cucina pasta sauces in ALDI have dropped back to 65p for a 500g jar.
https://groceries.aldi.co.uk/en-GB/p-cu ... 8600304663
That's as good as in Oct 2022. and cheaper per kg than their essentials range.

If you stash pasta sauces, get down to Aldi and fill yer boots!

[jennyjj01]

Just a quick comparison of tinned Minced Beef and Onion, bought for the extended pantry. Nominally 400g cans. Some surprises.

Princes From Morrisons £2.49
Tesco Own Brand £2.40
Bramwells From Aldi £1.99

This is a quick and easy goto meal in our staple diet and a fairly inexpensive protein product for storage. Add a sachet of Mashed potatoes and a tin of peas and you get two meals for £4.

First, comparing key ingredients surprised me...

Princes : Beef (36%), Beef Stock (25%), Water, Onions (12%), Tomato Puree, Modified Maize Starch

Bramwells : Beef (72%), Water, Rehydrated Onion (4%), Tomato Concentrate, Modified Maize Starch,...

Tesco : Beef (65%), Water, Tomato Purée, Rehydrated Dried Onion (7%), Wheat Flour ,...

What the heck !!!????? Princes has HALF the beef content of the others!!!

Oh hum. What about nutrition per 100g

	Calories	Protein	Fat	Salt
Princes	102kCal	7.9g	6.0g	0.79g
Bramwells	124kCal	14.6g	5.3g	0.66g
Tesco	153kCal	13.6g	8.9g	0.61g

What????? Princes has 2/3 the Calories and about half the protein content of the others!!!

What about taste and texture comparisons,
Another surprise.

From the can, the princes looked the nicest and most natural. Runny enough to pour from the tin. The other two were solid and had to be eased out with a fork. Reminiscent of Chappie dog food.
Heated up, all went semi liquid more or less the same.
The Princes had more discernible onion pieces.
The Bramwells had a slightly gritty texture.
Both Tescos and Bramwells had more noticeable tomato flavour and a hint of red colour.

Taste test.
All were acceptable and the Princes one won on the 'like real mince' test. We think the onions helped a lot.
Grittiness of the Bramwells detracted enough to irritate.

Conclusion
For nutritional value for money, the Bramwells was miles ahead of Princes. Also 20% cheaper.
For subjective niceness, Princes won hand's down in spite of dramatically lower nutritional value.
Tescos, probably like most supermarket own brand, was nutritionally ahead, but at about the same price as Princes, it's a close call.
I wouldn't spend any extra beyond £2.50 on the Princes.
Tescos and other own brand ought to be cheaper and I find the price a bit high.
Bramwells wins overall because it combines High nutrition with low price BUT, I'll be augmenting it with dried onions and maybe a stock cube.
I'll be buying Bramwells and Princes in the ratio 2:1 at these prices as each has it's merit.
Prices on tinned meat are a bit volatile and I'd snap up any of these at <£2

I need to check out Lidl's offering.

[Edit]
Asda have Princes at two for £3.50: At effective price of £1.75 I'll be tilting my ratio to 50:50 with Bramwells.
Asda also have 'Essentials minced beef and onions at £1.70 At 28% beef, they are having a laugh!

[Medusa]

Not at all as in depth as yours Jenny. We buy the chicken in white sauce for when we go away in the tent. Usually buy from Tesco and it is fairly tasty served with rice and some tinned peas or other tinned veg. We try and conserve the calor gas in the tent, somewhat easier when we are using the woodburner in the tent for heat as we can cook at the same time. The price became a bit ridiculous at £2.40 for 392g and so we tried Aldi (Bramwells) 400g, not as much chicken and not quite as tasty but quite a bit cheaper at £1.89. Still perfectly acceptable though and may try your trick of adding a few extra ingredients to add to the flavour. When I was feeding 6 of us, corned beef hash used to be a cheap and filling go to meal, Tesco (Ship) corned beef is now £3.15 for a 340g tin, Aldi (Bramwells) 340g is £2.09 which is quite a saving, but cannot comment on taste as I have quite a stash of Ship brand as the use by date on corned beef is pretty good.

[jennyjj01]

Another ready meal comparison: Baked Beans with Sausages

Lidl Newgate vs Aldi Bramwells..

Not reviewed but similar
Tesco's Stockwell @58p
Heinz @ £1.50 in multibuy
Branston @ £1.50


Both 57p for 400g tin with pulltab. Both BBE Feb 2026. Date stamp identical font and layout. I'd swear they were canned at the same factory ( though ingredients differ ).

Ingredients list almost identical
Caloric values a bit different 101kCal for Lidls and 107kCal for Aldis per 100g

Taste test...
Beans..... Both Lidl and Aldi the beans and sauce tasted perfectly ok.
Sauce..... Both good flavour and consistency. Neither was too runny. Lidl's seemed a bit more tomato flavoured.
Sausages..... Huge difference....
Lidl gave 8 sausages. Aldi Gave 7. The Lidl sausages were noticeably fatter.
Lidl sausages were grey/white and tasted of nothing but fat and maybe flour. Godawful.
Aldi sausages were pink, obviously MRM and had that 'plumrose' taste if you can remember the 70s. Not great, but much nicer.

Aldi have a 15 can purchase limit. Other supermarkets may have similar.

I will get around to trying the Tesco Stockwell ones, which are on a price promise.

Stuff the Heinz and Branston offerings on price.

Recall that the very nice Tesco Stockwell baked beans are my go-to at 28p. So we're paying 29p for a few bits of MRM sausage.

Conclusion, with a view to storing some.
Aldi thrashed Lidl on the sausage taste test and with 5% more Calories, has the edge. I'd consciously avoid the Lidl ones because the sausages were awful.

Being totally frugal, You could get better value for money buying Stockwell beans at 28p and a few tins of Ye olde oak sausages at up to 79p at B&M. Those sausages have more flavour, though they are MRM chicken and pork.

[ForgeCorvus]

Being totally frugal, You could get better value for money buying Stockwell beans at 28p and a few tins of Ye olde oak sausages at up to 79p at B&M. Those sausages have more flavour, though they are MRM chicken and pork.

Although its stocking two different tins, I'd be more likely to do that..... I think storing ingredients rather then whole meals give more flexibility.

I've got a few Sainbury's own BB+S, they seemed pretty good to me when I tried them

[jennyjj01]

Being totally frugal, You could get better value for money buying Stockwell beans at 28p and a few tins of Ye olde oak sausages at up to 79p at B&M. Those sausages have more flavour, though they are MRM chicken and pork.

Although its stocking two different tins, I'd be more likely to do that..... I think storing ingredients rather then whole

Agreed. I just wanted something that I could use in regular diet without having to store any leftovers.

[ForgeCorvus]

Being totally frugal, You could get better value for money buying Stockwell beans at 28p and a few tins of Ye olde oak sausages at up to 79p at B&M. Those sausages have more flavour, though they are MRM chicken and pork.

Although its stocking two different tins, I'd be more likely to do that..... I think storing ingredients rather then whole

Agreed. I just wanted something that I could use in regular diet without having to store any leftovers.

I'm not saying "Do it my way" and you make a good point on simple option with no waste/safe storage.... So lets take the prepper approach, repeat the mantra "2 is 1" and stock both ways

[jennyjj01]

Tonight, a standalone review ..... Princes Chilli Con Carne 392g can

Reviewed because it's on offer at asda at £1.75 in their mix and match. A candidate for the extended pantry?

Had it tonight with boiled rice.
Not awful, but truly disappointing.
Low meat content at 24%. They'd used lots of flour and maize starch to try to give it body, but it was conspicuous. Not enough meaty flavour. Texture was such that you could eat it through a straw if you avoided the kidney beans. Easily done! Could have been baby food.
The 20 or so kidney beans were scarce and overcooked to softness.
Meat texture was thin.
Onions and chillies? Where? Must have been pureed.

Flavour was childishly mild. They do a hot one: untested. This one tasted mostly of tomato and flour. There was just no richness to this: No depth of any flavour.
I'll be giving 'Stagg' a try, which is only 25p dearer at Tesco and which boasts "Shaped Minced Beef" and lots more kidney beans.

Verdict. Lacklustre. No excuse for the scarcity of overcooked kidney beans.
Cheap in Asda at £1.75, but no way I'd pay the full price of £2.25. I won't be buying trays of this even at £1.75

The current Asda Promo has drawn me in, but there seems a common factor of reduced key ingredients in Princes Tinned ready meals.

[jennyjj01]

Although its stocking two different tins, I'd be more likely to do that..... I think storing ingredients rather then whole

Agreed. I just wanted something that I could use in regular diet without having to store any leftovers.

I'm not saying "Do it my way" and you make a good point on simple option with no waste/safe storage.... So lets take the prepper approach, repeat the mantra "2 is 1" and stock both ways

I'm with you on this as far as prepping goes. Case in point was tonight's tinned chilli which lacked kidney beans. In stocking a range of tinned ready meals, I'll set aside tinned 'other stuff' to augment them.

I have a collection of 400g size plastic tin covers from the pets section of the pound shop. There's usually a couple or more half tins of 'something' in the fridge. Come SHTF, diets will use them up quickly so as not to need the fridge. Dried onions are also a great standby.