We conquered our fear of hypermarket house brands to see if these competitively priced household goods were in any way inferior compared by trying out a series of food products from TESCO.
In our first part here, we put TESCO’s frozen food to the test and we had mixed feelings about it. We liked the TESCO Choice Lasagna Beef Bolognese but thought the Chicken Carbonara Spaghetti had a funny after taste to it which was probably contributed by the quality of the cream used. Also we didn’t like the fact that thin, flimsy plastic containers were used because we’re quite paranoid about heating plastics when it comes to food!
This week we try out three of their Instant Food products which are really idiot-proof because all you have to do is add hot boiling water so really, there’s no way you can go wrong.
TESCO Light Choices Pre-Mixed Cereal Drink (RM6.99)
If you’re looking for a quick fix in the mornings without the hassle of spooning out milk powder and Nestum out of separate containers, then this will do the trick. This 3-in-1 Pre-Mixed Cereal comes in two flavours: Original and Honey.
Each box comes with 6 sachets which you can keep in your bag in case you get hungry while at work. Instructions say to add 200ml of hot water to the mix but we feel that the consistency becomes watered down so we added another pack to the mug and it turned out just fine.
CONCLUSION: Convenient and quick preparation but not very economical if you need to use 2 sachets which will make it RM2.30 per drink. We don’t think that there’s enough cereal in it either considering it’s a cereal drink but on a plus side, it has a pleasant flavour.
Taste ★★★★☆
Packaging ★★★★☆
Value for Money ★★★☆☆
TESCO Light Choice Roasted Vegetables Couscous Snack in A Pot (RM3.90)
For some reason, I’ve never eaten couscous before but from the many hours of watching Masterchef series, I gathered that it would taste like a combination of hummus and risotto. The Roasted Vegetables Couscous comes in a solid plastic container where you peel of the lid to reveal its contents.
Fill up with hot water until the line as indicated outside the packaging, cover it back with the flap and set it aside for five minutes.
After five minutes, fluff up the rice using a fork and it’s ready to eat!
CONCLUSION: It may be labelled as a snack but for the weight conscious and small eaters, the portion of this product is perfect to be considered a main meal. It can be quite bland so you have the option of adding salt or pepper to it to enhance the flavour. The vegetable bits are a tad bit too small for you to decipher what they actually are but overall, once you add some salt to it or bits of corn like we did, it actually does taste pretty good! This product is also suitable for vegetarians.
Taste ★★★☆☆
Packaging ★★★★☆
Value for Money ★★★★☆
TESCO Light Choices Soup in a Mug Variety Pack (RM7.29)
It always confuses me when people say that their product is 50% less fat. 50% less from the competitor’s product or did they manage to eliminate half of the fat content from its original state? Either way, this product is also from their line of Light Choices which are catered to those who want to eat healthier.
This Soup in A Mug Variety pack comes with 8 sachets in four different flavours. That’s two sachets per flavour. The flavours are: Chinese Style Chicken Noodle, Carrot & Coriander, Vegetable and Leek & Potato.
When you empty the contents of each sachet into your bowl or mug, you realize it doesn’t look like much but once you pour the water in, there’s actually a substantial amount of soup that will quell any hunger pangs you may have!
CONCLUSION: The Chinese Style Chicken Noodle is a clear soup with a chinese herb fragrance but not so much when you taste it. Carrot & Coriander tastes a lot like tomato soup but the chunky bits of carrot didn’t soften much so it was quite tough to chew. The Vegetable and Potato & Leek flavours were our favourite, as they were creamy, tasty and you could taste the ingredients in them. Excellent for dipping toasted bread into! This may bother some people but there is some use of corn starch in all their products in order to obtain their creamy texture. Overall it’s a good buy because each sachet will cost you RM0.90 only.
Taste ★★★★★
Packaging ★★★☆☆
Value for Money ★★★★☆
All we can say is that we’re now a convert for TESCO’s house brands when it comes to their food products!
