#15 - Tesco Everyday Value Beef & Tomato Flavour Noodles

• Brand: Tesco Everyday Value
• Flavour: Beef & Tomato
• Cost: £0.40
• From: Tesco
• Description:Dried noodles in a beef and tomato flavour sauce mix with soya protein and dried vegetables
• Weight: 70g (260g when made up as per instructions)
• Allergies: Wheat, Gluten, Soya
  
  
                                              Basic but alright

This is the cheapest pot I've tried so far which isn't surprising given its origins in the Everyday Value range. Despite its cheapness it still boasts a recycle logo on the pot, not the lid but that's not bad at all in my humble opinion. It also boasts about not having any artificial preservatives, flavours, colours or MSG - now that's not bad at all - for 40p!

A quick look at the ingredients and you'd recognise every word on there as a food stuff except for one and that's our old friend maltodextrin, a perfectly harmless thickening agent made from starch. To see a bit more about it and the details of some other ingredients that are found in instant noodle products take a look at the glossary.

“How do they taste?” The answer is not bad and remarkably flavoursome. I say this as you'd expect the bare minimum of flavouring but you get a nice dark broth coating nice noodles with the odd little bite of carrot or pea.

“Do they remind me in any way of a beef and tomato? The answer is no. OK, there's a bit of a taste of tomato but it's more ketchup than the fruit itself. As for beef, don't get me started on how so many noodle producers don't even bother to attempt to replicate any kind of beefiness, I wish these were different.

“How do I feel now I’ve finished it?” The answer is fine. I don't know what I was expecting to feel like? It's only 345 calories so I'm already considering my next snack and that is an issue.

Conclusion – For the price I'd say there's a lot of effort gone into this pot. OK, there's my usual rant about the beef issue but at least they've put in some textured soya which almost has the consistency of mince, almost. It's not going to fool you into thinking you're eating a piece of steak but I like it, at least there's some kind of effort gone in. Also, I've had worse at more than twice the price.

Need 4 Noodle Rating: 4/10