When it comes to canned tomato soup many people wouldn't dream of going past Heinz.
The long-standing favourite has been around for decades and built up a serious following.
But while there are a number of alternatives available how do they really measure up?
Sam Honey decided to try them out and found the results not necessarily as expected.
Here's how Sam got on as reported by Kent Live.
It is very easy for a bad lunch to ruin your afternoon.
There’s nothing worse than trying to focus on work after a step out of your meal deal comforts has left you disappointed and annoyed (note to self: never trust a cold egg sandwich).
You can’t really go wrong with a simple soup, and if you’re anything like me, tomato is usually the way to go.
One brand, in particular, has made its way to the top of the soup field, and many other fields for that matter, Heinz.
Undeniably this is one of the nation’s favourite brands for so many different products, namely soups, sauces and beans - ‘beanz meanz Heinz’ after all and you can’t argue with a catchy slogan.
I more often than not find myself reaching for the familiar red tin whenever I’m after a lunchtime soup fix, especially back in my student days, when my diet primarily consisted of soups, instant noodles and oven pizzas, truly a healthy food pyramid if ever there was.
But I couldn’t help but wonder if I was really getting the best for the price I was paying.
With the cost of living only rising further and further, saving those precious pennies can really begin to make a difference over a week of spending.
So, I set out on a mission to potentially change my lunches forever and find out if any of the leading supermarkets could provide an equal if not better soup experience than Heinz, and save me some pennies while doing so.
I visited Marks and Spencer, Aldi and Tesco to see how the own-brand competition stacked up to the real deal.
Heinz
First things first, I would need a point of reference so I grabbed a tin of Heinz to compare against.
This was a taste I was more than familiar with, the perfect balance between sweet and savoury that really hits the spot on a cold day.
In terms of price, the tin I grabbed from Iceland was £1, perfectly reasonable but every alternative I had bought for comparison was cheaper.
Heinz has also perfected the texture, not too creamy and heavy and not too runny either, the perfect midpoint that really makes a lasting impression.
University nostalgia of living off of this and bread that was almost certainly past its use by date aside, it’s a soup that really is tough to beat.
Marks and Spencer
I decided to start the competition with the brand most known for its quality, M&S.
The supermarket giant has become so strongly associated with high quality so it's hard to expect anything less when buying their products, even if it means paying a little more.
When it came to soup however, I was pleasantly surprised at what their offering cost, just 50p for a standard sized can.
Straight away after opening the can a difference could be seen, the colour was considerably darker and the consistency much thicker, the label advertised that it had been made with double cream so that solved that mystery.
On to taste and there was a very distinct change, the flavours were much richer and heavier, bearing a lot of similarities to cooking sauces used for pasta, I did actually double check the can after my initial taste to make sure I had actually picked up soup.
Then in terms of consistency, the double cream was very noticeable and after just a few spoonfuls began to feel very heavy.
By no means was this a bad product, far from it, the signature M&S quality shone through undeniably, but for my own tastes I’d still much sooner take a tin of Heinz.
Tesco
From a brand associated with quality over to one focused more on value, Tesco provided us with contender number two in this challenge - and again the difference was immediately noticeable.
First of all though, in terms of price this was cheaper than both Heinz and M&S, costing just 45p which is an undeniable bargain.
The taste was definitely not nearly as strong as the previous two choices however, and seemed to disappear in an instant.
The consistency as well was much runnier and watery compared to the other two which really let it down.
So, when looking for an alternative to Heinz unfortunately Tesco doesn’t quite meet the mark.
Now only one contender remained.
Aldi
If you’re looking for a shop on the cheap it really is very difficult to contend with Aldi, the brand prides itself on having some of the best value on the market.
So of course a can of soup was no exception, costing me just 40p, the cheapest of the day and making it the winner on the price front.
Obviously I can’t decide a winner until a taste test has also been completed, and after my first spoonful I was genuinely stunned.
Aldi’s offering tasted almost identical to Heinz, if maybe only a touch sweeter but not enough to detract from the overall taste.
Looking at the colour and the consistency, we also had a near-perfect match.
Between the exceptional price and genuinely great quality, this very easily took the top spot of the day.
Verdict
If you’re after a lunchtime fix that will leave you just as satisfied as Heinz while leaving you a little richer in the process, then Aldi is undeniably the choice to go with.
Between the great price and taste, this was a clear winner.
M&S did offer a very interesting and delicious alternative that I’ll be sure to try again in the future, but if we’re looking for the closest match to Heinz it strays a little too far from the mark.
Tesco unfortunately left me rather disappointed overall, and I’d be unlikely to pick this over the leading brand.
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