What's Good In The Supermarkets? (Excluding Aldi & Lidl)

con747 · 20-10-2020 12:30am

rubadub wrote: »

big range of them.

https://www.tesco.ie/groceries/product/search/default.aspx?searchBox=tesco%20finest%20crisps

and very different from the UK flavours

https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/search?query=tesco%20finest%20crisps

Yep, they are fairly new out. A couple of months or so and I forgot to mention them here. Had a packet between us yesterday and great flavour like the last ones, I will check out the range now!

Muahahaha · 20-10-2020 2:24pm

rubadub wrote: »

big range of them.

https://www.tesco.ie/groceries/product/search/default.aspx?searchBox=tesco%20finest%20crisps

and very different from the UK flavours

https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/search?query=tesco%20finest%20crisps

That is a big range, I must try out the bbq beef and sour cream & chive ones.

Those potato roll burger buns seem to have been discontinued in Tesco, Ive looked for them twice now and no joy. Cant see them on their website either.

rubadub · 20-10-2020 5:52pm

Muahahaha wrote: »

Those potato roll burger buns seem to have been discontinued in Tesco,

They could be seasonal, they used to be the BBQ pit range or whatever it was called, firepit or something.

Just like the seed brioche buns have vanished from aldi :mad:

Patsy167 · 20-10-2020 6:08pm

Tesco own brand wine gums and fruit pastilles are both better flavour and texture than the brand equivalents

con747 · 20-10-2020 6:30pm

Patsy167 wrote: »

Tesco own brand wine gums and fruit pastilles are both better flavour and texture than the brand equivalents

The same with their jelly babies and most of that range is a fraction of the price of the branded ones.

rubadub · 20-10-2020 10:40pm

con747 wrote: »

The same with their jelly babies and most of that range is a fraction of the price of the branded ones.

+1 on the jelly babies, lovely and soft and a proper outer layer like I remember.

I also wonder if part of the reason is the branded/originals are dropping in quality, I don't really eat those types of sweets, more a chocolate person but I remember been given rowntree fruit pastilles a while ago and was not impressed at all. I wondered if they suffered the same fate as dairy milk and others.

igCorcaigh · 14-11-2020 10:45pm

I really like the frozen chopped rosemary from Tesco. Very fresh tasting and pungent.

I don't use rosemary so often, so this is great to put in fried potatoes or on an omelette.

Muahahaha · 16-11-2020 12:56am

Good call, I always find myself stuck with dried rosemary which isnt great. Where is the frozen stuff found in Tesco, among the frozen veg somewhere?

Another Tesco find Ive had lately is their newish (I think) take away pizza range that sees to be a their copy of Dominoes as it comes in similar blue/red pizza boxes. I havent tried the pizza yet but in the range there is a hot chocolate fudge cake which when microwaved for 2 minutes the chocolate sauce on it melts into the cake. Only 3 euro too which yields four good slices.

Surreptitious · 16-11-2020 1:23am

Muahahaha wrote: »

Good call, I always find myself stuck with dried rosemary which isnt great. Where is the frozen stuff found in Tesco, among the frozen veg somewhere?

Another Tesco find Ive had lately is their newish (I think) take away pizza range that sees to be a their copy of Dominoes as it comes in similar blue/red pizza boxes. I havent tried the pizza yet but in the range there is a hot chocolate fudge cake which when microwaved for 2 minutes the chocolate sauce on it melts into the cake. Only 3 euro too which yields four good slices.

That's The Pizza Company pizzas. The stuffed crust cheese one is very good.

igCorcaigh · 16-11-2020 11:24pm

Muahahaha wrote: »

Where is the frozen stuff found in Tesco, among the frozen veg somewhere?

Yeah, in the big freezers with the veg.
Tesco finest, silver and black packaging.

Davexirl · 16-11-2020 11:36pm

con747 wrote: »

Tesco Finest Barbecue Beef Crisps 150G have the best flavour in a packet of crisps in a long time, will have to try the rest of the range now :pac:

Picked up a pack of the BBQ beef yesterday, very tasty, cheers for that.

Ryath · 17-11-2020 4:22pm

Supervalue Signature Ketchup is really good and very reasonably priced @ €1.50. One of the few ketchup's I can find in a glass bottle too. Trying not to buying condiments in plastic bottles anymore.
https://shop.supervalu.ie/shopping/food-cupboard-ketchup-brown-sauce-signature-tastes-tomato-320-grams-/p-1418411000

Muahahaha · 17-11-2020 4:37pm

Surreptitious wrote: »

That's The Pizza Company pizzas. The stuffed crust cheese one is very good.

Yeah this is the Pizza Company Hot Fudge chocolate cake, not bad for 3 euro and only 2 euro if you can find it on the bargain shelf which is how I discovered it. I must give the pizzas a try. Their Milanos Sloppy Guiseppe is also a nice pizza when it is half price which is about half the time.
https://www.tesco.ie/groceries/product/details/?id=304787726

Dizzyblonde · 17-11-2020 9:11pm

I got a bottle of Chef chip shop curry sauce in Tesco the other day, it's like a glass ketchup bottle. Looking online they also have a tub of mix that will make 1litre. It tastes just like the one from the chipper

rubadub · 17-11-2020 9:12pm

Ryath wrote: »

Supervalue Signature Ketchup is really good and very reasonably priced @ €1.50.

I will give that a go. I used to have several bottles of ketchup on the go at once. Delmonte do a good one, can be in some Asian shops.

Heinz is 148g tomatoes per 100g, that supervalu one is 229g. Interesting to see it uses wine vinegar too.

Surreptitious · 17-11-2020 11:14pm

Muahahaha wrote: »

Yeah this is the Pizza Company Hot Fudge chocolate cake, not bad for 3 euro and only 2 euro if you can find it on the bargain shelf which is how I discovered it. I must give the pizzas a try. Their Milanos Sloppy Guiseppe is also a nice pizza when it is half price which is about half the time.
https://www.tesco.ie/groceries/product/details/?id=304787726

That's one of my favourite pizzas! We have the same taste. There used to be a deal on The Pizza Company pizza and sides and dessserts but I noticed it's over now.

rubadub · 18-11-2020 11:56am

Surreptitious wrote: »

There used to be a deal on The Pizza Company pizza and sides and dessserts but I noticed it's over now.

Yeah, a good 10euro deal.

In case anybody is not aware "The pizza company" range is a tesco own brand range. It is what I would call a semi-phantom brand, in that it does not obviously appear to be a tesco product until you read the small print on the back.

So it will not be in other shops.

con747 · 24-11-2020 1:11am

Tesco have new products out the OH seen tonight on the way home, https://www.facebook.com/heatandenjoyuk/. I can only find the page linked about it so if anyone has a better insight please share!

rubadub · 24-11-2020 1:05pm

con747 wrote: »

Tesco have new products out the OH seen tonight on the way home, https://www.facebook.com/heatandenjoyuk/. I can only find the page linked about it so if anyone has a better insight please share!

I cannot see them on the Irish site but I see them on the UK site. I only checked a few but none have reviews yet, only the UK site shows reviews.

https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/shop/fresh-food/ready-meals/heat-and-enjoy

Its not clear to me if stuff is fully cooked, I thought it was with the name. I see battered cod with a 22min cook time from fresh.

Dizzyblonde · 24-11-2020 2:06pm

They're not listed in the ready meals section - maybe they're just trying them in a few stores?

odyssey06 · 26-11-2020 6:04pm

The Heat and Enjoy meals are showing up now on Tesco Ireland site now e.g.
https://www.tesco.ie/groceries/Product/Details/?id=307349066

con747 · 26-11-2020 7:21pm

Just had the Heat&Enjoy Cod in batter and onion rings with homemade chips. The Cod had 2 big enough pieces in the pack one piece a little smaller and was nice and tasty "oven cooked 200c for 30 mins" turning half way. The onion rings though half the batter was off a lot of them so check before buying, they were nice as well "200c for 15 mins". We have a Heat&Enjoy Jalfrezi and Indian selection for over the weekend. For what you get in the deal it's fairly good value @ €12.00 All the mains seem to serve 2 portions.

con747 · 28-11-2020 9:03pm

We had the Jalfrezi, Indian selection and garlic bread from the Heat & Enjoy range for dinner, the Jalfrezi was as good if not nicer than the local Indian takeaway but needed a bit more chicken for 2 people in our case "very hungry" the Indian selection was nice as well. The garlic bread was middle of the road. If all the range of mains are of the same quality it is a far cheaper and just as nice an option to the takeaways. I will be trying the rest of the range for sure!

ellejay · 30-11-2020 11:54am

I recommend these 12 buns, plenty of fruit and not dry at all.
Screen Shot 2020-11-30 at 10.52.24.png

Muahahaha · 30-11-2020 11:22pm

con747 wrote: »

We had the Jalfrezi, Indian selection and garlic bread from the Heat & Enjoy range for dinner, the Jalfrezi was as good if not nicer than the local Indian takeaway but needed a bit more chicken for 2 people in our case "very hungry" the Indian selection was nice as well. The garlic bread was middle of the road. If all the range of mains are of the same quality it is a far cheaper and just as nice an option to the takeaways. I will be trying the rest of the range for sure!

Interesting you found it as good as a takeaway, Im intrigued to try it now. One thing ready meals have never really done well is Indian food, very little meat in them and they're always afraid of adding too much heat too for fear of alienating some customers

Curb Your Enthusiasm · 02-12-2020 1:17am

What's the best Tesco Value food items that taste as good as the brand names?

Dizzyblonde · 02-12-2020 2:02am

Curb Your Enthusiasm wrote: »

What's the best Tesco Value food items that taste as good as the brand names?

That would be a subject for a separate thread, so feel free to start one. It would take this thread off topic by narrowing it to a discussion about Tesco.

Ryath · 02-12-2020 9:47pm

Muahahaha wrote: »

Interesting you found it as good as a takeaway, Im intrigued to try it now. One thing ready meals have never really done well is Indian food, very little meat in them and they're always afraid of adding too much heat too for fear of alienating some customers

Short on time the last few days so grabbed some as a quick dinner. Wasn't expecting much have got the Tesco ready meal curry's before and they've been poor. M&S are the only ready meals that I find consistently decent.

It's actually quite good I thought, had the Tika marsala, Tandoori mixed grill and garlic Naan's tonight. Cooked my own rice. The mixed grill and Naans were particularly good. Was a little shy on meat and obviously mild! Still have the Indian sides to try I'll have as snack another day. Kid's quite liked the gooey Chocolate Brownie.

Decent value €12 for two mains and 3 sides. I'll definitely try some of the others. Heat & Enjoy branding and packaging is a little naf though, looks like it's from the 90's!

Muahahaha · 02-12-2020 10:30pm

Was actually in a Tesco yesterday and was going up and down the ready meal aisle looking for it. I must be going blind or something but I couldnt find anything with Heat and Enjoy branding on it or any signage of the 12 euro offer.

Ryath · 02-12-2020 11:43pm

I was in second Tesco yesterday and didn't see it either. The first one I had got it had replaced their fridge full of The Pizza Company deal with Heat and Enjoy range. The second still had the Pizza company offer so maybe they are waiting to clear it.

The range is more than the Indian food there was chicken goujons, onion rings and garlic bread. Some of the stuff was rebranded Pizza Company sides. There was a lamb kebab kit as a main that looked decent I'll try next time.

con747 · 03-12-2020 12:08am

Muahahaha wrote: »

Was actually in a Tesco yesterday and was going up and down the ready meal aisle looking for it. I must be going blind or something but I couldnt find anything with Heat and Enjoy branding on it or any signage of the 12 euro offer.

The range on the UK site is nearly all here as well. https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/shop/fresh-food/ready-meals/heat-and-enjoy/all I heard the kebab meal wasn't great.

rubadub · 03-12-2020 12:29pm

con747 wrote: »

Jalfrezi was as good if not nicer than the local Indian takeaway but needed a bit more chicken for 2 people in our case "very hungry"

Muahahaha wrote: »

One thing ready meals have never really done well is Indian food, very little meat in them

I just look at the weights and ingredients. It is 425g and said to be for 2 people, most takeaways would be giving you that weight as a single portion. It is 21% chicken so 89g of chicken. So 44.5g of chicken is their idea of a portion.

Yet if you look at their chicken fillets. 533g is considered "3 servings", which is 184g (which I consider large).

https://www.tesco.ie/groceries/Product/Details/?id=301905719

A smallish fillet you might get 10 for a tenner in a butchers will be about 120-130g.

Ryath wrote: »

There was a lamb kebab kit as a main that looked decent I'll try next time.

I saw that one too, again claimed to be for 2 people but lighter than a kebab from my local chipper. I was warning a friend that it was more expensive by weight.

This is not particular to this range, most ready meals are way lighter than takeaways and I often just eat half a takeaway and save the rest for lunch. I know people who just split one between 2.

If I was served 44.5g of chicken in a takeaway or restaurant I would be far from impressed! so factor in the real price.

Muahahaha · 03-12-2020 11:40pm

Yeah 425g is not a great weight, its too much for one person yet not enough for two. 44g of chicken in a curry is miserly too.

caviardreams · 07-12-2020 8:10pm

Tesco own brand crumpets at 69 cent are very good for the price

Roald Dahl · 08-12-2020 12:39am

Muahahaha wrote: »

Was actually in a Tesco yesterday and was going up and down the ready meal aisle looking for it. I must be going blind or something but I couldnt find anything with Heat and Enjoy branding on it or any signage of the 12 euro offer.

In my local Tesco it's in its own fridge display along the back wall, with the cheese, fish and Pizza Company selection.

igCorcaigh · 08-12-2020 2:57pm

This stuff is delicious!
Salty, like all LKK range, but very good.

Found it not in a supermarket, but Mr Bells in Cork for €4.

https://twitter.com/ThomHetheringto/status/1335668629468291073?s=19

odyssey06 · 08-12-2020 3:00pm

Any supermarkets still have the smaller & sweeter Irish \ Netherlands strawberry varieties such as Elsanta?

I'm starting to see Mediterranean varieties come in from Spain, Egypt and not keen on them.

eeepaulo · 08-12-2020 3:46pm

Had one of those chicken jalfrezis, as everyone has suggested a bit small for 2, chicken a bit stingy, tasty though.

For 2.50 a head im happy enough.

Tipperary animal lover · 08-12-2020 4:24pm

igCorcaigh wrote: »

This stuff is delicious!
Salty, like all LKK range, but very good.

Found it not in a supermarket, but Mr Bells in Cork for €4.

https://twitter.com/ThomHetheringto/status/1335668629468291073?s=19

Love mister bells always find something new, check out the Chinese shop down the coal quay a right little treasure trove..

the beer revolu · 08-12-2020 4:42pm

Tipperary animal lover wrote: »

Love mister bells always find something new, check out the Chinese shop down the coal quay a right little treasure trove..

Jia Jia.
Great shop. Family run and very friendly.

I've been shopping there since it opened. Turned out that the woman thought I ran a restaurant - we were buying so much Chinese food!

Tipperary animal lover · 08-12-2020 5:51pm

the beer revolu wrote: »

Jia Jia.
Great shop. Family run and very friendly.

I've been shopping there since it opened. Turned out that the woman thought I ran a restaurant - we were buying so much Chinese food!

There's another chinese shop just around the corner down the lane on Daltons terrace, used to do really good food around €9 a plate but has stopped for awhile, not as friendly but good selection of stuff also

Faith · 08-12-2020 10:44pm

Tipperary animal lover wrote: »

Love mister bells always find something new, check out the Chinese shop down the coal quay a right little treasure trove..

the beer revolu wrote: »

Jia Jia.
Great shop. Family run and very friendly.

I've been shopping there since it opened. Turned out that the woman thought I ran a restaurant - we were buying so much Chinese food!

Tipperary animal lover wrote: »

There's another chinese shop just around the corner down the lane on Daltons terrace, used to do really good food around €9 a plate but has stopped for awhile, not as friendly but good selection of stuff also

I was going to ask in the Cork forum, but while we're here: Do any of the Asian shops in Cork have freezers with things like dumplings in them?

igCorcaigh · 08-12-2020 10:53pm

Faith wrote: »

I was going to ask in the Cork forum, but while we're here: Do any of the Asian shops in Cork have freezers with things like dumplings in them?

Jia Jia does have a chilled and freezer section. Not sure about the dumplings, but well worth a look.

There is also another big Chinese supermarket nearby, down a lane way. Worth a look in there too.

Edit: Tipperary animal lover mentioned that one too.

the beer revolu · 09-12-2020 10:54am

Faith wrote: »

I was going to ask in the Cork forum, but while we're here: Do any of the Asian shops in Cork have freezers with things like dumplings in them?

Yes, Jia Jia has lots of dumplings and other dim sum in the freezer.
Apart from the obvious dumplings, try the sticky rice in lotus lead parcels and the char su pork steamed buns. They also have (in the upright freezer) chines pancakes which are lovely with duck or anything else - like an Asian soft taco.

The Nal · 09-12-2020 1:39pm

Has anyone seen frozen lobster tails anywhere?

odyssey06 · 09-12-2020 2:16pm

The Nal wrote: »

Has anyone seen frozen lobster tails anywhere?

Tesco had some a while back but no sign now I'm afraid.

The Nal · 10-12-2020 11:31am

odyssey06 wrote: »

Tesco had some a while back but no sign now I'm afraid.

Yeah so did Lidl but none around anywhere it seems.

On a fish buzz at the moment. We've access to some of the best fish in the world yet its not in our culture. Weird one that.

vicwatson · 11-12-2020 12:13pm

Iceland, macrons, €3.50 for 12 delicious

Muahahaha · 11-12-2020 8:12pm

Havent been in Iceland in ages but I do like their frozen chocolate eclairs, only 1.49 for a box of 8 of them iirc.They defrost in about 10 minutes and are then ready to eat. Must pop in for some and to see what else is to be found.

Mervyn Skidmore · 12-12-2020 12:14am

Picked up a Gino D'acampo frozen pizza in Iceland the other day when picking up a few other bits. Have to say it was lovely. Even nicer than the Dunnes Simply Better pizzas and the Saturdays Pizza's which are also great.

What's Good In The Supermarkets? (Excluding Aldi & Lidl)

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