Taste Test: Jacob’s Cracker Crisps Thai Sweet Chilli Flavour

Let’s get one thing straight here: I’m not a cracker fan unless they’re prawn crackers (but think they’re a completely different thing) so why would I be trying the latest offering from Jacobs? Well there’s two reasons:

1. Curiosity (it’s not killed me yet!)
2. I was get £1.00 back from the Shopitize app on my phone (I may get around to doing a post on this app at some point….maybe a video…no that might scare people!) so worth the risk

So first job is to work out where they would be kept with a name like cracker crisp. Are they a cracker or a crisp? Well according to one of my local supermarkets, they’re filed under crackers. Which is probably the right decision here as personally they do feel more like crackers than a crisp. I found the taste to be a tad strong meaning that I couldn’t have too many in one setting (normally I’m a fan of sweet chilli flavour but it took me two weeks on my own dipping in and out as no one else in the house fancied them).

They’re probably not something that I would buy all the time. For me they are more a wee nibble that you would have out at a party rather than something you’d buy and eat as you would a pack of crisps.

Taste Testing: Blue Dragon Sweet Chilli Chicken Flavour Noodles

I’ll try anything once. Look under the food tag for that one. And this is one of those moments. While shopping in one of the local supermarkets (don’t want to show favouritism after all :p) at the weekend, this just happened to be shouting at me (it of course had nothing to do with the fact that it was on offer at only £1)

 

I’m not going to lie. I may be a little very partial to the sweet chilli sauce produced by Blue Dragon so of course I wasn’t going to have any issue with trying this. After all, in my mind it was just a Pot Noodle produced by someone else, right?

Well, on opening you’re presented with 3 little packages:

From left to right we have dried vegetables, the flavouring and of course the noodles. Now it all very simple to make. Open the dried veg and flavourings and pour into the pot you’ve just taken them out of then add the noodles. Fill to the line shown on the packaging (apparently it’s about 200ml), pop lid back on for approx. 2.5 mins, stir separating the noodles, pop the lid back on and wait another 2.5 mins and then,  voila! Ready to eat.

Taste wise they were alright. It was just a nice balance that I think anyone would appreciate. And the portion size was just right too despite what you might think on initially opening the package. My only concern was that they did seem a little watery so probably the next time I’d fill it just below the line. Think getting the water level right, for me, is going to be like adding water to the tomato soup paste by heinz…but that’s another story. Might see what other flavours are available and give them a go.

Taste Testing: BirdsEye Lightly dusted Cod Fillets – Lemon & Black Pepper

Battered fish. Fish in batter. However you want to describe it, it seems that the UK may be having a little love affair with fish in it's various forms. But now it seems that there's a call for lighter options. And it's here that we find BirdsEye latest offering: Lightly Dusted Cod Fillets. They are currently available in three flavours: Lemon & black pepper, rosemary & sea salt and garlic & herb. If you haven't guessed by the title, this review focuses on the lemon & black pepper version.

Packaging

The fillets have more of a thin batter & lovely flaky cod. The fillet itself isn't too thick or too thin. Birdseye have found just the right fillet size for this 'lighter' option. The flavourings of lemon & black pepper complements the fish beautifully and aren't too overpowering.
Looking at this from a personal point of view, while enjoying it and it's lightness (I'm not a great fish lover to start with ), it's not something that I could have week in, week out. I think that it's more of a once in a while meal when you're wanting something a little different from the norm and definitely something for the warm summer months. Wonder if we could get a plain version of this for a try….

Fish with salad & mango. Yum!

Taste Testing: Tesco Finest Free From Triple Chocolate Cookies

There are benefits to be parts of schemes where you get to try products for less or even for free (and who doesn’t love a freebie, be honest). The Orchard from Tesco is one of these programmes. Not everyone is suited to all their programmes that they offer but if they think that you would be interested, then you’ll get an invite. The latest one that I was invited to came in the form of ‘Tesco Favourites’.
They offered you a selection of products, one of which you picked (as you might have guessed from the title of this blog, I took the cookies that were on offer). You receive a voucher allowing you to get this product free as well as another one to spend on other tesco branded products.
Now to be honest, when someone suggests Free From, automatically I’m thinking that it tastes a bit bland and cardboardy. Unfortunately, I can’t show you a picture of what the cookies looked like but you can have the box (in case you want to go look for them and try them yourselves).
 
Why can’t I show you the cookies? Because they didn’t last! They weren’t what I thought they were going to be. They actually reminded me of chocolate covered hobnobs and felt very more-ish (hence why they didn’t last!) Even my mum, who also had the preconception that they would be tasteless enjoyed them. We’re even considering trying other Free From products after this little experiment (and that’s something I didn’t think I would be saying).
As for the other voucher? Well, we’re quite happy buying Tesco branded products, even if it is to see how they are on par with what we would usually buy. Most of the time, there isn’t that much of a difference between branded and store-own (although I do draw the line at beans, tomato sauce & tomato soup: that always has to be Heinz!) apart from maybe price. The last product we switched was from Kellogg’s Raisin Wheats to Tesco’s own. The only different really is in the size but still the same great taste!
Check out the cookies from the testing here

Quick & Simple: Sweet & Sour Battered Chicken By Blue Dragon

There’s always something that catches you eye when you’re out shopping that you think, ‘Hmmm, fancy that’. And that was the case with Blue Dragon Sweet & Sour Battered Chicken. This wasn’t the first time I’ve tried something similar. They also do a crispy chilli beef version that, when we tried it, went horribly wrong (though we now know why!)
So what do you get: the batter mixture & a sauce.

The batter is easy enough to make. Simply add water measured in the cap and mix until the consistency of double cream. The mixture is meant for 225g of chicken but we managed to cover 400g (just!) You’re suppose to cook the chicken in a pan but instead I used the deep fat fryer and it seemed to work. Cooked the chicken for a couple of minute before removing and drying the excess oil off.
The sauce is simply heated and served either separately or drizzled over the chicken. We served our with rice.
It’s the first time that they finished product actually looked like the the image on the front of the label

It’s relatively quick & simple to make with minimum effort and perfect is you want to try something a little different. Having had success with this one, I think we’ll be having another bash with the crispy chilli beef one!