Baxters Vegetarian Country Garden Soup > Reviews (2)

Soup from the country garden

Today I am going to review the canned Country Garden Soup by Baxter.

Shopper's appeal

I am from Germany but I am a huge fan of British food. So I was really excited when I found out about the Approved Food online shop. There you can buy food really cheap because it is about to go past it's best before date or is simply being discontinued. TV documentaries have shown that is is totally safe to eat products like these past their best before date if they don't have a specific "use-by-date".
On the website, the food is extremely cheap and the shipping is calculated in a fair way. Before, my only possiblity to get British food where German online shops that specialised on importing - and they are extremely expensive.
I really like soups, so this soup was an easy choice - "Country Garden Soup" simply sounded delicious.

The packaging

The soup comes in a can. There is a decorative paper label wound around it.
On the front of the can there is a picture of a bowl of soup. The soap is yellow-ish with colourful pieces of vegetables and something green and leafy in the middle. At the top you can see the red Baxters logo and the name of the soup is given.
On the back of the can you get some more information about the soup. There it says "I love the wonderful selection of garden vegetables in this delicious soup. This is defenitely a recipe that proves that simplicity is often the best!, signed by Audrey Baxter.
There are guidelines on how to prepare the soup and of course the list of ingredients and the nutritional values are also given.
The soup contains less than 1% fat, is suitable for vegetarians and gluten free.
The can contains 380g.

The soup

How to prepare it
Preparing it is really easy because you simply have to eat it. You can do that on the hob by emptying the contens of the can into a saucepan and then heating it gently until it is piping hot. It has to be stirred gently and should not boil.
You can also microwave it. Dempending on your microwave this will take 2 to 3 minutes.

What it looks like
The soup is not too thick with lots of little vegetable bits. There is a bit of rice in there as well. The broth itself is quite clear.

The smell
It smells like your usual vegetable soup. Usually canned food doesn't smell too great when it's cold I think, but this one is just fine.

The taste
All in all I liked this soup. It wasn't the greatest and can't compare to my favourite soups - the fresh ones by New Covent Garden - but it was tasty and filled me up.
The vegetable pieces are tender and taste good. The broth itself is seasoned just right without being too salty or bland. The rice gave it a bit more texture and made it more filling. I also liked the fact that it had potato pieces as well because I really like potato and rice together.
I was surprised how it satisfied me although it was just one bowl with very few calories!

The ingredients

Water, Carrots, Potatoes, Rice (7% Cooked), Peas, Swede, Tomatoes, Cornflour, Red Peppers, Onions, Butter, Salt, Yeast Extract, Sugar, Dried Onion, Celery Seed, Vegetable Oil, Herb and Spices, Herb and Spices Extracts, Vegetables 35%.

Contains: Milk, Celery.

Nutrition Information

Typical values per 100g
Energy 118kJ / 28kcal
Protein 0.9g
Carbohydrate 4.9g
- of which sugars 1.6g
Fat 0.5g
- of which saturates 0.2g
Fibre 0.8g
Sodium 0.24g
Approx salt 0.6g

The price

On Approved Food I paid £0.89 for a can.

Conclusion

The Country Garden Soup was quite nice. It doesn't stand out that much compared to other soups, but it was alright. I also think it makes for a good meal if you're on a diet and want to save calories. I was suprised at how it satisfied my appetite!