I'm back at Uni on Saturday so I won't be around much (see my extended profile!)
I'm back at Uni on Saturday so I won't be around much (see my extended profile!)
Member since:05.04.2002
Reviews:50
Members who trust:49
Slimming. What a fun topic. Something, which we all HATE, having to do, but adore the results. Something, which we want to be easy. Something, which we want to involve all the chocolate, ice cream, and burgers n chips, we desire. Unfortunately, it’s never like this, and diets tend to involve endless glasses of water, lettuce leaves, and “low fat” cereal bars which taste of cardboard. Life really sucks at time.
A couple of weeks ago I was browsing round (read: making wish list of things to waste money on when my student loan comes through) my local Boots, when I stumbled into the “meal replacement” section. I thought about buying a couple of cans of Slimfast, when I suddenly saw the soups. A few days earlier I had actually read a review on Ciao of these, proclaiming that it’s better to starve than eat these. They couldn’t be that bad, could they? In the interest of consumer research (and my fellow Ciaoers), I thought I’d
better try them out.
Garden Vegetables with peppers and croutons Mediterranean Tomato with basil and croutons Creamy Wild Mushroom with croutons Seasoned Chicken with sweetcorn and croutons
The recommended retail price for these is £3.49, but the ones I bought were marked down, and cost me £1.74. I chose the mushroom flavour.
The packaging of these soups is in keeping with the rest of the Slim Fast range, in that it carries the logo, and some nutritional info on the front of the packet. There is also a picture of a bowl of soup, looking rather delicious, with loads of herbs, chunks and mushrooms and huge croutons. The box also carries the Knorr logo (yup, those people who did the “They’ve got the K-know how” adverts), as the chefs at Knorr created the recipe. The soups come in a box, which has an envelope style lid, so it can be resealed.
The back of the box is full on detailed, and utterly terrifying nutritional info. We have a huge list of nutritional facts, and details on the vitamins and minerals content. The important ones are as follows (all per serving) –
Calories– 211 Saturated fat – 2.5g Vitamin A – 30% of RDA Vitamin D – 35% of RDA Vitamin E – 100% of RDA Vitamin C – 50% of RDA
Sounds okay so far! The back also contains preparation info, information on the Slim Fast plan, and how to join the group, and some health warnings.
Each soup comes in an individual foil packet, meaning they are really easy to take out and about with you. Each packet again carries the logo and picture, and says, “A delicious soup created from the finest ingredients. Full of the nutrition you need and foil sealed for freshness.” On the back of the packet, we have what reads almost like some kind of dieting prep talk. It uses casual language, so you feel like the people at Slim Fast are your mates (and not people charging you massive prices for the ‘privilege’ of being starved.) “Let’s get one thing straight,” it tells us. “Dieting is tough.” Blah blah blah “There will be ups and downs, but you can do it. And we can be there to support and inspire you.” You catch my drift?
The soups are really easy to prepare, and if you’ve ever made a cuppa soup you can make these – I promise. Simply empty the packet contents into a bowl, add 250ml of boiling water (or fill up the bowl, which is what I did.), and stir until it’s not lumpy anymore (they recommend about 30 seconds, I’d say slightly longer.)
The powder itself is just that – powder. Paley brown in colour, it dissolves fairly quickly, and doesn’t go lumpy, which is a problem I’ve had in the past with packet soups. I was pleased with how quickly this one dissolved.
How does it taste? Well, it’s okay. That’s it. It does taste pretty creamy, and not too much like mushrooms, and I didn’t need to add any salt or pepper to give it a bit of extra taste. It was a fairly thin consistency, but this is in keeping with packet soups, and could easily be made to be thicker by simply adding less water (I usually add water a bit at a time, to see how thin/thick I want it.) Personally, I’m not a massive fan of very thick soups, so the consistency was perfect for me. I did like the taste, but I didn’t think it was it was absolutely gorgeous. I prefer a quite chunky soup, and this was all very thin, with no real bite to it. The pieces of mushroom were miniscule, and resembled tiny brown flecks in the soup, and the croutons were utterly pointless. I personally think that croutons need to be huge and chunky, otherwise they just taste like you’ve got bits of sand in your soup or something. These croutons were tiny, and looked exactly the same as the mushroom flecks, so it was impossible to tell whether you were going to be greeted with a crunchy or slimy sensation with each mouthful.
Did this fill me up? Pretty much. I didn’t quite finish the whole bowl full, but very nearly did. I did feel full, and wasn’t hungry for about another 3 hours. This is perfectly normal for me, as I tend to snack every three hours, rather than have large meals. Therefore, for most people this would probably make quite a good lunch, but I would advise people to eat it with some crackers or something, to save you feel starving later on in the day!
Would I recommend this? At nearly £3.50, no. I wouldn’t have bought it had it not been marked down, and I would certainly not buy it again if it was at the full price. Paying over £1 for what is basically a glorified cuppa soup is, in my opinion, out of order, and it obviously cost them a fraction of the price to produce! If I did see this product I would probably buy it again, but I would like to try the tomato flavour instead.
Bachelors are also now doing a slimmers version of their Cuppa Soups, which, whilst I’m not sure on the exact price, are much cheaper than these, and you also get 4 packets rather than 3. I have already bought these, and am chuffed with them!
Taste wise, these are OK. Price wise, if I want to pay that much for a cuppa soup, I’ll go to the Ritz, and have one there, thanks very much!
Slim Fast Soups are available from Boots and most big supermarkets.
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For 211 calories i'd rather have a bowl of Heinz xx
coco200066 18.11.2004 18:07
Just wanted to say that here in Dallas the two slim fast soups that I love to have more so because they taste so good rather than the diet thing, are the Patatoe Cheddar and the Chicken with croutons. Really good.
Bruce1958 25.04.2003 05:51
Not available in Canada yet but I bet they will be soon. your right croutons should be huge and crunchy.
Sep 20th, 2002
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