This week, Value for Money compares four varieties of quick soup

Knorr Gourmet Quick Soup

€1 for 3 servings, 33 cent each

The word gourmet is one which is easily thrown around by food producers anxious to give their product a bit of class, but calling a cuppa soup gourmet is a step too far. We’re not sure what the word farmhouse is doing on the box either. We counted three whole peas in the mix, a couple of small pieces of red pepper and a few small carrot chunks, which wasn’t a lot. Despite all the criticism, there is something very moreish about this. That could be the saltiness – a single portion makes up a third of an adult’s daily salt intake. It is certainly warming on a cold winter’s day and is the cheapest of the bunch.

Verdict: Surprisingly nice

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Dunnes Mug of Soup

€1.25 for 3 servings, 41 cent each

Dunnes also uses farmhouse vegetables as opposed to industrial estate vegetables or some such. This is not at all bad. The peas and carrots look real and actually tasted a little like the real thing – and there are a lot of them too. In our mug there were far too few croutons – although the ones that we did find were very nice and retained a bit of a bite long after some of the others went soggy. Despite the fact that it has a comparatively low level of salt – 1.7g per serving – it actually tastes quite nice. It is thick and warming and cheap too.

Verdict: Perfectly fine

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Erin Hotcup

€1.50 for 3 servings, 50 cent each

Tiny little flecks of parsley float on the surface and give this soup a greenish hue. They actually taste of parsley, which impressed. “Croutons” the front of the box says – and it’s not wrong. While the ingredient list told us to expect 7.5 per cent croutons, we got just four and they were tiny and tasteless. It has the lowest salt content, which is to its credit, although it does have MSG. It has a creaminess the others lack, although we are at a loss to explain why, as the chances of this being next or near cream is very small, almost as small as the amount of actual vegetables in the mix – less than 3 per cent by our calculations.

Verdict: Oddly flavoursome

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Campbell’s Cream of Vegetables

€1.59 for 3 servings, 53 cent each

This soup is a riot of colour with all manner of rehydrated vegetable bits floating to the surface the moment it is introduced to water. It has 12 per cent vegetables which is more than any of the competition. While the vegetables look nice and there are loads of them, the soup disappoints when it comes to taste and texture. It lacks flavour and is decidedly mushy. The croutons, on the other hand, are lovely and crunchy and very flavoursome – although much of that flavour is salt. Croutons aside, the actual soup is just a bit thin on taste. It is also the dearest of the bunch.

Verdict: Pricey and lacking in taste

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