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To Buy or Not to Buy: Food Reviews (w/c 18th July)

Megan Geall


I am a huge, huge foodie. Call me a weirdo but food shopping is one of my favourite things and taking me to a supermarket or food hall is like taking a kid to a sweet shop. I love to spend money on trying new products; food and drink, savoury and sweet (much to my parents dismay when they see my bank account!). Luckily for you, I’m here to review all the best new food products in the shops and advise which are the ones worth trying and, of course, which to avoid…

My Foodie Week

Once again, it was a very busy week for me, however I was determined to continue my hunt for new products. And I hope I haven’t let you down. I am incredibly lucky to be interning at a food magazine so I have recently spent lots of time eating out and doing restaurant reviews so I haven’t been visiting supermarkets too much (my bank account is secretly cheering) but I picked a couple of products to try and went on a specific search. As I’ve been so busy, I really didn’t visit many exciting shops. So, most of the products are just from my local Tesco or Sainsbury’s but the food was still fantastic.

Kettle Onion Bhaji Naan Bites 

“…the onion bhaji flavour was very addictive.”

After last week’s run-in with Kettle’s new range of share bags, I was a little bit cautious. The focaccia bites from last week were, let’s just say, not my cup of tea. But, as the other Kettle products are pretty wonderful (Sea Salt and Crushed Black Peppercorn being my personal favourite), I trusted my instinct and went back for the Onion Bhaji Bites.

These have the same texture as the focaccia bites; kind of like a cracker but thicker and crunchier. The actual flavour was a pleasant surprise. I think it’s hard to specify the exact taste of an onion bhaji but they did have that classic Indian spice so certainly resembled a bhaji in some way. I personally loved these. While I wouldn’t technically recommend them as crisps (they’re too big and bulky to be called that) they are a good snack and the onion bhaji flavour was very addictive.

Overall: 8/10

Buy them in Tesco or online here.

Sainsbury’s Summer Edition: Ham and Piccalilli crisps

“It broke my pickle-loving heart”

Can you tell I have an unhealthy crisp obsession? Yes, I’m back with another share bag! This time it was Sainsbury’s limited-edition Ham and Piccalilli crisps. Now, I am that weird person that adores piccalilli (I am the weird pickle friend and I love it) so I was very excited that Sainsbury’s had gifted me with such a flavour combo. It was, however, a let-down. They didn’t really taste like piccalilli – more like beef and horseradish. It was definitely a meaty flavour, but unidentifiable as ham and it had heat to it but it definitely wasn’t a pickled flavour. It broke my pickle-loving heart.

Overall: 3/10

Buy these in Sainsbury’s or online here. 

Snickers Triple Treat Bars

Originally exclusive to Tesco, I have been hunting for these since they were released but have had no luck in any of my local stores! Now they are slowly being released into other supermarkets I’ve started seeing them pop up in a few different places so I was straight to the checkout with a box in my hand. Coming in four different flavours of everyone’s favourite chocolate bars (Snickers, Mars, Galaxy and the divisive Bounty), the Triple Treat Bar is a high-fibre, chocolatey snack consisting of blended dates, raisins and peanuts that are then dipped and drizzled with milk chocolate.

Image courtesy of Shyam Mishra on Unsplash. Image license can be found here. No changes were made to this image.

Each bar is slightly different to match the original chocolate bar so obviously, the Snickers Triple Treat Bar is topped with peanuts. I think it’s important to remember that these aren’t chocolate bars – they have the taste of a muesli bar through the blended dates and raisins, but this doesn’t mean they’re not delicious. Nailing the taste of a Snickers, the bar is sweet and salty with the perfect amount of chocolate to make a healthier choice taste like a chocolate bar. 

Overall: 10/10

Buy them in Tesco or online here. 

Fibre One Chocolate Doughnut

Another chocolate treat for you all! Fibre One is known for its low-calorie, high-fibre treats. Usually, their products are either cake-like squares or chocolate-covered cake bars; this time they’ve branched out with a doughnut. These are a similar size (read: small), like the rest of their products but it is certainly a satisfying snack.

Image courtesy of Megan Geall.

The dough is a very good replication of an actual doughnut and the whole thing is coated in a thin layer of chocolate and decorated with sprinkles. I really enjoyed this and it was great to see a new product from this brand. To be perfectly honest, they’re a sweet, chocolatey treat but just ever so slightly on the small side. 

Overall: 9/10

Buy these in Tesco or online here.


Featured image courtesy of Denny Müller on Unsplash. Image license can be found here. No changes were made to this image.

Megan is a 23-year-old recent English and American Literature graduate and aspiring journalist. Her interests include food, fitness, lifestyle writing and dance!

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