Tesco Cassoulet - shun & avoid

[Mark Donnelly]

How much did you pay for said Cassoulet? I've seen a medium sized jar/bottle in Waitrose for £14 I think.

Personally, I never shop in Tesco and never have. That means I am in no position to jusge, and probably better off for it.

[Maison Rustique]

This is fascinating to me! They are opening a Tesco near me here in Southern California sometime soon. I've never been in a Tesco, but the publicity that has preceded this opening has touted it as a wonderful place to shop. I'll be sure to avoid the cassoulet and will report back on how the store is received here.

[Richard_D]

Personally, I never shop in Tesco and never have.

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Crikey

[apshelbourne]

Just to clarify: the cassoulet in question was a chilled product, not a tin. It cost £3-odd and was labelled as being a meal for one. I have never seen it before in Tesco, and I never wish to see it again.

I have frequently eaten perfectly acceptable (to me, at least) tinned cassoulets, sourced - as we *all* say on this forum - from France. OK, not as good as what you can do at home, but a very useful standby.

The point I was trying to make, obviously inadequately, was *not* that this cassoulet wasn't very nice, or that the pork in it had been reared in some Dutch gulag. The gist was that it was quite the worst thing I've ever come across that purported to be a foodstuff, and that I felt surprised that even the corporate technowazzocks at Tesco could think it was acceptable.

[PoppySeedBagel]

apshelbourne - are you going to tell Tesco? You really should. It might make you feel better, and at least you will have done something.

(I'm now inspired to email Sainsbury's about the completely tasteless prawns I bought the other day.)

A friend works in 'product development' for a big supplier to M&S & Waitrose. Interestingly she never eats ready meals - she knows what goes into them.

[CYvonne]

I swear Tesco's uses bits of polystyrene ceiling tile instead of feta in their Greek salad. Haven't bought lunch from them since, so I suppose it reminded me to avoid the place.

[grahamR]

The horror of Tesco Cassoulet simply pales into insignificance when faced with the true Godzilla of crap: Iceland's "Famous" King Prawn Ring (only £3). It looks more suitable as a site for pagan ritual than as something you'd eat.

It might almost make an amusing Christmas Wreath were it not for obvious health, safety and cat issues.

[KimS]

It might almost make an amusing Christmas Wreath were it not for obvious health, safety and cat issues.

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My award goes to Iceland's 'roast from frozen' joints. Kerry 'calm down, calm down' Katona couldn't have sunk any lower (other than doing a bestiality movie) when she signed up for that gig. Chav slag.

Edited December 11, 2006 by KimS (log)

[thom]

My award goes to Iceland's 'roast from frozen' joints. Kerry 'calm down, calm down' Katona couldn't have sunk any lower (other than doing a bestiality movie) when she signed up for that gig. Chav slag.

Or, it could be viewed as marketing genius in terms of picking a public figure who resonates with the store's target demographic? Surely the people expected to flood the aisles of Iceland are the same people who voted tabloid-regular Ms Katona 'Mother of the Year'. Twice.

With a moral compass like that I think they'll be prime candidates to buy excruciatingly produced, mulch-pumped chicken pieces by the bucketload.

On the subject of naff supermarkets, Market Street Manchester has recently gained a rather large Aldi. I thought it might make this fairly grim strip of retail more down-market still, but luckily they opened the store with a live PA by Keith Chegwin.

Phew. Enough super-market snobbery for me, back to work I go.

Thom

[Mrs Woman]

At the risk of sounding like some "chav slag" (charming phrase), Aldi actually does some decent Parmesan and not-too-horrific wine and beer. And it's cheap.

Would never buy any frozen shite from Iceland but they have good deals on the 'chavy' thing in life like crisps and boxes of chocolates (no Green & Blacks though, we got them from Woolies) that you would pay over the odds for in Waitrose and Sainsbury.

It sometimes pays to climb down off your food snobbery perches (I too used to sit there) and enter some of these places - you can find the odd gem lurking.

(Not sure why Kerry Katona has the scouse refrain 'calm down, calm down' attached to her when she is from Warrington, NOT Liverpool. Or do all Northern towns blend into one for you Southerners?)

[thom]

It sometimes pays to climb down off your food snobbery perches (I too used to sit there) and enter some of these places - you can find the odd gem lurking.

Wise words Mrs Woman. You speak like a lady who regularly braved the pre-makeover Arndale market. Not for the fainthearted; there was no sushi bar or Gastronomica stall in those days...

(Not sure why Kerry Katona has the scouse refrain 'calm down, calm down' attached to her when she is from Warrington, NOT Liverpool. Or do all Northern towns blend into one for you Southerners?)

Possibly tarred with the Scouse brush as she featured in chirpy mid-nineties girlband 'Atomic Kitten', along with Liverpudlian starlets Liz and Natasha?

Not that I am any expert on such matters.

Oh come on, it's not as if I knew their surnames!

Cheers

Thom

[Mrs Woman]

Thom, I have never been to the Arndale market, before or after revamp! I only worked in Manc, I live in 'leafy' Cheshire remember

And as for Atomic Kitten, I bet you have the entire back catalgue lurking at home somewhere.

[MartinGill]

I can't knock all ready meals, as they can have beneficial side effects In the late 80's, my parents went on holiday whilst I revised for my A levels. To allow me more time to revise (ever the optimists) they gave me money to buy a weeks worth of ready meals from the local supermarket, Asda. Amazingly I lasted for a whole 3 days consuming the most inedible rubbish. I then headed off to the local shop for fresh ingredients and I cooked for myself for the rest of the week. I cooked for my parents when they arrived home, and have never looked back.

And now I never buy meat unless it is from the local farm shop, or even better the local farmer. How times change.

[algy]

It might almost make an amusing Christmas Wreath were it not for obvious health, safety and cat issues.

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My award goes to Iceland's 'roast from frozen' joints. Kerry 'calm down, calm down' Katona couldn't have sunk any lower (other than doing a bestiality movie) when she signed up for that gig. Chav slag.

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"It is impossible for an Englishman to open his mouth without making some other Englishman hate or despise him,"

and as for "chav slag", it's a term of endearment, right? Why else have Kerry's picture as your avatar?

[insomniac]

A woman after my own heart Mrs W.

....and unnecessary remarks like 'chav slag' say more about the remarker than the remarkee

[apshelbourne]

Just to close this debate (perhaps): I have had my faith restored - in cassoulet, that is, not in Tesco.

I was in Wells, Somerset on Saturday, and went to the market stall run by a very nice French person. Among other things, I bought a tin of Cassoulet au Confit de Canard, made by Bastide de Narcillac in Castelnaudary. £3.50 for 840g.

It was bloody lovely.

[fisherman]

Good stall that, I was a regular when I lived in the south west. Excellent boudin noir and chorizo too.

[insomniac]

then pop into the Old Spot in Sadler St. for lunch. Can highly recommend it.

[PoppySeedBagel]

I did complain to Sainsbury's about their tasteless prawns (I did admisttedly sweeten the pill by gushing over their stocking all-butter puff pastry) and they have credited £10-worth of Nectar points to my account.

I'll be doing that again...