It's part
seven of our Lincolnshire sausage season and our first trip down the
polished aisles of the supermarket. Sainsburys supermarket to be
precise, last week voted seventh out of nine in a UK consumer
satisfaction survey by Which? Magazine. I have to say that I don't
think I've ever had a really bad experience with Sainsburys so I am
judging from a neutral and objective platform....but it would take a
really good supermarket banger to match up to even a run-of-the-mill
butcher's version. We shall see....
There was
recently an enlightening piece in the Daily Mail online featuring
Sainsburys and their sausages, you could do worse than to spend a few
minutes reading the whole article here: Shrinkflation
I have
also trailed this review a couple of times on Twitter and the
Sainsburys social media team have been very efficient, going as far
as to offer me my money back for dissatisfaction. Thanks for your
efforts Allie and Steven but a refund won't be needed – just maybe
an apology to mankind for inflicting these sausages on humanity.
Where To
Find Them:
Very much
like rats, you're never far away from a Sainsburys store. As of March
2016 there were 601 supermarket-size stores and 773 convenience
stores in the UK, and I'll be blowed if I'm listing them all here.
Opening
Hours:
Usually
open all the hours in the day, every day, but do check with your
local impersonal megastore before travelling. I visited the Sleaford,
Lincolnshire store and they are open at the following times:
Monday –
0800 to 2100
Tuesday -
0800 to 2100
Wednesday
- 0800 to 2100
Thursday -
0800 to 2100
Friday -
0800 to 2100
Saturday -
0800 to 2100
Sunday –
1000 to 1600
Stanwatch:
You find
supermarket sausages in chiller racks on the meat aisle more often
than not, although often there are token butchery counters which
contain the same stuff as the shelving units. In the Sleaford branch
there is no separate butchery counter so even the pretence of
in-store prepared meat doesn't exist. No stans.
Flavour:
Way too
much salt and no noticeable herb content. The ingredients list quotes
salt, sage, “spices”, mace, white pepper and ginger but there
must be tiny quantities of all but the NaCl because you just can't
taste them. Not quite as bad as a greasy spoon cafe sausage, but not
far off.
Texture:
When you
open the pack it appears that four Borrowers with terrible
haemorrhoids are mooning at you. As flaccid as anything prior to
cooking but improved a little in the grill as some semblance of
texture emerged. The filling squirted at a great pace through the
fork – not the finest (in terms of chunkiness OR quality) filling
ever but the worst by a country mile of the Lincolnshire sausages
we're currently reviewing. The awful filling is matched by the
dreadful collagen skins which either dissolved and disappeared or
turned into chewy papyrus. Fairly unpleasant.
Vital
Statistics:
Average
Weight Uncooked = 57 grams
Average
Weight Cooked = 46 grams
Meat
Content = 72 %
Value For
Money:
£1.60 for
8 sausages weighing 459 grams (which is good, as the pack states just
454g, so you get 1% free). This works out as £3.49 per kg and 20p
per banger.
We rate
this as poor value for money. Cheapness does not necessarily equate
to good VFM.
Three Word
Verdicts*:
Junior
Sidekick: “They're all right as filling in a bap”.
Ruth:
“It's a cheap meal for those who need a cheap meal”.
JP: n/a
* Three
word verdicts did, once upon a time, consist of just three words.
The "Aah,
Bisto" Factor:
Zero
discernible aroma from opening the pack to eating.
The
Imaginatively Titled Next Day Cold Sausage Test:
You think
there will be any sausages left from a pack of eight when Junior
Sidekick is around? Ha! No chance.
And
Finally, Esther:
These
items are rated at 3.6 out of 5 on Sainsburys website – I expect
this score will slide when I add my own opinion. Low price does not
automatically equate to good value. I wouldn't recommend these to
anybody.
Table
so far:
1=
Bycroft's, Boston
1=
Southern & Thorpe, Ruskington
3
– Lyell's, Boston
4
– Hambleton Farms, Doddington Hall
5
– Manor Farm, Leasingham
6
– Dunham's, Boston
7
– Sainsburys, Sleaford
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