Tried and Tasted: Pasta Salads

With the start of summer firmly here, it’s out with the soup and in with the salads for our office lunches. But you won’t find a boring plain green salad here, the WLR Tried and Tasted Team opted for trying out some of the low calorie pasta salads available instead, and h

Table 1: Pasta Salads Compared
Brand Marks & Spencer, Nutritionally Balance Marks & Spencer, COU Asda, GFY Marks & Spencer, Nutritionally Balance Weight Watchers
Flavour Hot Smoked Lochmuir Salmon Feta Cheese & Slow Roasted Tomatoes Tuna Pasta Salad Cherry Tomatoes, Spinach & Pine Nuts Tomato, Basil & Chicken
  Pasta with Hot Smoked Lochmuir Salmon Pasta with Feta Cheese and Slow Roasted Tomatoes Tuna Pasta Salad Pasta with Cherry Tomatoes, Spinach & Pine Nuts Tomato, Basil and Chicken Pasta Salad
Rating ggggg Very Good ggggg Good ggggg Good ggggg
Good
ggggg
Ok
Comments Our favourite out of the Pasta Salads, with a portion size that leaves your tummy as well as your taste buds satisfied. A general crowd pleaser and some people’s favourite. We were put off by the small portion but soon found it was perfect as this pasta salad was very filling. A classic done well, but nothing special. Could have done with more tuna in it. We did like portion size, but this is reflected in the calories This may not have been a standout favourite for anyone, but we’d all happily eat it if given to us. However watch out for the high fat content Bit like marmite this one, we either loved it or hated it. However it was the lowest in calories of our pasta salads, and is worth giving it a go.
Appearance Fantastic looking piece of fish on a bed of pasta, with plenty of green and plenty of sauce too. Colourful with sauce covering the pasta, looks homemade. Bit boring looking really, but then it’s tuna pasta, they all look boring. Spinach is very apparent as is very green, yet still appealing. Very artificial, rather looks like it came out of a tin.
Smell We didn’t notice one. Subtle basil aroma. Combination of tuna & vinegar. Strong smell of pesto & pine nuts.

Vinegary

Taste Ingredients really compliment each other. Quite mild, but loving the feta cheese. Thick and creamy tuna goodness. Disappointingly bland, especially for the calories. Plus after a few mouthfuls become slightly stodgy. No real substance but vinegary taste.
Texture Great mixture, although some tasters would have preferred the pasta a little more al dente. Great mix of textures with firm pasta base. Not as stodgy as you might have thought, thumbs up from us. Pine nuts are a winner on the texture front giving it more variety than some pastas Gooey, with good bits of chicken.
Serving Size 1 Tub/195g 1 Tub/190g 1 Tub/250g 1 Tub/190g 1 Tub/245g
Calories/ serving kcal 295 335 340 350 280
Fat/serving g 12.3 13.3 14.8 16.7 4.7

ere’s what they found:

Table 2: More Low Calorie Pasta Salads Compared
Brand Sainsbury’s, BGTY Marks & Spencer, COU      
Flavour Tomato, Basil & Chicken Tomato, Basil & Chicken      
  Pasta with Tomato and Basil Chicken Pasta with Tomato and Basic British Chicken      
Rating ggggg
Ok
ggggg
Ok
     
Comments

Too much sauce and not enough flavour was the general consensus, but not bad

A disappointing effort from M&S, this one looked cheap and didn’t taste that much better      
Appearance Colourful with large bits of chicken and plenty of sauce Huge chunks of chicken, but little sauce makes it look dry and cheap.      
Smell Non-descript Subtle basil aroma.    

 

Taste Can’t say it tasted of anything in particular but was nice. Chicken was somewhat dry, with the sauce and pasta being rather bland.      
Texture With so much sauce made it a bit sloppy. Dry, rubbery chicken really let this dish down.      
Serving Size 1 Tub/195g 1 Tub/330g      
Calories/ serving kcal 357 365      
Fat/serving g 15.1 8.3      

 

Conclusion

Marks & Spencer get a big round of applause from us, as they are the only supermarket to offer a range of low calorie pasta salad options. We were actually really surprised when we found ourselves struggling to find low calorie salads, which is why we have tasted so many from M&S – we figured they’ve made the effort, so we’d try them!

Bought salads can have a shocking amount of calories in, and even some of our healthier options here are higher than we would have expected so always check the packaging, or get creative in the kitchen and prepare your own.

Guide to Our Ratings:
= Outstanding | = Very Good
= Good | = Ok | = Poor

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