Asda Has to Set Limit On Its New Just Essentials Range
The supermarket chain, Asda, has had to limit customers to a maximum of three of each item in the store's 'Just Essentials' range due to higher than expected demand.
The budget range of products, brought in to replace the Asda 'Smart Price' range of value products, has been very popular with shoppers trying to save money on their food shop during the current cost of living crisis.
The supermarket isn't restricting which items you can buy but is now enforcing a limit of three of the same item purchases per customer. The supermarket has said that they are doing everything they can to get the products on the shelf as quickly as possible; however, increased demand has meant that stock levels are lower than they have predicted, and as a result, has had to apply limits to ensure that everybody has the opportunity to be able to purchase food at the lower prices.
The supermarket hopes this restriction will only be in place for a short while, allowing them to increase stock levels to cope with the increased demand.
Taste Test
I recently tried the 'Just Essentials' range after hearing conflicting information about the quality of the products within the new range.
I decided to cook a lasagne, always a family favourite, and so I went out to Asda and grabbed the ingredients:
Milk (Not a Just Essentials branded product) - 85p
Mince beef - £1.79
Grated cheese - £2.40
Two tins of tomatoes (2x 32p) - 64p
Lasagne sheets -75p
The total cost of ingredients was £6.43
I also used some flour and butter I already had at home for making the cheese sauce and some dried herbs I had from a free Simply Cook box (use this LINK to grab a four-pack of spices for completely free if you've not used Simply Cook before), which worked out around 50p, meaning the total cost for ingredients was £6.93.
I only used half the lasagne sheets and half the cheese, so the actual cost for what I used was £5.35.
I could have made the meal cheaper if I had bought a jar of Just Essentials pasta sauce and a jar of Just essentials white sauce, which would have brought the cost down to £4.46, although that wouldn't have included any cheese for the top.
The ingredients I bought made one large lasagne, which fed three of us for two days, and two smaller (one big portion sized) lasagnas for the freezer, giving us another three portions. Therefore, the total cost per portion worked out at just under 50p each, which is a pretty good value for a hearty meal.
Was the quality any good?
The honest answer is that yes, the quality was absolutely fine!
The mince was 20% fat, rather than the 5% fat I prefer, but at £1.79, I wasn't going to get 5%!
The cheese was tasty and perfectly acceptable, although it would have been cheaper to buy a block and grate it myself, as the grated does cost more per kilo to buy, plus also contains potato starch to keep the cheese from sticking together, so wasn't 'pure' cheese, but was still okay.
The pasta was no different to the pasta I usually buy from another supermarket value range and did the job with no issues.
The tinned tomatoes had a higher percentage of tomato juice than actual tomatoes compared to the normal (Amazon own brand) tomatoes I usually buy. Still, it wasn't by much, and the quality was no problem.
I think that for 50p a head, the quality was more than acceptable; as I said earlier, I could have made it cheaper by using pre-made jars of sauces, but I do prefer to make my own sauces where I can, as that way I know what's in it, plus as is the case here, my own recipe makes more and meant I could stretch the ingredients out to make extra portions. Still, for pure cost control, the jars would make it easier to know precisely what you are spending on your meal.
I'd be pretty happy to purchase from the range again, and I do not doubt that I will in the future, assuming they have any left!