Monday 24 March 2014

Review: Tesco Finest cheese

A couple of months ago I heard about The Orchard at Tesco, a programme that allows you to sign up for certain projects and write about them in return for free money off vouchers for you and your family/friends. The first one that I was invited to participate in was a Tesco Finest meats activity that I didn't blog about, but you may have seen me mention on Twitter or Facebook. The most recent was for Tesco Finest Cheese and given my love of cheese, I just had to sign up for it.

My welcome pack contained lots of money off vouchers so our next task was choosing which cheeses to buy. Luckily our local Tesco in Winchester has a good range to choose from and I decided to buy my two favourite cheeses - feta and buffalo mozzarella - and compare how they are against my usual brand. The first thing that struck me was the detail that had gone into the packaging complete with details about the cheese's origin.
I chose to use the salty feta in a fresh but simple salad complete with cucumber, tomato, red pepper, spinach, lettuce, lemon juice and olive oil dressing, and my favourite thing to put in salads that contain salty cheese.... Dried mint. Try it, it's gorgeous! The feta crumbled beautifully and made what is a very simple salad, utterly delicious. This would be great as a lunch with a couple of falafel or bundled into a wrap with grilled chicken and a drizzle of Greek yoghurt.



The buffalo mozzarella was meant to be used to posh up a tomato and chilli pasta bake, but I ended up eating most of it out the packet! It melted so beautifully in the mouth and had this mellow milky consistency that for people who've only had its rubbery counterpart could prove a bit strange. I enjoyed some of this mozzarella torn up along with finely chopped tomatoes and some oregano that I stirred through some couscous for a great packed lunch friendly treat.

The remaining vouchers were given to my mum who chose the Stilton and apricot log that I understand she inhaled :)

I think for the quality of the cheeses they were fairly priced as you would probably pay more in a posh deli, but it would be nice to see the range increase further.

What do you think of these types of programmes? What cheeses would you have chosen to try?


*Disclaimer: I was given money off vouchers as part of The Orchard at Tesco in order to purchase the items mentioned here, but was not required to write a positive review and all words are my own

27 comments:

  1. haha i know what you mean about eating mozzarella like that! i can't eat cheese anymore though, but naughtily everynow and then i'll have a tiny bit of mozzarella in a sandwich with some tomato, spinach and pesto.

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  2. I hadn't heard of this programme- sounds a good idea! As a cheese fan I would have loved this task :) goat's cheese is my absolute favourite, both the widely available soft version we have here, and the white set "holey" version they have on the continent. The latter tastes delicious with raspberry jam ;)

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  3. Ooh I adore feta, will look out for that one next time I am in a Tescos.

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  4. I'm actually allergic to cheese *boo* but this sounds like so much fun. Lucky lady! Maybe they can do something like this with ham ... I would die HAHA

    Lotte xo
    BericeBay - London Lifestyle Blog

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  5. i would love to have brie, but due to pregnancy have to wait..aaa)

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  6. I do love Tesco Finest cheese - well any cheese really! Think I would have gone for brie or some really stinky blue cheese!

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  7. Definitely the mozzarella - good mozzarella is just heavenly!

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  8. I love cheese, any type of cheese!!! The programme sounds a great idea!

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  9. It sounds like a very good scheme to join in to. I love their range of cheese, and would have chosen just like you :)

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  10. Great scheme :) I love cheese and would have most probably chosen the same sort of range

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  11. Oooooh I loveeeee cheese haha!! I'm loving chicken bacon & mozarella paninis atm so i will definitely check out the brand you mentioned x

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  12. Never heard of this program but I like Tesco finest range, good quality for affordable price ;)

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  13. oh i love tesco finest cheese i always buy stilton form there as a treat, gorgoeus with sweet thai chilli on crackers nim om x

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  14. My husband signed up to this unbeknownst to me! So far we've tried out finest cheeses and we've got some pasta to cook with next! We love Tesco so this is a great scheme for us x

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  15. Mint and feta sounds quite an interesting combo. I would have bought feta too!

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  16. I am crazy on cheese just love it .x

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  17. Goats cheese in risotto is one of my favourites. I also love cheese with apricots or cranberries in it. I'm not a cheese snob though, I'm partial to the odd cheese string too!

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  18. I only really like melted cheese! :) x

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  19. I am in the orchard tesco and I keep losing my vouchers so I haven't managed to take part yet! Looks like you have done much better than me!!

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  20. I've not heard about this programme before, sounds like a great idea. I love cheese - and also have a tendancy to eat out of the packet *shh* :)

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  21. Ooooh i like the sound of this! I am also a cheese lover! :)

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  22. I think it sounds like a fab idea for a programme, would love to do something similar myself :)

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  23. Ha! I always eat mozzarella like that, I bloomin love the stuff. Feta too, good choices. I'd sneak some Halloumi in too :)

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  24. I love cheese, could eat it all day long! Great idea from Tesco's too!

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  25. I have never heard of the Orchard - what a great idea, although not a fan of mozzarella

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  26. I really do love a bit of mozzarella! x

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  27. I love them.
    Orchard is new but so far that had really nice projects

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