There is a Poundland store near where I work and I sometimes venture in there to pick up the odd bargain. I noticed they have a whole isle dedicated to various foods, but I had never seen these mince pies on display. It was not until a friend visited a different Poundland store and picked up some of these and brought them to my attention. I know what you're thinking already, but lets remove any preconceptions and review these fairly!
Presentation - 3
I do like a nice window on a box to see what you are getting, but a full 360 degree view of the mince pies may not be taking it too far. Just wrapped in that noisy plastic cellophane with even noisier flimsy plastic trays, these are not mince pies that can be eaten slyly! There is a little Christmas decoration, but much of it has been chopped off at the edge of the label or covered by the large ingredients and nutrition labels.
The mince pies themselves are very shallow and look pastry heavy. They look a little undercooked on the lid, but nicely browned around the edges. They look fairly untidy, with some chipped edges, wonky lid placement and leaking mincemeat filling. No Christmas decoration on top too.
Nutritional Content & Price - 5
While they have provided nutritional information in a per 100g fashion, they have not given me a total weight to calculate the nutritional content per pie. Unfortunately, I had already delved into eating the pies before realising this, so you will have to make do with the per 100g values. They have 413 calories, 16.3g of fat and 31.8g of sugar per 100g.
These cost £2.50.. no i'm just kidding! These are £1 for 9 mince pies. Really good value!
Pastry - 15
This is not fantastic, but not absolutely terrible. Due to the shallow nature of the pie, there is quite a lot of pastry. It tastes a little artificial and too sweet. The lack of butter is really noticeable and I think adds to my feeling of it tasting artificial. However, the pastry is nicely crumbly and is not completely tasteless.
Mincemeat - 9
This is terrible. There is quite a sharp tangy flavour which lingers after each bite. I also have an odd burning sensation at the back of my throat. It is as if this is far too acidic. I understand that mincemeat makers will place in things such as citric acid as a preservative, but according to the ingredients there is also sulpher dioxide. If I remember my chemistry classes at school well, i'm fairly certain sulpher dioxide, as a gas, is quite toxic! Let's not sniff this for long. Thankfully there is very little mincemeat in the first place, so hopefully the health risks are minimised.
Overall Satisfaction - 2
Sorry Poundland & Hoppers, this is not great. Not only am I little worried about my feeling at the back of my throat, but this as a mince pie was far too pastry heavy and lacked much mincemeat. Unfortunately, for the price, there are so many other mince pies available.
Here are the scores from my fellow mincers;
Tester 1
Presentation (4) Nutritional content & Price (3) Pastry (5) Mincemeat (5) Satisfaction Level (2)
Tester 2
Presentation (4) Nutritional content & Price (4) Pastry (18) Mincemeat (18) Satisfaction Level (5)
Tester 3
Presentation (3) Nutritional content & Price (8) Pastry (16) Mincemeat (16) Satisfaction Level (4.5)
OVERALL
34.9 / 100
Look at where these fit in on our leader board.
(Don't forget to follow us on twitter @TheMincePieBlog and on Facebook)
Presentation - 3
I do like a nice window on a box to see what you are getting, but a full 360 degree view of the mince pies may not be taking it too far. Just wrapped in that noisy plastic cellophane with even noisier flimsy plastic trays, these are not mince pies that can be eaten slyly! There is a little Christmas decoration, but much of it has been chopped off at the edge of the label or covered by the large ingredients and nutrition labels.
The mince pies themselves are very shallow and look pastry heavy. They look a little undercooked on the lid, but nicely browned around the edges. They look fairly untidy, with some chipped edges, wonky lid placement and leaking mincemeat filling. No Christmas decoration on top too.
Nutritional Content & Price - 5
While they have provided nutritional information in a per 100g fashion, they have not given me a total weight to calculate the nutritional content per pie. Unfortunately, I had already delved into eating the pies before realising this, so you will have to make do with the per 100g values. They have 413 calories, 16.3g of fat and 31.8g of sugar per 100g.
These cost £2.50.. no i'm just kidding! These are £1 for 9 mince pies. Really good value!
Pastry - 15
This is not fantastic, but not absolutely terrible. Due to the shallow nature of the pie, there is quite a lot of pastry. It tastes a little artificial and too sweet. The lack of butter is really noticeable and I think adds to my feeling of it tasting artificial. However, the pastry is nicely crumbly and is not completely tasteless.
Mincemeat - 9
This is terrible. There is quite a sharp tangy flavour which lingers after each bite. I also have an odd burning sensation at the back of my throat. It is as if this is far too acidic. I understand that mincemeat makers will place in things such as citric acid as a preservative, but according to the ingredients there is also sulpher dioxide. If I remember my chemistry classes at school well, i'm fairly certain sulpher dioxide, as a gas, is quite toxic! Let's not sniff this for long. Thankfully there is very little mincemeat in the first place, so hopefully the health risks are minimised.
Overall Satisfaction - 2
Sorry Poundland & Hoppers, this is not great. Not only am I little worried about my feeling at the back of my throat, but this as a mince pie was far too pastry heavy and lacked much mincemeat. Unfortunately, for the price, there are so many other mince pies available.
Here are the scores from my fellow mincers;
Tester 1
Presentation (4) Nutritional content & Price (3) Pastry (5) Mincemeat (5) Satisfaction Level (2)
"Worst by far! Left a funny tang in my mouth"
Tester 2
Presentation (4) Nutritional content & Price (4) Pastry (18) Mincemeat (18) Satisfaction Level (5)
Tester 3
Presentation (3) Nutritional content & Price (8) Pastry (16) Mincemeat (16) Satisfaction Level (4.5)
"I guess you get what you pay for at Poundland; a cheap pie"
OVERALL
34.9 / 100
Look at where these fit in on our leader board.
(Don't forget to follow us on twitter @TheMincePieBlog and on Facebook)
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