Hellers Roast Chicken & Bacon Soup product reviews

Hellers are known for their bacon and sausages. Now they have brought out a range of soups using their bacon. Their roast chicken and bacon soup had instant appeal to me as I love both chicken and bacon. I knew it would be safe in the fridge at work as most of my collegues don't eat pork but still allow the rest of us to eat it next to them at lunch time.The packet serves two so I divided it into two microwave safe Tupperware containers. I felt that this was a good serving size and I have a good appitite.

It was so easy. Just two minutes in the microwave and my lunch was ready. It smelt so good. I wanted to rave to my workmates about it but I knew they wouldn't appriciate it like I do. I was impressed how big the chunks of chicken and bacon were, just like I would the odd time I make soup. It tasted fantastic with just the right level of spices to complement the meat. There was a chunk of meat in every spoonful (and I was only using a small spoon) which I loved.

I will be recommending this to my parents for an healthier alerternative to takeaways. I will also be buying it again for my lunch at work. It is also great to see that it is both dairy and gluten free so will be recommending it to some friends with food allergies. This is such a convenient meal for busy people.

If I were to ask my family what their favourite soup is, there would be no doubt - chicken soup would win by a long shot. We would all agree that bacon would add a seriously positive dimension to the soup. The question for our family was whether the Hellers roast chicken & bacon soup would stand up to our expectations. We were all quite excited about trying this version of soup.

When we started cooking the soup, we could smell the bacon. It was nice and strong and it caught everyone's attention in the house. The soup had obvious chunks of bacon, chicken, carrot and celery. Miss Six got excited about all the pieces of chicken she found in the soup. Mr Eight wasn't at all excited about the fact he found celery in it. His preference would be that if it had to be in there, he wouldn't like to see it. I liked seeing celery in there as it showed me that there were real vegetables in the soup.

We all agreed that the bacon steals the flavour of the soup and that everything else is just there to add texture. We weren't complaining as we all like bacon. We did find that the bacon was a bit on the tough side though. In fact, Mr Eight even agreed to eat the celery as it tasted like bacon. We enjoyed the soup with a wedge of homemade bread and it was a nice combination. The soup could stand alone as a meal and wouldn't necessarily need the bread.

The overall appeal of the soup was good as there were plenty of bits in it and the flavour was enjoyed by the whole family. It would be our family favourite out of the range of Hellers soups and chowders that we have tried.

There is nothing quite as satisfying as a thick soup on a cold day when the wind is howling around the eaves, rain is beating against the window, and you don't have to go out again. This is one of those soups: warming and flavoursome and utterly delicious. Mr 15 and I shared a packet: I found my portion just the right amount although I am sure he could have eaten the lot if I had let him because he is growing fast. However, I made some toasted cheese sandwiches to go with it so he could fill the gaps.

Mr 15 was very enthusiastic about this variety. His mother often buys this brand when she is shopping but he was not familiar with this particular flavour, so he is going to ask if she can add it to her shopping list. He loved the chunks of chicken and the taste of the herbs. After reading the list of ingredients, he was intrigued to find that they included coconut cream as he could not taste it. He concluded that this must be what gave it the creamy texture.

I liked it just as much as he did. The ingredients are all real foods, not predominantly salt and water as many powdered packet soups tend to be, so I was satisfied that what we were eating was not too far from a home-cooked version. I do sometimes make my own soup, but it is fiddly and time-consuming, so this is a sensible alternative. It is easy to store (in a fridge) and apparently lasts for three days once it has been opened - although I would not see it lasting that long with our hungry youngsters!

I can see a couple of other possibilities for this product. We just had it as plain soup this time round, but the wonderful chicken smell that came from the packet when I first cut through the seal reminded me of another family favourite, so I intend to try it this way next time. It involves using a circle of cooked puff pastry, cutting out a knob in the centre, then inserting a mixture of creamed sweet corn and chicken stock. You then replace the "lid" and warm it through. This product would be an ideal replacement for the chicken stock as it is thicker and much more flavoursome.

I would also like to try it with the addition of some cooked rice and steamed button mushrooms and topped with a mixture of fresh chopped spring onions and coriander leaves. That would make it into a really substantial meal. Even Mr 15 (aka Mr Hollow-Legs) would not need toast as well, and because the rice and mushrooms would add bulk without strong flavours, the original effect would still be there. I can't wait to stock up with some more and start experimenting.

I quite enjoy a yummy hot, wholesome soup sometimes especially over the cool Winter months, however I much prefer to purchase ready-made packaged soups at the supermarkets rather than make my own, as much as I enjoy a cup or bowl of soup it isn't something I want to end up with in bulk which would be the case if I was to make my own from scratch. I often buy Hellers products such as sausages and bacon so I was delighted when I saw that they had added fresh soup to their already amazing range of products.

I opted to review the roast chicken and bacon soup as chicken and bacon are always a favourite combination of mine and one that can never really go wrong. This particular soup comes in a clear plastic pouch which is able to stand upright perfectly in your fridge for ease of storage, I love how you can see through the plastic as this shows exactly what the product is like, I was happy to see right through the get-go chunks of chicken, bacon, and vegetables as this made it like a hearty and good quality soup as all too often soups can be very watery and not have a lot to them.

The first time I used this soup, funnily enough, was not as you would expect, as my partner works shift work a mixture of days and nights I often find myself rummaging around in the mornings before I head off to work trying to work out what to send him for dinner. This morning I found myself doing just that, I had left a handful of uncooked chicken tenderloins in the fridge to prepare him something this morning and on thinking of what to do I decided on a pie knowing that I had a sheet of flaky pastry also in the fridge waiting to be used up. My usual pie sauce ingredients weren't on hand so I decided to make up something a bit different, I chopped and fried up the chicken and then made up a sauce which consisted of about half a pouch of roast chicken and bacon soup, some thickened cream, salt and Raptor Rubs Vegetable and Lamb Sprinkle, once all cooked, thickened and heated through I popped this into the pastry to cook in my pie maker. I have just got off the phone to my partner who raved about his pies and said that the filling was very nice and full of flavour and that it tasted just like roast chicken and gravy and as though it had stuffing through it... I told him I'd used soup and he suggested I better buy the soup again. I have to agree with him the soup completed the pie, I also had one at work for lunch, adding in such a lovely flavour to it, I loved the taste of the thyme and was happy to see vegetables throughout it.

For dinner tonight I enjoyed the leftover soup with some buttered toast and found it to be delicious and creamy perfect for a quick meal there was plenty of chunks of bacon, chicken and vegetables throughout and the combination was great, however I did come across a few hard pieces which I believed were chicken bones so this was a slight concern as it is something I'd usually get Miss 5 to share with me. Other than this small issue the sauce was easy to heat taking just 3 minutes in the microwave.

A yummy soup great for an easy meal and one that I look forward to getting again, as well as others in the range. Well done Hellers on another great product.