Just Average Jen

Real Good Tomato Ketchup – A Review

Just Average Jen – We all love a good squirt of tomato ketchup don’t we but it is scary how much sugar some brands contain so I was excited to try out the Real Good Tomato Ketchup when they offered to send me a bottle to review. Ben loves his ketchup, as most 11 year olds do, so he was delighted especially that the people at Real Good had read that he was eating healthily and mentioned him saying they hoped he would like it !
My first thoughts were that on the whole a ketchup is a ketchup and when you’re dipping chips in it you can’t taste the difference enough to matter too much which brand you buy, but then I thought about it some more and realised that I do have my preferred brands and there are some that I never buy as I don’t like them so maybe I am fussier than I realised!

What is it?

Real Good Tomato Ketchup. Their website is Real Good Tomato Ketchup

Where is it available?

It is quite a new product still so not as widely available at present as it probably will be in the coming months. It is currently stocked by Co-Op, Ocado, Amazon and SuperValu. It is also available in some health food stores. You can find your nearest stockist on their website here.

How much is it?

Prices are likely to vary store to store but prices are pretty similar to other leading brands.

How did the appearance and texture compare to other brands?

The Real Good Tomato Ketchup was thick and of a similar texture and consistency to other brands. I am not keen on the cheaper brands that are often runnier and I am pleased to say this wasn’t like those at all!

How was the taste?

Ben was the first to try it and despite not liking tomatoes very much his first comment was “Mum this is really tomatoey and I love it”. Both myself and my boyfriend Stuart have also tried it as did my niece and nephew and all of us have enjoyed it. I liked the fact it didn’t have a strong vinegar taste like some brands have. We have had it with chips, in bacon and sausage sandwiches, and Ben had it with pizza too! The taste with everything was great.

Nutritionally how does it compare to other brands?

The label states it has 70% less sugar than most brands. I compared it with the bottle of own brand ketchup from a supermarket we had in (and my son is less keen on now he’s tried this one!). I compared 100g of the products – which obviously you are unlikely to consume at once but a child especially could easily get through that in a week if they squirt it themselves! The Real Good Tomato Ketchup has 66kcal per 100g whereas the supermarket one I have has 115kcal per 100g. It might not sound much for such a lot of ketchup but in my opinion it all adds up! The Carbohydrate (of which sugars) has a drastic difference though, 5.7g for the Real Good and 20g for the supermarket brand! Obviously some of these sugars are naturally occurring so cant be removed completely. For people with certain health conditions as well as those eating healthily this will make a huge difference I think. The Real Good Ketchup is Gluten free, made in a nut free environment and vegan so ticks a lot of boxes for those on restricted diets who may otherwise struggle without compromising on taste at all.

Would you buy it yourself?

Yes definitely, I love the fact that it is lower in sugar than the alternatives and don’t feel so worried when Ben puts a big squirt on because of that! I loved the taste and the fact that it is so much better for us as a family but predominantly for my son Ben who is the main ketchup consumer of the house.

Anything you would suggest was changed about the product or anything you didn’t like?

I think I would like a bigger bottle because it went down so well here we soon ran out but otherwise no it was great!

I was sent this bottle of Real Good Tomato Ketchup in return for a review however I never promise a good review only that I will review an item fairly. The views of this are my own and are not in any way dictated by the company.