Bloody hell - a tin of Heinz beans isn’t what it was, is it?

[lottielady]

I had to add a good squirt of brown sauce and a dollop of salt just so I could taste anything!

Is this due to some sort of health drive? Seems counterproductive to me, if so - I never used to put salt on my food.

DS is always rolling his eyes at me when I complain about how things don’t taste how they used to, but I swear they don’t! He reckons my tastebuds have gone decrepit, the cheeky bugger.

So, is it me, or do some things taste blander now?

And can anyone recommend beans that don’t taste of nothing?

Waitrose own brand baked beans are also very nice. I can't comment on Heinz because I don't think I've ever bought them!

I’ll try Waitrose too.

I might have to do a blind bean tasting.

So it’s not just my eyes, ears, tummy, thighs and arse that have gone to the dogs. Can I add my face and hair to your list?

Oh and skin.

The Bombay Bad Boy is the way to go if you want a tasty pot noodle .

I’ve never dared try a Bombay Bad Boy.

Either human or food. Both sound like far too much fun for the likes of me.

JiltedJohnsJulie shit innit?

OP, why can't you have a Pot Noodle?

though for one of those moments, I'd always say Batchelors Super Noodles instead.

There was a blind bean testing once on that show about shopping for less with the bald one from master chef. IIRC the fancy Biona ones were the best!

I do find that I get accustomed to tastes and if I change brands of things it makes even the original brand taste fresher. Brand loyalty isn't all it's cracked up to be!

Another vote for Branston 🙋🏻‍♀️
Far superior to Heinz and usually on special offer somewhere

I'm the odd one out but I have never gelled with Branston beans. I find the texture too grainy and the flavour isn't sharp enough for me.

Try this!
Boil some broccoli (not too much water, but enough to create a kind of soup), add a pack of noodles, boil for a min or so, create a 'well' of sorts in the pan, add an egg. Cover egg over with noodles and boil for a further minute or until egg cooked to your liking, whilst adding a bit of Chinese five spice/Worcestershire sauce/Henderson's relish/chilli powder or whatever improves the flavour to your taste. Add a knob of butter. Gently decant into a bowl with some grated or cubed cheese in (cubed is best) then sprinkle some chopped spring onions on, along with salt & pepper!

I realise it sounds revolting! I mean cheese and noodles in a soup?! Butter? Egg???? But trust me! It is DIVINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Even without the broccoli it's still bloody nice!

It's my version of this

They’re shit, you’re right, I put brown sauce in them too, just adding salt isn’t enough, they’ve just lost so much flavour. They’d better not mess with HP sauce....

I buy Branston as well, cheaper and nicer! I’ve always squirted ketchup in all my beans, it’s weird you just notice it.
I used to add butter too

Eldest has quite a super noodle obsession, I buy loads of the 20p ones for school holidays

We did a blind beans taste test and Branston won by a mile.

We watched that program with Gregg the shouty grocer where they were manufacturing Heinz beans. They put an egg cup full of spices into a tank of beans. Me and DS were cracked up laughing: I put more in a saucepan of soup. Honestly, the flavourings must be in homeopathic quantities.

Bloody hell, Bing, that sounds right up my street.

I could have a Pot Noodle, Grace...but the disappointment makes it an upsetting experience.

Worcester sauce and cheese it the way to go with beans.

Right, I’m off to Sainsbury’s later, so I’m going to try Branston beans.

I tell you what, this Saturday is turning into a rollercoaster.

I've not noticed a huge difference in beans but Heinz tomato soup is shit now. No peppery throat burning flavour or anything. Really dull. I buy the Tesco's mid range soup instead and it's the old Heinz recipe and is delicious at half the price.
To me, the beans haven't changed as dramatically as you suggest so I'm wondering if they have mislabelled the can? It's very, very, very rare due to safety procedures but maybe the flavourless, healthier beans run finished and they switched the labels prematurely?
I've had full plum tomatoes in a can labelled as chopped before now. According to my DF who fits factory machinery and conveyors for food producers, different companies produce the same food with new labels and some just add an extra process (like diverting to a chopper for plum tomatoes and continue a production run. Maybe that happened?

The reduced salt and sugar beans are nasty. Foul tasting shite.

That might have happened...the plot thickens...they were the micro pots, but the principle is the same...

Branston are definitely better now. I think Heinz must hang onto the market through nostalgia buying because they're shit now and have been for years.

Also, yes, pot noodle now have no artificial flavours or colours. So wtf is the frigging point of them? Go to asian shops for your noodles+enumbers fix now although you do have to put them in a bowl so there's washing up involved.

YY to Harold - what’s the point of making Pot Noodles healthy? Nobody buys them thinking they’re macrobiotic, do they? Ffs. Let us have our shite when we want it

Are you comparing the Micro pot beans with proper beans?
They're not the same at all - go back to the tins.

For “proper” beans, cook them in a pan on the cooker, rather than in the microwave. DM used to put a knob if butter in with them as well, back in the day.

(HP sauce also tastes better from a glass bottle rather than plastic)

The Heinz beans that come in a large plastic jar to put in the fridge always seem to taste slightly better than the tinned ones.

OP, if you're off to Sainsbury's, check their own brand (mid range) beans out as they're quite good.