Tinned tomatoes 🍅

[smurfette11]

Settle an argument at home.

YANBU it doesn't matter which tinned tomatoes you buy they all taste the same and the trick is to cook them properly and drain off the watery stuff

YABU premium brands are so much better And have more pulp

Love the posh Lidl ones in black tins, either chopped or cherry. Cheap ones are revolting and you often see the mouldy ones that went in.

You tend to get what what you pay for. I always bought Sainsbury's basics but they had so much liquid in them! Then I switched to Napolina when they were on offer. We shop at Ocado now and their own brand is decent.

Mutti are hideously expensive but fantastic and worth it.
And they make divine ketchup too

I was out of chopped tomatoes once and half way through making a chilli, so chopped up a tin of plum tomatoes, and it was so much better, so do this every time now. I don't get the expensive ones though, just the Tesco cheapos, and they're still great. Much better than chopped tomatoes, which look like they're in water. Plum tomatoes always have a rich sauce no matter how cheap you go!

Agree with the above over Mutti. My Italian friends got me onto them.

I tried Mutti after reading about them on here and my husband couldn't even tell the difference! I think any brand is fine if you add a little bit of sugar to balance the acidity, salt, pepper and any other spices, or other additions you might fancy, to your dish.

I think if you are using tinned tomatoes as a component in a cooking sauce you should always taste the mix and modify anyway. Depending on what I am cooking, I use a tiny bit of honey, sweet chilly or red currant sauce to balance the flavour. Therefore although some brands may be better than others, it shouldn’t necessarily ruin the result if you purchase something less expensive.

I think the really cheap tins can be quite nasty. But never tried a tin that I felt was miles better than the rest.

And for those people saying you only throw them in your cooking anyway, do you never put them on top of cheese on toast with a load of black pepper and Worcestershire sauce?

You're all doing it wrong

Chopped tomatoes? Nooo

Buy whole tinned ones, cheap is fine, just remove any hard bits (average tin maybe has 2 bits that are a bit hard at the top

Add half a teaspoon of sugar and some tomato paste if needed

Nice tinned toms are nice... but you can make the cheap ones work just as well

But the whole tomatoes are always better quality than chopped!

Tinned cherry tomatoes.
I'll just leave that there

Comparing the ingredients, there is a big difference. I bought Mutti today to try for the first time.

Mix your tinned toms (cheap or otherwise) with baked beans- game changer for your Sunday brekkie 😋

Just use fresh it’s summer

Another Mutti fan here. I find you need to use less tins are they are very dense as opposed to watery.

Also recommend Mutti, absolutely lush.

Only recently started paying a bit more for them but agree,there is a big difference. Also agree with the PP who said whole are better than chopped - hand squeeze them to break them up.

Cirio mainly in this house, or the lidl deluxe cherry tomatoes are good.

Cirio are four for £3 with Tesco Clubcard, normal price £4. I'm not going to buy cheap again.

Can I ask Catsucurry are the Lidl cherry tomatoes peeled? I bought De Cecco tinned cherry toms and while they are nice the peels annoy me.

Cheap ones are OK if it's something I'm going to cook for a very long time. Otherwise, cheap ones drained (and therefore use two tins) or expensive ones when they are reduced - and bulk buy!

The trick is to buy tinned plum tomatoes and chop them yourself. Anything with chopped tomatoes I tend to be cooking for a long time, spag bol today simmered for 4+ hours so I don't think it matters as much. If I don't buy plum , I do buy finely chopped though

YABU

They all have the skanky bits of skin and end bits, regardless of price, oddly I was thinking today they’ve all got worse recently. The thickness doesn't matter, as if they are too thick you end up needing to add a splash of liquid. I chop up the canned whole toms, as it's easier to remove the revolting bits, or I'll blitz them first.

Used to get cans with dried herbs already in them, can’t anymore.

I’ve had a lot of making fresh ratatouille pasta bakes recently (a relative kept gifting home made courgettes) and the tomatoes from second half of a can, when in fridge for a day or so were much better.

Recent convert to Mutti here too. Get a tin, and a tin of the cheapest value own brand chopped tomatoes too. Just open them up and take a spoonful. The difference is huge imho. Then just compare a really simple quick pasta sauce with olive oil, garlic, tomatoes and basil. Night and day.