Avonmore Farmer's Choice Mixed Vegetable Euro1.99/500g A yellow soup that's dominated by butter and flour. Quite thick and despite a generous amount of chunky root vegetables this manages to be bland and sweet at the same time.

**

Dunnes Stores Fresh Farmhouse Vegetable Euro1.99/500g This soup is overly smooth and seems low on vegetable pieces.

One-dimensional and dull, it's alarmingly sweet to taste.

*

Harvest Organic Foods Vegetable Soup Euro2.12/500g Looks very appealing with flecks of fresh herbs and a nice homemade consistency. Carrots dominate the palate, but this is still a tasty enough choice.

****

Superquisine Six Vegetable Soup Euro2.29/500g This tomatobased soup is less traditional and more Mediterranean in style. Big chunks of veg, including courgette and piquant peppers make this the most homemade of the lot.

Interesting flavour and very tasty.

*****