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A few years ago, Safeway introduced a line-up of restaurant-inspired soups. They were high quality, flavorful, and more affordable than getting them at the restaurant. Safeway called them Signature and people agreed. The store I used to work at, the top seller was the Tuscan Tomato Basil Bisque. This was not my personal favorite. Mine was Loaded Baked Potato. I used to pick up a cup and a dinner roll for lunch when I worked.

A few years later and a few careers later, I thought I would revisit my old passion and give it a review. Please read on to see how well my old favorite stands out.

I had a flavor for lunch one chilly afternoon for soup. With my present job, it put me a mile from a Safeway. My purchase involved a bread roll and a 4.99 Loaded Baked Potato. When I made it back to the office, I started to microwave it according to the package. It requires a stir half way in and when it came to that point, my soup was starting to burn on the edges. So I microwaved it only 1 minute more than needed, as opposed to the whole two and a half. When that buzzer went off, the soup was extremely hot and almost boiling over. Not a good sign.

The moment of truth: I took my roll and dipped it into the cup. The soup started to drip off the roll. The soup was thin. A lot thinner than I remember. I thought maybe I just had a bad dip. I ate the soup with a spoon but the consistency never improved. It was still runny, and the potato chunks I remember had been vastly reduced. I could not taste the chives and the bacon bits were limp. I could not have been more disappointed.

One may say, “You got a bad soup, that’s all!” Well, let’s examine some of the other soups that I remember. The steakhouse chili, for example. I remember that as having large chunks of steak and a nice translucent color. I pulled a cup from the self-serving counter and I could not see the chunks of meat anymore and the color was more deep red than the usual translucence.

Another instance: I visited my mother the other weekend and she had purchased the Chunky Chicken noodle soup. My mother is almost as picky as I am (She’ll eat seafood, that’s the difference.) She also remembers the soup being thicker, meatier, and the vegetables not too soggy. She took 3 bites before throwing the spoon down and proclaiming, “They are sacrificing quality for price and convenience!” I have been agreeing with this statement for a few weeks now, but now hearing it from a different palate. Even my dad agreed that the soup was no better than a can of Campbell’s.

I would rather spend more money for a better quality product, mainly the one that is served in a restaurant. This is a trend that Safeway should not have been taking. In these days, cost seems to be favored over quality. Safeway’s Signature Soups used to have both. Now it is only cost, but even then, I do not think 4.99 for 25 oz. container of this quality is worth it.

[Photo taken from Safeway.ca]