John West Tuna Pasta Salad (Product Review)

Ads work. Lately popping up around my area are ads for John West's new range of tuna pasta salads.
The ad promotes this product as "The Ultimate Power Lunch". Given that they put "lunch" in the ad, I was expecting a decent sized portion that would actually fill me up. How disappointed I was (and I'm not a very big eater) when I saw the actual product. It was tiny! Despite the size I still wanted to try it. The pasta range comes in three flavours: Italian style, Mexican salsa and balsamic dressing. I got the Mexican salsa since it has the least sugar (2.7 g).

It's a good idea that a spork was included for eating on the go. BUT and this is a big but, the spork was pathetically small! I could barely fork anything with it and when I tried to use it as a spoon, it could only hold one piece of pasta with each spoonful. I had a feeling the spork wouldn't be great so I came prepared with my own fork. 

The appearance of the pasta wasn't appealing either. It was very shiny suggesting that the whole meal is doused in oil. This was confirmed with my first mouthful. It coated my entire my mouth with oil - not a very nice feeling. Also the pasta was overly soft adding a mushy feel to the oiliness.  

Pathetically small spork

Shiny pasta

Out of the negatives, there were a few positives. There were some pretty big chunks of tuna and a good amount of corn and kidney beans. The flavour was good too with a mild chilli kick.

Tuna chunk

But overall, it wasn't a very pleasant meal. It's too small to eat on its own and look at all the oil that was leftover! 

Very very oily

In terms of nutrition, there is a good fibre content (4.9 g) and it is high in omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3 fatty acids have been shown to have anti-inflammatory effects and cardiovascular benefits. But in my opinion, there are much better ways of getting your serve of omega-3.

Fish and seafood are great but its better to cook them yourself than buying prepacked meals. Other sources include walnuts, flaxseeds, soybeans and dark leafy green vegetables.    

I didn't like this product. The serving size was small and left a bad mouth-feel. I definitely won't be buying this again or trying the other flavours.