A woman has splashed out £40k sampling and contrasting every conceivable supermarket food item – and discloses the one dish she would steer clear of. Becca Stock, 28, chose to evaluate food products to assist shoppers in discovering the finest choices within their price range – following inspiration from BBC’s Eat Well For Less.
She assesses everything from chocolate digestives to supermarket paellas to identify the top products. Becca claims her most dreadful meal consisted of tinned burgers whilst her finest was crepe pancakes from an independent firm in Cheltenham. Throughout the past four years, she has invested £40k in her passion and discloses she consumes everything in a single session and frequently records up to three videos daily. Becca, a content creator from Gloucester, said: “I can pinpoint one very expensive one I did where I did every main meal at Giggling Squid takeover and that came to £300 just over.
“My favourite ever item is from an independent company based in Cheltenham and they are in Selfridges in Birmingham called Sisu Pancakes. They make these pancake slices which are crepe pancakes with aerated cream in all different flavours. It’s the best thing I’ve ever eaten. I could eat them every day for the rest of my life.”
Becca continued: “The worst thing I’ve ever eaten and wouldn’t want to touch with a barge pole is tinned burgers. It comes in this awful tomato gravy.
“To people’s surprise I do them [the food reviews] all in one sitting. I usually only take a couple of bites so it’s not like I’m consuming 30 blocks of cheese for example like in my recent video.”
Becca drew inspiration from the television programme Eat Well For Less when she chose to begin posting her food comparison discoveries on social media in 2021.
“People didn’t know what they were trying or eating on the show and if it was terrible it had to be the cheap supermarket brand and if it was good it had to be the expensive option,” she said.
“It came from a place where I didn’t have much money. We [Becca and her partner] were doing tight shops and when we did buy nice stuff or opt for a nice ready meal from the premium range we’d be very disappointed and wished we’d saved our money.”
Starting with Becca’s initial assessments of lemonade and orange juice, she now evaluates complete product ranges such as supermarket cheddar, and claims M&S secures the top position with their truffle cheddar priced at £5.75 per block.
She said: “The ones that stand out to me and what people enjoyed the most and were most popular are the Tesco meal deal sandwich video which is at 4.9m views. I thought to myself, ‘I don’t know what to review’ and went to Tesco to do my weekly shop and saw them and thought, let’s give it a go. My favourite video was the Wagamama’s summer menu last year.
“There are a few weird combinations of products from companies. Last year at Christmas Pot Noodle released a turkey stuffing flavour. It was so weird – the textures and taste were just wrong.”
Becca further revealed: “The worst haul I did was the Co-op sandwich meal deal range. I couldn’t believe how dry they were.”
Becca, who has become an internet sensation with her food reviews, donates the leftovers from her videos to her local community.
She explained: “It’s a first come first serve basis and they come and collect. With some hauls I can’t avoid food waste like fast food hauls, me and my partner will plan it in for dinner or lunch.”
The online reaction to Becca’s videos has been “mixed”, according to her.
She said: “I’ve had a lot of positivity and a lot of messages directly from people with eating disorders saying watching me physically eat and trying new stuff has enabled them to try the product themselves.
“A lot of people say please never stop making the videos because I use them for my food shop. One person said ‘I was in a shop and my boyfriend wanted to buy a product and I said ‘no, Becca said that’s bad we’ll buy this instead’.
“In the past I’ve had a barrage of hate from people who don’t want me to review value ranges. When they saw me reviewing something, if I had any sort of negative reaction, it was almost as if I was judging the person, not the product.
“I want people to find better options for their money.”
Looking ahead, Becca is planning to “upgrade” her videos. She shared: “I’ve just bought every single ketchup, every single sausage roll and every single chicken nugget.”
