Read the Label

One thing that I've discovered whilst 'testing' the various brands of baked beans is the amount of sauce in the cans relative to the beans. So far the Oak Lane Beans in Tomato Sauce (29p) are my favourite of the cheaper brands, with Tesco's Baked Beans in Tomato Sauce (35p) a close second (mainly because when the can was opened beans were seen right up to the top, and it also seemed to have little sauce.
Yesterday opened a can of Tesco's Value Baked Beans (28p) and was shocked at the amount of sauce in the can. Admittedly the flavour of the sauce is good, but well over a third of the can was sauce, and on the label it stated the bean content was 445, so not surprising the tin looked half bean-empty.

When needing to be thrifty, and therefore dropping a 'brand' lower in price, (supermarkets 'own brands' have several levels/ prices) it is best to read the label to find out exactly what is in there. Suppose we end up getting what we pay for, but some are still better flavoured than others, and some have more beans than others.

There are times I can be very devious when trying to wean a family away from an expensive brand to one virtually the same but they say they 'hate'. With the above beans, I'd buy the brand they liked, remove them from the tin, mix the with the cheapest (less some of its sauce), then fill the can back up with the beans then put it to one side, asking a member of the family to empty it into a saucepan to 'heat up for supper'. Believe me, they will think it is what it says on the can, and not a word is spoken against them. Next time use all cheap beans put into the 'expensive' can, and the same thing will happen.
This 'cheating' works wonderfully with thing like cornflakes (mix cheap with value), and some instant coffees, and probably a lot of other things as well.