Value for Money: sausage rolls

Hot Pierre's Jumbo Sausage Rolls €0.75 for 100g €7.50 per kg Highs:This substantial sausage roll is available from the hot counter in Centra outlets and has the obvious advantage of being pre-heated and ready to eat.

While we approached it with some trepidation, we were mildly surprised to find that it wasn't terrible. The pastry, while a little stodgy, actually tasted grand and the sausage meat was okay too. The filling was perhaps a little too pink and Hot Pierre might also have been better advised to ease off on the salt shaker.

Lows: The texture of the sausage meat, more mushy than meaty, left a lot to be desired. If left too long in the foil bag it is sold in, it will get very sweaty. It has to be eaten quickly, because when it cools down the grease congeals, making it more unpleasant than it might have been.

Verdict: Fast and not dreadful

Star rating: ***

Denny's Large Sausage Rolls

€2.35 for 240g €9.79 per kg

Highs: These rolls looked more medium sized than large to us. They are "now based on the gold medal recipe" Denny proudly tells us. The pastry is light and airy and very crumbly while the pink sausage has a nice meaty texture.

Lows: The sausage meat did not seem to taste anything at all like the Denny Gold Medal sausages which, presumably, are also based on "the gold medal recipe" which seemed a bit strange. While we would not expect sausage rolls to have a healthy-sounding ingredients list, we were still disappointed to see that Denny is still using hydrogenated vegetable oils to keep its rolls "fresh". The pastry does have a certain airiness, but it is also prone to scattering itself far and wide, which is hardly what you look for in finger food.

Verdict: Flavourless and flaky

Star rating: **

Marks & Spencer Sausage Rolls

€2.19 for 200g €10.95 per kg

Highs:Made with 33 per cent pork, these are the meatiest of the sausage rolls tried and also the nicest. They have the healthiest looking ingredients list, in so far as anything that has pork fat amongst its ingredients can ever be described as healthy. The sausage meat actually tastes of sausages and the buttery pastry is very good. While they are not exactly bite sized - unless you have a particularly big bite - they are small enough to count as comparatively dainty party food and are considerably more filling than the competition.

Lows: They are the dearest of the sausage rolls reviewed, and while the sausage meat tastes nice, it does have a rather grey appearance which might be a little off-putting.

Verdict: They actually taste of sausages

Star rating: ****

Tesco Value Sausage Rolls

44 cent for 120g €3.66 per kg

Highs: Once these very cheap sausage rolls are stripped of Tesco's scarily cheap-looking plastic wrapping they look fine and not quite as horrible as the packaging might make you think. The golden brown pastry is light and fluffy and quite pleasant.

Lows: The "sausage" meat, on the other hand, must be from a place a long way from pleasant. Made with just 12 per cent pork, this roll is grey and greasy and mushy. The nicest thing that can be said about the filling is that it tastes of nothing at all and while Tesco may think that by labelling food as Value it can get away with selling something as unappealing as this, PriceWatch does not agree. Surely for something to be hailed as good value it should first be good.

Verdict: Grey and nasty

Star rating: *

Dunnes Stores Jumbo Sausage Rolls

€1.89 for 450g €4.20 per kg

Highs: With the posh (well, sort of) lattice work pastry, these look a little more upmarket than the price might suggest. Although these contain just 12.5 per cent pork, the filling actually tastes of something resembling sausages and has a meaty rather than a gooey texture.

Lows: Given the size of the rolls, the actual filling is pretty minuscule. The pastry is incredibly greasy and left a fairly heavy slick on everything it came into contact with so you'll be wanting to wash your hands immediately after eating one. The ingredients list is long and wins the prize for being the most unwholesome sounding of the pack.

Verdict: Slightly better than terrible.

Star rating: **