Fresh Soups

Compare fresh soups in New Zealand at Canstar Blue. Good Taste Company, Artisano, Countdown, Hellers, Naked Locals and Pitango were compared on taste, value for money, variety/range, packaging appeal and overall satisfaction.

See our Ratings Methodology.

Most Satisfied Customers | The Good Taste Company

The Good Taste Company rated number one for customer satisfaction.

As we enter into the colder months and the temperature starts to dip at night, cravings for soup are bound to make an appearance.  Curling up by the heater or with a hot water bottle in hand, Netflix on the ready and a bowl of steaming hot soup equals the most perfect Winter’s night, if you ever saw one. On top of this, soups come in an array of flavours to suit many different preferences and can cater for most diets.

Like with any type of food, advice on which brands provide exactly what you’re after isn’t going to go unwanted. So, Canstar Blue surveyed Kiwis who have purchased and eaten a ready-made fresh soup from a supermarket in the last 6 months to see which brands they love the most. 627 New Zealanders reported to back to us, rating each brand on taste, value for money, variety/range, packaging appeal and overall satisfaction.

The Good Taste Company came out on top in this year’s survey, being the only fresh soup brand to earn 5-stars for overall satisfaction. As well as this, the Good Taste Company received 5-stars for value for money and variety/range, and 4-stars for taste and packaging appeal. Naked Locals was runner up with 4-stars for overall satisfaction. According to Kiwis, Naked Locals is the soup option to go to for taste as it was the only brand to be awarded 5-stars for this factor. The brand also gained 5-stars for variety/range. Third place went to Pitango who gained 5-stars for packaging appeal and 4-stars for the remaining factors. Artisano was the only other brand to be recognised with a 5-stars, which was for packaging appeal.

Healthy Soup

Soup is most definitely a healthy meal option and is something different to the standard methods of cooking vegetables. Let’s be honest, boiling, steaming and roasting can get a bit boring sometimes. In fact, 23% of Canstar Blue’s survey respondents count soup in their five-a-day. Our survey also reveals just how important health is to the people of the long white cloud. So, we thought, why not combine the two – fresh soup and health – and write about what Kiwis feel passionate about. Almost a quarter of respondents said there should be more easy-to-follow health guidelines available to consumers while another quarter said they look at the salt content when they buy food.

Ready-made doesn’t just mean unhealthy fast-foods – you can always pick a fresh soup up from the supermarket and not reap the bloated repercussions afterwards. 69% of Canstar Blue respondents said they feel that fresh soup is a healthier option than takeaways, fast foods and snacks. So, here are our top 3 healthy picks for healthy soups.

Healthy Vegetable Soup

Garden vegetable soup – just the name speaks health! This flavour scores 4 out of 5 for the health star rating, which is the highest rated fresh soup that The Good Taste Company offers. Claiming to have no artificial flavours and no preservatives, this healthy vegetable soup is low in fat. You’re bound to reach your 5-a-day as there are 5.5 serves of vegetables in each soup pack. You should also feel comforted in the fact Kiwis rated The Good Taste Company as the top fresh soup brand for overall satisfaction in Canstar Blue’s survey.

Healthy Butternut Soup

This healthy soup is an alternative to pumpkin soup as the butternut squash roots from the same family of vegetables as the pumpkin. Naked Locals – who came second in Canstar Blue’s overall satisfaction survey – offers a healthy Hawke’s Bay Roasted Butternut Soup, rated 4 out of 5 for the health star rating. Whereas, the pumpkin soups we found were rated 3.5 out of 5 in the health star rating. Naked Locals’ butternut soup option is full of butternut squash, pumpkin, onion, carrot, garlic, nutmeg and black pepper and is sweetened with coconut sugar. Sunflower oil, olive oil and sea salt are the only other ingredients and the ones that are slightly less healthy.

 Healthy Tomato Soup

We aimed to find a tomato soup with a 4 out of 5 health rating but it proved to be a struggle. Therefore, Canstar Blue recommends tomato soup as more of a treat option if you’re on the health bandwagon. The fresh tomato soups we found all had a 3.5 out of 5 health rating and this is probably due to the fact cream is a huge component when it comes to the classic tomato soup and the tomato, itself, is sweet.  Pitango – who came third in Canstar Blue’s survey for overall satisfaction – offers a tomato and basil soup with a health rating of 3.5 out of 5. Pitango says this soup is 98% fat-free and has 3 servings of vegetables in every pack. With 113 calories per pack, this healthy tomato soup is sure to hit your tomato soup cravings.

Frequently asked questions

Canstar Blue surveyed 2,500 New Zealand consumers across a range of categories to measure and track customer satisfaction, via ISO 26362 accredited research panels managed by Qualtrics. The outcomes reported are the results from customers who have purchased and eaten a ready-made fresh soup from a supermarket in the last 6 months. In this case, 627 New Zealanders.

Brands must have received at least 30 responses to be included. Results are comparative and it should be noted that brands receiving three stars have still achieved a satisfaction measure of at least six out of 10. Not all brands available in the market have been compared in this survey. The ratings table is first sorted by star ratings and then by mean overall satisfaction. A rated brand may receive a ‘N/A’ (Not Applicable) rating if it does not receive the minimum number of responses for that criteria.

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