Light & Free Fat Free Cottage Cheese Review

Once again it's a Light & Free product that's caught my eye but this time it's not a yogurt, but a cottage cheese. Varieties are Plain or Grilled Vegetables and Thyme. Like the yogurts, they're 0% fat. 

Light & Free Grilled Vegetables & Thyme Cottage Cheese

I was looking for something to mix into a shop bought ready made salad that came without dressing and I decided the Grilled vegetables and Thyme might work. The Grilled vegetables cottage cheese has 160 calories for the whole 210g pot.

Light & Free Plain and Grilled Vegetables & Thyme Cottage Cheese

I haven't seen another cottage cheese with this flavour and anything that includes vegetables gets my vote. When it comes to cottage cheese, I don't go for the fat free versions as they always come off worse in the taste test compared with the full fat versions and the calorie saving is usually negligible so not worth it. 

On opening the tub, I could see right away that the cottage cheese itself had the typical liquidy appearance of a fat free cottage cheese. There were a few small bits of vegetables which I hoped would make up for the lack of fat.

Light & Free Grilled Vegetables & Thyme Cottage Cheese

I ate some on its own, but wasn't bowled over by the flavour. Mixing it in with my salad provided a form of dressing but it was quite thin and not at all creamy which is what I much prefer from a cottage cheese. 

Strangely, the sugar and carbohydrate level is higher than a regular higher fat cottage cheese. For example, comparing the Light & Free Plain with Waitrose Essential plain cottage cheese, the Light & Free has 6g of sugar per 100g compared with 1.7g of sugar for the Waitrose. This can make a real difference if you're eating low carb or low sugar. The higher fat version will be more filling too. 

Light & Free Grilled Vegetables & Thyme Cottage Cheese

If you like cottage cheese, I would always recommend going for the regular, non fat free versions. The calories are not much more and the sugar levels lower. I feel the marketing industry hasn't yet caught onto the fact that fat free is rarely a good choice. 

However, I do like the Light & Free yogurts and although fat free, they are creamy and low in calories. 

25g protein per 210g pot (Vegetables) and 27g per pot for the Plain. Found in a branch of Waitrose. 

Ingredients: (Grilled vegetables & Thyme) 

Cottage Cheese (Milk), Grilled Vegetables (5.7%), Red Pepper (3.7%), Zucchini (0.7%), Aubergine (0.7%), Onion], Salt, Maize Starch, Garlic, Concentrated Lemon Juice, Olive Oil, Thyme (0.03%), Black Pepper, Natural Flavouring, Rosemary, Preservative (Potassium Sorbate) 

Ingredients: (Plain) 

Fat Free Cottage Cheese (Milk), Salt

For allergens, see ingredients in bold 

Nutrition per 100g: (Grilled vegetables & Thyme) 

Calories: 76 Fat: 0.5g, Sat fat: 0.1g, Carbohydrate: 6.4g, Sugars: 6.0g, Protein: 12g, Salt: 0.65g 

Nutrition per 100g: (Plain) 

Calories: 79 Fat: 0.5g, Sat fat: 0.1g, Carbohydrate: 6.3g, Sugars: 6.3g, Protein: 13g, Salt: 0.53g

© Diets and Calories