Great Value Sloppy Joe Sandwich Sauce is quite the helpful and convenient sloppy Joe sauce. I’ve used it on my sloppy Joes for months, and very much enjoy the spicy tomato flavor that shouts, “Great Value!” Here are my thoughts on this wonderful-tasting sandwich sauce that’s an abundant staple in my kitchen, since I make sloppy Joes at least once per week.
Pros, Benefits, Advantages, and Features
- The mild yet unmistakable flavor of this Great Value’s sloppy Joe sandwich sauce is hearty! It’s a rather thick sauce and offers an abundance of spicy flavor, but not to excess. It tastes very much like the national brands like Manwich and Del Monte.
- This sloppy Joe sauce is virtually non perishable. I’ve kept unopened cans around for months without noticeable change of taste or color.
- This sloppy Joe sauce is mildly spicy; I’ve tasted other much spicier sloppy Joe sauces. This makes it acceptable to wide variety of guests at those back-yard parties and celebrations, where sloppy Joes work so well.
- Great Value sloppy Joe sandwich sauce contains 2 grams of fiber per 1/4 cup serving. It’s always nice to see food with fiber; particularly since fiber can be so hard to find in healthful quantities in many processed foods. However, if you wish to increase the fiber content of a sloppy joe, try adding a cup of cooked oat meal to the meat when you add this sauce. You may have to add a bit more sauce, as the oat meal will absorb some of it.
Cons, Disadvantages, Problems, Concerns, and Suggested Improvements
- They provide can-style packaging for this sauce product. While this protects the contents from the deteriorating effects of exposure to bright light, it also subjects the sauce to the leeching of chemicals from the can itself which are undesirable for consumption. However, you can minimize this chemical-impartation from can to sauce by keeping the unopened can in a cool place.
- Great Value sauces are only available at Walmart. Perhaps Walmart should consider marketing their Great Value line of products to grocers at large.
- This sloppy Joe sauce contains significant amounts of sodium, at 400 MG per serving. This means that us folks over the age of 51 should not eat more than a cup and a half in a day; lest we exceed the recommended intake sodium amount of 1500 MG per day for our age group. I hope Great Value makes a low-sodium version of this same sauce product in months to come. I’ll look for one and report on it should I find it.
- Great Value sloppy Joe sauce contains added sugar (in the form of high fructose corn syrup) and salt. Again, they’d do well to make a product without these additives.
- Great Value’s sloppy Joe sandwich sauce should be refrigerated after opening. Better yet, eat it all up in one sitting. 🙂
Our Rating
All-in-all, this tomato-based sauce for meat is an otherwise-busy cook’s dream for spicing up sloppy Joe with a taste of an expert hand but with very little effort, that people will generally recognize and request more of. Great Value’s unique blend of tomatoes, onions, peppers, garlic, and spices makes this product a top hitter in the sloppy Joe sauce market. In moderation, it’s a healthy sauce, as the sugar content is not terribly high (6 grams per serving). So I love it, and would recommend this product for inclusion in any active chef’s kitchen. I’d rate it at 95 out of 100.
Where To Buy Great Value Sloppy Joe Sandwich Sauce
Look for Great Value Sloppy Joe Sandwich Sauce in the white 15.5-ounce can with the blue lettering and the picture of a big sloppy Joe sandwich on the front, exclusively at Walmart grocery stores and super centers.
References
Revision History
- 2015-01-25: Rearranged tag and category assignments, added whitespace, and updated the content.
- 2012-03-21: Originally published.