Waitrose Variety Selection in Jelly & Gravy review

This box lands in our Good band, one band under the Excellent that wet food typically achieves. The named percentages are what get it there. Every recipe declares 14% of a headline animal, with a second animal at 4% on three of the four, which is more detail than most cans in this part of the aisle print. Protein and processing reads Good, nutritional balance Outstanding, value Good and transparency Average. That is fair on a label that names a decent share of its animal content, with the remainder left under a category term.

Ingredients, as declared: RICH IN LAMB WITH TURKEY IN JELLY, Meat and animal derivatives (14% lamb, 4% turkey), derivatives of vegetable origin (0.1% chicory roots powder), minerals, oils and fats (0.4% fish oil), various sugars, RICH IN CHICKEN WITH GAME IN JELLY, Meat and animal derivatives (14% chicken, 4% game), derivatives of vegetable origin (0.1% chicory roots powder), minerals, oils and fats (0.4% fish oil), various sugars, RICH IN TURKEY WITH CHICKEN & CARROTS IN GRAVY, Meat and animal derivatives (14% turkey, 4% chicken), cereals, vegetables (0.5% dried carrots equivalent to 4% carrots), minerals, oils and fats (0.4% fish oil), derivatives of vegetable origin (0.1% chicory roots powder), various sugars, RICH IN BEEF WITH VEGETABLES IN GRAVY, Meat and animal derivatives (14% beef), cereals, vegetables (0.6% dried peas and carrots equivalent to 4% peas and carrots), minerals, oils and fats (0.4% fish oil), derivatives of vegetable origin (0.1% chicory roots powder), various sugars

Four recipes share one construction. Meat and animal derivatives leads each list, and each names its headline animal inside it at 14%, with a second animal at 4% on three of the four. The beef recipe names beef alone. The balance of the animal content stays unspecified, which is the standard arrangement at this end of the aisle, though the named share here is larger than most.

The two jelly recipes keep their lists very short, running from the meat straight through chicory roots powder, minerals, fish oil and sugars. The gravy recipes add cereals and a counted portion of vegetables, at 0.5% dried carrots in the turkey version and 0.6% dried peas and carrots in the beef, each rehydrating to the equivalent of 4%.

Fish oil at 0.4% appears on all four labels and is a genuinely useful inclusion, carrying the omega-3 oils that support skin, coat and joints over time. Inulin is why chicory roots powder is on the list at 0.1%, and inulin is a prebiotic fibre. Both are small entries, and both are named and counted. Not every can at this level bothers.

The analysis stays consistent across the box: protein at 39.5% of dry matter, fat at 21.1%, estimated carbohydrate at 21.0% and crude ash at 15.8%. Minerals are listed on every recipe but no dosed vitamin or trace element panel is printed, so those figures are not on show.

£2.07 a kilo, in a box of 12 cans at 400g each.

A 15kg adult dog in moderate condition needs roughly 1132 grams a day here, which comes to £2.34, on a daily requirement of about 840 kcal (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). At 74 kcal per 100g this is light food, so the daily amount looks large beside a dry food and a box covers fewer days than the can count first suggests.