With Easter approaching and inflation making the cost of the weekly shop virtually prohibitive, any extra pennies are really making the difference. So it is barely any surprise that people looking to economise for Easter are looking at supermarket own brands instead of the usual household names for chocolate treats, which usually cost more. But be warned — there's a twist in the tale. . .
In the name of journalism, Reach reporters went out taste-testing own-brand Easter eggs against one of the giants of the chocolate industry, Cadbury's. They all thought Cadbury's would be the most expensive — but incredibly it was the cheapest.
People would therefore think that supermarket own brand chocolate eggs would either be of much better quality, or have added little bonuses — or that someone in the boardrooms decided to take the customer for a little financial ride. So the Easter products from Sainsbury's, M&S, Aldi, Morrisons and Tesco were taste-tested to find out.
According to one Reach publication — Plymouth Live — one egg was said to have been "completely and utterly vile", with one colleague describing it as tasting like something that had been left on the pavement. Other eggs surprised the taste testers — but there was only ever going to be one winner.
Here are their results, in reverse order.
6. Tesco
This Easter egg cost £3.50 — 50p more than the Cadbury's egg, and was, in the words of one reporter, "just gross". They said: "The chocolate was way too thin and just tasted cheap.
"There was also a horrid aftertaste, almost plasticky. I should add this was one of three eggs to be a "free-from" product because it was the only own-brand egg they had at the time of purchase.
Weight: 100g
Price: £3.50
5. Sainsbury's
Again, the verdict on this product was that it simply tasted cheap. "The best comparison I can think of was advent calendar chocolate, which is OK in small doses but a whole egg? No thanks," said our judge.
"It was also thin like the Tesco chocolate egg and was in a very unusual shape. I wouldn't normally have an issue with its shape but it makes the egg look a lot bigger than it is.
"In reality, it was a very narrow egg — which is something I never thought I'd say for an article.".
Weight: 150g
Price: £3.00
4. Morrisons
Our taste tester for the Morrisons egg said: "In my opinion, this was a step above the first two eggs. It looked very premium and had been dipped in honeycomb. The only issue is there really wasn't enough honeycomb — in fact, it was practically redundant as you I could hardly taste it.
"It was also supposed to have sea salt in the chocolate but not as far as I could work out — again, quite tasteless. But overall I'd say it was a nice product and it was much thicker than Tesco's effort."
Weight: 150g
Price: £5.99
3. Aldi
The first thing the judges noticed about this egg was its incredible smell. It smelled really amazing — enough to get it third on this list.
The verdict read: "As well as looking premium, this egg also tasted premium. Aldi's egg also had so much more flavour. It was 'caramel' chocolate and you could really taste it. The only criticism was that it was slightly too sweet."
Weight: 200g
Price: £4.99
2. M&S
This egg was the most expensive of the tasting session and was by far the closest to the winner, although the testers thought it actually tasted much closer to Thornton's chocolate. They said the chocolate was thick and the white chocolate yolk on top delicious.
Delivering the verdict, one tester said: "The only sticking point is the price — there's no way it's worth double what our winner is worth, so for that reason it had to finish second."
Weight: 153g
Price: £6.00
1. Cadbury's
Yes — there was only going to be one winner. It's the cheapest and by far the best. In one judge's notepad, there was just one word next to the Cadbury's egg — perfect.
What else needs to be said? 5/5.
Weight: 195g
Price: £3.00 (purchased at Tesco Express)
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The verdict
So if you're looking to save the pennies, perhaps forget the own brand products and head straight for the household name. Of all the judges (who were more than willing to help out in the task) to take part in the blind taste test, four out of five agreed that Cadbury's was the best.
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